Catching male bass post spawn bad?

[livemusic]

So, the male bass, usually much smaller than the females, guard the bass fry once they hatch. And the fish we catch are mostly the males? So, on lakes where there is a slot limit, why is it ok that the small bass, say, 15 inches or less, are what one is allowed to harvest? The males protect the fry for awhile when they swim around getting ready to disperse individually. I have weighed several 15 inch bass recently and they were 2 lb fish. Nice chunks. Just curious about this conservation practice for the health of the fishery.

 

I saw several big balls of fry yesterday, big clouds of them. I guess they were bass fry. I might've caught their daddy, so, how does conservation view this practice? We kept six out of 20 yesterday. This particular lake I fish wants you to keep bass 15 inch and under.

[Deleted account]

Bad? Not if you are a gill, perch, mosquitofish, or any other critter looking for a meal.

[scaleface]

The way I see it, Mother nature insures enough bass survive the first year by over-producing fry  .          If everybody did it , maybe but most practice catch and release religiously . 

[Choporoz]

Assuming the lake is managed well, the slot limit tells me that biologists have determined that harvesting bass is good for the lake.  

[Catt]

Y'all are aware the same male guarding the fry will eat a precentage of the fry?

[Choporoz]

^Yes!

So, @livemusic, think of all the babies you ate saving!

[Bankc]

I wouldn't worry about it.  From what I've seen in my life, pollution, invasive species, disease, weather, and poor management is usually what kills fish populations.  Overfishing often gets the blame because it's the activity everyone can see in action.  But more often than not, there's a more serious problem going on below the surface that gets a free pass because it's a lot more difficult to identify and address.

[galyonj]

A female largemouth will lay somewhere between 2,000 and 40,000 eggs at a pop once they're on the bed. After the fry hatch out, the male will only stay there for about a week.

 

At best, if you keep a fry-guarder, you're only depriving the fry of (what little) protection they get for a max of seven days (and that doesn't take into account the fry that become lunch for the fish doing the guarding).

 

Fish species survive based on numbers, not on how great and attentive a parent they are.

[J Francho]

If you saw a cloud of fry, the male is irrelevant, and more likely a threat.  Once they're free swimming, they're on their own.

[the reel ess]

No

[RDB]

It’s not really about the spawn.  The goal of slots is to allow those larger slot sized fish to reach their potential while allowing the harvest of smaller sized bass.  Generally it’s good management and IMO should be implemented more frequently.  It is probably one of the biggest factors in Lake Fork being what it is after all these years (16-24” slot).