Finesse News Network Latest Email....more about LMBD at Melvern and its decline as a LMB fishery. Just thought I would share.....
We reported on the Finesse News Network several times in 2018 that the largemouth bass and smallmouth bass fishing in northeastern Kansas was very trying at most of our reservoirs.
Below is the 2019 spring report about Wolf Creek Lake from the Woodson District Fisheries of the Kansas State Dept. of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism. This report substantiates what Midwest finesse anglers endured at most of northeastern Kansas reservoirs in 2018.
The biologist at Melvern Lake reported on Feb. 1 that the largemouth bass at Melvern Lake, Kansas, have been waylaid with the largemouth bass virus. The largemouth bass fishing at Melvern has been sorry for decades. In our eyes, the largemouth bass were not worth pursuing, and when we caught one, it was while we were pursuing its bountiful population of smallmouth bass. It was not mentioned in this Feb. 1 report that the smallmouth bass fishing was horrendous at Melven in 2018. In fact, it was worse than the smallmouth bass fishing at Wolf Creek.
We should note that before 2017 and 2018, ranging back into the late 1990s, the smallmouth bass fishing at Melvern Lake and Wolf Creek was very fruitful. And at times, it was spectacular. Melvern, by the way, lies about 20 miles north of Wolf Creek.
It is interesting to note that Brent Frazee of Parkville, Missouri, who is a Finesse News Network member and contributor, has reported throughout 2016, 2017, and 2018 that the largemouth bass fishing at a community reservoir in northwest Missouri has become for some unknown reason quite trying. He is baffled by what has transpired to this reservoir that used to provide Midwest finesse anglers with bountiful catches of largemouth bass.
It looks as if this sorry-fishing phenomenon is becoming a rather wide-spreading piscatorial plague this part of the world.
Here is the report about Wolf Creek:
“Smallmouth bass fishing has been excellent that last few years at Wolf Creek, however, the recent exit creel survey may be indicating a population decline. According to data compiled from the exit creel survey, there has been a significant decline in smallmouth bass numbers from the previous years. In 2018, there were only 5,661 smallmouth bass caught and released compared to 2017 when just over 33,000 smallmouth bass were caught and released. There was a reduction of 5,414 hours of angling effort last year which no doubt contributed to some of the lower catch rates. But consider this, in 2015 there was approximately the same amount of angling effort spent as was in 2018 and there were 18,262 smallmouth bass caught and released. With that in mind, we should have seen more fish in 2018. Our spring electrofishing sample (conducted May 2018), did result in a lower catch rate of smallmouth bass than the previous year, but we saw similar percentages of fish in each size class as compared to previous years. From that sample, there was not a glaring problem with the population. What has caused such a drastic decline? Right now, I don’t have a good answer. We could blame it on the abnormally hot spring and early summer and just move on. However, I don’t feel like I would be doing my job if I did not investigate a little further. There is a good chance this is just a natural population decline, but there is also a chance this decline could be driven by a virus or disease. With that said, I plan to conduct some disease testing this Spring during our electrofishing survey, and hopefully we can rule some things out and figure out what is going on.”
