Wiper information.

[zeepo]

Craig,

I have a few questions on wipers that I hope you can answer. I know the state record was 22 lbs and I think around 32 inches long. My questions are how old do wipers live too? I have caught wipers 24-27 inches but never weighed them. Bluebasser has been catching 24 inchers that weigh close to 7 lb's, which is 8 inches and 15 lbs shy of the record. So another question is when wipers get big they must grow only a couple inches a year but gain a lot of weight. Can you shed some light on a correlation between age, length and weight. Is there a residence expert on wipers at KDWP as I would love to know more about them?

Gary Williams

[Craig Johnson]

Craig,

I have a few questions on wipers that I hope you can answer. I know the state record was 22 lbs and I think around 32 inches long. My questions are how old do wipers live too? I have caught wipers 24-27 inches but never weighed them. Bluebasser has been catching 24 inchers that weigh close to 7 lb's, which is 8 inches and 15 lbs shy of the record. So another question is when wipers get big they must grow only a couple inches a year but gain a lot of weight. Can you shed some light on a correlation between age, length and weight. Is there a residence expert on wipers at KDWP as I would love to know more about them?

Gary Williams

Gary,

The "Striped Bass Hybrid Management Plan" is available on the KDWPT website HERE. This will give you a lot of info on wipers in Kansas. Page 8 contains a Mean Length at Age table that will give info on how big wipers are at a given age from six Kansas reservoirs. The oldest wiper found during this study was Age-9.

Yes, wipers grow quickly their first few years of life and growth rates drop quickly after the second year. Body condition may vary greatly depending on available forage and feeding conditions which equates to wide fluctuations in weights for fish of the same length. So some lakes may contain fish that are "tanks" while other lakes may contain fish that are more thin.