What's up with my lake?

[Bass_Akwards]

Hey all!  I hope I'm posting in the correct forum, if not, sorry! 

Anyway, I joined a private fishing club in 2012 and every time I spent 2+ hours on the water I'd catch 1 if not 2 or 3 LMB that were 18-20+ inches. (3-5 pound class) This lasted the first two years I was at the club.  It was great, especially for Colorado.. 

 

Then, my third year 2015, I noticed neither I, nor my friends, were catching as many 18''+ size.  We'd get maybe 1 or even none of the 18 inch or bigger class when we'd go out for a few hours. We would however catch dozens of LMB in the 12-15 inch range. We thought "Great!  in two or three years all those 15 inchers are gunna grow to be 17-21 inchers!"  Well that never happened for some reason.  Either that or I got much worse as a fisherman or the fish grew bigger brains or both.  I have 6 friends who belong to the club and their all experienced, good fishermen.  How are we not catching those 17-21 inch class anymore? 

 

What the heck happened? Is it us?  Is is the lake?  I know lakes go through cycles but after three years of barely catching any 18 inch LMG after catching 1-5 of them every time out for a couple years makes me wonder.   We've tried the same techniques we've always used.  We've tried different techniques and baits as well.  Bigger baits, smaller baits, different speeds and depths of water column and everything else. Still, 90% of our LMB are 12-15 inches the last couple years. Maybe twice a year I or my buddies will catch a 18-20 inch bass.  Any suggestions as to what is happening here?

 

Thanks!

[txchaser]

Hard to say without a lot of details, but a few questions and thoughts come to mind:

1) ask the club what the biologist has to say - the clubs should have someone that is watching the lake(s)

2) hopefully the policy is to cull all those small fish.

3) I'd guess that pressure pushed those bigger fish deeper or to more inaccessible spots. It is unlikely they all died; they just moved. Or went nocturnal. Maybe try some stuff that smaller fish are less likely to bite, and move out a little deeper and see if anything changes.

 

[jbsoonerfan]

Could be a lot of factors at play. Like mentioned above though, I would just say they have re-located. Was there a grass kill off or did they introduce grass carp that would cause them to find new areas to live?

[lo n slo]

could be overpopulated 

[DomQ]

Sharks 

[Herbert Lorenzo]

Catch and release everything and you get stunted fish . There's a reason the game commission has size regulations on lakes . Conservation methods are aimed at a certain population of fish being removed to avoid overcrowding and risk of disease that goes along with that .

[Sir Shamsalot]

52 minutes ago, Herbert Lorenzo said:

Catch and release everything and you get stunted fish . There's a reason the game commission has size regulations on lakes . Conservation methods are aimed at a certain population of fish being removed to avoid overcrowding and risk of disease that goes along with that .

I remember watching a show or documentary on this. It pertains to deer hunting as well. With less culling there less available food and nutrients resulting in higher numbers of smaller sized game species. I think they need to plan a fish fry or two or three. Then I would recommend a restock of bait species along with a biannual stocking of rainbow trout.

[Miabucman]

18 hours ago, DomQ said:

Sharks 

Time to break out the Penn International 80s.........

[trout123]

If the bass have no or very little predators in the lake then the bass population may grow a lot and all of those little bass will compete for food with the larger ones stunting the population.

[VolFan]

There's a mostly set amoint of biomass that can exist in each level of an ecosystem. Absent the lake being interconnected with other watersheds, there's only so much a bass can do to find food. Colorado isn't exactly Florida when it comes to warmwater biomass. Smaller lakes exhibit this with more severity than larger. If you go catch and reslease only you will need to add biomass at the lower levels in the form of something the fish can eat. If you don't, the population will stunt over a fee years as fish dont grow truly large because the food isnt there to support them. A simpler solution is that its time for a few fish frys. 

[Bass_Akwards]

Thanks All!  I'd be willing to bet good money that the answer is that we don't cull enough 10-13(or should it be 14) inch bass.  Lake has plenty of crappie, bass, perch, bluegill, for forage and is in good shape otherwise.  Appreciate the help!

Anyone know a general process for culling a 27 acre lake?  Amount of bass that need to be taken out and in what time frame in general?  What size LMB's need to be taken out?  Thanks!

[roadwarrior]

A general rule is to remove half the bass in the pond and once you do that,

remove another half.

 

[RDB]

The first thing I would do is talk to a wildlife biologist in your area.  I can tell you that in Texas, Texas A&M has conducted quite a bit of research on fish population management.  I have included one for private waters below from Texas A&M.  This is Texas...growth, etc. varies by region but this may help with the thought process.  FYI, a stunted bass will usually have a head that looks out of proportion to it’s body.

http://agrilife.org/wildlife2/files/2010/04/3_Fish_Popl_Assessment.pdf

Bass fishing is obviously huge in Texas but I would assume there info. out there for your state/region on managing fish populations in ponds/small bodies.

 

 

 

[Bass_Akwards]

1 hour ago, RDB said:

The first thing I would do is talk to a wildlife biologist in your area.  I can tell you that in Texas, Texas A&M has conducted quite a bit of research on fish population management.  I have included one for private waters below from Texas A&M.  This is Texas...growth, etc. varies by region but this may help with the thought process.  FYI, a stunted bass will usually have a head that looks out of proportion to it’s body.

http://agrilife.org/wildlife2/files/2010/04/3_Fish_Popl_Assessment.pdf

Bass fishing is obviously huge in Texas but I would assume there info. out there for your state/region on managing fish populations in ponds/small bodies.

 

 

 

Thanks man!