Clearer lakes have bigger fish ?

[Bird]

Talked to DNR officer over the weekend about the various lakes in our region and was fortunate enough to actually be talking to he that does the shock studies. 

 

It was actually educational and what I found in our discussion was the gin clear lakes were the ones that were producing more citation specimens compared to stained water lakes and some were surprisingly small state park lakes. 

 

Guessing one theory could be, clearer water, tougher bites.

 

Any other explanation considering equal fishing pressure. 

[WRB]

Better water quality may provide a more prolific eccosystem for the bass to feed on at younger age when growth is maximized. Bass are primarily sight feeders and that could give them an edge over the prey they hunt as adults.

Most California reserviors are used for water storage and the water quality is managed for that purpose. The bass benefit from good water quality.

Tom

[Derek1]

18 minutes ago, WRB said:

Better water quality may provide a more prolific eccosystem for the bass to feed on at younger age when growth is maximized. Bass are primarily sight feeders and that could give them an edge over the prey they hunt as adults.

Most California reserviors are used for water storage and the water quality is managed for that purpose. The bass benefit from good water quality.

Tom

Great answer 

[A-Jay]

The gin clear lakes here are the waters I will always choose to fish.  Zebra mussels have been driving that for a while now.  Add the goby protein scoopy snacks and it makes for some very big brown bass.  Not the easiest to find and catch but it's certainly awesome when we do.

A-Jay 

[gim]

Increased improvement of septic systems and as A Jay mentioned, zebra mussels, have contributed to much clearer waters here too in some places. It has benefited brown bass at the expense of the walleye. Most anglers here do not appreciate it, but I do.

[WRB]

When Quagga-Zebra mussels invaded the Colorado River lakes, Havasu Redear Sunfish population exploded along with record size 5 lb Redears (shell crackers) that eat the mussels. The Largemouth and Smallmouth bass population has also benefited from clearer water at Havasu. Maybe the Great Lakes could benefit from introducing Redear Sunfish!

Tom

 

 

[Bluebasser86]

More stain=more nutrients in the lakes here a majority of the time. Very few of my big green fish have come from clear water. Brown ones are a different story and I feel that's mostly due to them being more visual feeders.

[WRB]

Plankton both zoo and phyto look green and live on green nutrients. Stain is usually coloration from plant leaves like tea stain in water for example or soil particulates and neither of those provide a food source like plankton does. 

Fertilizer run off creates stain and promotes both plant growth and bacteria that decays the vegetation creating off colored water. It's a balance but in our clear water lakes largemouth bass thrive on the abundance baitfish living on plankton. The exception is the San Jauqine Delta area that has poor quality off colored stained water that is constantly moving from tidal influence and river currents with a good population of big bass. Hard to argue with SoCals trophy bass records.

Tom

[OCdockskipper]

24 minutes ago, WRB said:

...Hard to argue with SoCals trophy bass records...

Tom

 

I've always thought that was more due to climate rather than water quality.  Our very stable weather would seem to promote more days of feeding and less days of extreme weather (hot or cold) that would cause the fish to shut down.

 

I'm thinking of the difference of the coastal Southern California lakes compared to say Lake Mead (although the bass in Mead have to compete with stripers).  Mead has good water quality, but the broiling summers and cold winters probably eliminate alot of days of feeding for the fish, hence the largemouth don't grow as big there as they do in San Diego, LA or Santa Barbara.

 

Just observation & speculation on my part.

[WRB]

It's hard to imagine today that Mead was a trophy bass lake in the 50's and 60's with 10lb on Northern strain LMB not uncommon. Stripers changed that at Mead.

Before FLMB introduction the state record was 14 lb 12 oz from Central Cal. Piru produced a 15 lb 7 oz NLMB in the late 60's. Yes we have a long growing season but it was Florida strain bass that changed the record books in Califorina. Our deep rocky structure lakes with clear water stay cool during the summer rarely over 80 surface degrees and the big bass tend to stay in deeper cool water where the highest population of baitfish live.

[Johnbt]

 I wonder if the DNR officer was only talking about lakes with public access. I've never seen any state fish surveys done on the 20, 30 and 40-acre private lakes we typically fish... and most of them are heavily stained, overgrown, and sometimes just downright difficult to the point of having trouble getting your bait wet.      Yet they produce good numbers of 8-pound fish and some as big as 11+.

 

Who knows, maybe the state folks go places and don't publish all of the results. 

 

Maybe most folks avoid the difficult-to-fish places so the citations come from clear water lakes. I know many people who will go to Sandy River reservoir because Briary Creek reservoir next door has too many trees in the water... bump, bump, stuck, bump, bump, bump. It's restricted to 9.9 hp and that's going too fast.

 

And not everyone bothers with the citation program. My lmb mentor hasn't applied for a Virginia citation in 30 years or more. I know one year not too long ago he caught over 50 8-pound or bigger bass and only took pictures. I've never applied for a Virginia citation of any sort. The only citation I have was for a 17.5# bluefish I caught in surf at Cape Hatteras in 12/83 iirc. 

 

Time to go meet the termite inspector. I'm selling a house in town and told the buyer I'd get the bug report.

 

[Bird]

2 hours ago, Johnbt said:

 I wonder if the DNR officer was only talking about lakes with public access. I've never seen any state fish surveys done on the 20, 30 and 40-acre private lakes we typically fish... and most of them are heavily stained, overgrown, and sometimes just downright difficult to the point of having trouble getting your bait wet.      Yet they produce good numbers of 8-pound fish and some as big as 11+.

 

Who knows, maybe the state folks go places and don't publish all of the results. 

 

Maybe most folks avoid the difficult-to-fish places so the citations come from clear water lakes. I know many people who will go to Sandy River reservoir because Briary Creek reservoir next door has too many trees in the water... bump, bump, stuck, bump, bump, bump. It's restricted to 9.9 hp and that's going too fast.

 

And not everyone bothers with the citation program. My lmb mentor hasn't applied for a Virginia citation in 30 years or more. I know one year not too long ago he caught over 50 8-pound or bigger bass and only took pictures. I've never applied for a Virginia citation of any sort. The only citation I have was for a 17.5# bluefish I caught in surf at Cape Hatteras in 12/83 iirc. 

 

Time to go meet the termite inspector. I'm selling a house in town and told the buyer I'd get the bug report.

 

Yes, all the lakes he was referring to had public access. 

AND your right about briery creek, a great fishery but best carry an extra prop or 2.

[Catt]

3 hours ago, Johnbt said:

Maybe most folks avoid the difficult-to-fish places so the citations come from clear water lakes. I know many people who will go to Sandy River reservoir because Briary Creek reservoir next door has too many trees in the water... bump, bump, stuck, bump, bump, bump. It's restricted to 9.9 hp and that's going too fast.

 

Exactly  ?

 

The number of boats on our reservoirs right now is unbelievable. The vast majority of them will never be close to big bass areas because they are afraid of scratching their shiny toy!

 

Clearer lakes have bigger fish ?

 

Too many variables to properly answer.

 

Lake Fork is one of the top big bass lakes in the country, it is not know to be "gin" clear. Take a glass of lake water & hold it up to the light, it's clear but has color to it. Many southern lakes & reservoirs are like that.

 

And then there's off colored lakes & reservoirs that produce hawgs.

 

I think it's regional more than anything, bass thrive where they're born.

[Dwight Hottle]

10 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

More stain=more nutrients in the lakes here a majority of the time. Very few of my big green fish have come from clear water. Brown ones are a different story and I feel that's mostly due to them being more visual feeders.

In talking with fish management biologist the fertilized ponds with off stain or colored water yield more trophy bass than clear waters because of the nutrient value. This info was from the state of Georgia. 

[Paul Roberts]

Varies with water body, or more accurately, the land that surrounds those waters. Geology (rock types) underlying the water has a great effect on productivity. Some types are rich in, others nearly devoid of, nutrients or nutrient supporting materials that support food chains. Infertile waters, usually very clear, are actually helped, biological productivity wise, by incoming nutrients from agricultural and urban runoff. Then, too much of a "good thing" is a bad thing. Too much sediment causing "muddy" water can make much of the deeper areas of a water body uninhabitable, at least by creatures the size of fish. And over fertility causing excessive plankton blooms and rooted plant growth can develop oxygen issues in the extreme seasons, summer and winter.

 

I'm guessing your waters have plenty of fertility, due to geology and/or human land-use, so do best without excessive run-off what's called "non-point source" pollution.

[Tennessee Boy]

I agree with @Catt , too many variables. Water temperature is also a factor.   You won’t find warm fertile water in the south that’s gin clear.  That same water is clearer in the winter when the big ones seem easier to catch.  Around here we have a choice of highland and lowland reservoirs.  Most people would say you will catch bigger fish in the lowlands but the highland reservoirs have more than their share of record fish.   So my conclusion... I don’t know?

[12poundbass]

14 hours ago, WRB said:

When Quagga-Zebra mussels invaded the Colorado River lakes, Havasu Redear Sunfish population exploded along with record size 5 lb Redears (shell crackers) that eat the mussels. The Largemouth and Smallmouth bass population has also benefited from clearer water at Havasu. Maybe the Great Lakes could benefit from introducing Redear Sunfish!

Tom

 

 

There are some lakes in Michigan (not sure about the actual Great Lakes) where the red ear was introduced a couple decades ago. The cross bred with bluegill so a lot of what we have now is a hybrid red ear/bluegill. 

[Bankbeater]

One of the requirements listed for prize panfish by the DNR is clear water.  Doesn't say anything about water clarity for bass, but I've always caught better size bass in stained water.