Stunted Bass Population

[Jonny15678]

I’m curious what would cause a bass population to be stunted?

[Bird]

Over population.

We have this one particular lake that we fish several times a year with very high catch rates but all small bass.

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Overpopulation and a lack of forage are the two most likely culprits.   

 

Most smaller bodies of water need to have Bass populations actively managed and a culling program should be implemented or stunting and overpopulation will occur. 

[MediumMouthBass]

When i was younger there was a pond that had a great bluegill population, it had tons of good take home sized fish. The owner made everyone who fished it throw the smaller bluegills over the hill and eat the rest of the fish they caught. He said by doing this over and over again it kept his pond great for fishing, especially for big bluegills.

For bass i guess the same rules apply.

I fish a lake thats similar in size to most big ponds, alot of people there keep the bass they catch.

I dont but thats their choice, i have caught several 3.5lb, 4lb, 5lb, and even a 8lb bass in it.

So i definitely think fish (either bass or panfish) should be kept from time to time to keep the big ones happy and healthy for a long time.

[GRiver]

I was told a stunted lake or pond was hard to cure. Heard old timers say” that pond is ruin-int, nothing but little ones”. 

        I don’t know how true that is. I always thought, if you’d take a large portion of fish out, it would fix it’s self. Might take awhile, but eventually it would come around.

[gim]

The lack of genetics available to grow larger fish is also an issue. We’ve seen that problem here with northern pike for 20 years now.

[Captain Phil]

The Ocala National Forest lakes are know for small fish.  The water in those spring-fed lakes is very clear.   It takes a long time for a bass to reach double digits.  Releasing bass helps some.  It also takes large food.  The Harris Chain is full of large shad, blue gills and shiners.  The Ocala Forest lakes are not as prolific.  I have a study done by the Game Commission that compared the bass population in clear Florida  lakes with similar lakes having high nutrient loads making the water more turbid.  The bass population in the turbid lakes was much greater in terms of population and size.  Back when Doug Hannon, the Bass Professor, was catching giants from the forest lakes, fishing pressure was practically non existent. Not so today.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

45 minutes ago, Captain Phil said:

The Ocala National Forest lakes are know for small fish.  The water in those spring-fed lakes is very clear.   It takes a long time for a bass to reach double digits.  Releasing bass helps some.  It also takes large food.  The Harris Chain is full of large shad, blue gills and shiners.  The Ocala Forest lakes are not as prolific.  I have a study done by the Game Commission that compared the bass population in clear Florida  lakes with similar lakes having high nutrient loads making the water more turbid.  The bass population in the turbid lakes was much greater in terms of population and size.  Back when Doug Hannon, the Bass Professor, was catching giants from the forest lakes, fishing pressure was practically non existent. Not so today.

Yeah water quality is the fundamental base upon which the entire food chain depends on.

 

It's starts with phytoplankton and zooplankton that are responsible for feeding the micro-organisms, newly hatched fry, and Shad.      

 

What feeds those phytoplankton and zooplankton are nutrients found within the water......a clear lake means low nutrient amounts.   

 

For most anglers, these things are out of their control, these are only things private smaller bodies of water can change, create, or manage.   

 

2-3ft of viz according to biologists is peak.    

[Vilas15]

Stunted bass in a big lake? Probably lack of food. Stunted walleyes, probably too much harvest of any fish once it reaches legal size. Stunted bass in a small pond? Overpopulation and too much competition.

 

That's my simplified take on it, but every situation is different.

[softwateronly]

On 7/15/2023 at 7:55 AM, gimruis said:

The lack of genetics available to grow larger fish is also an issue. We’ve seen that problem here with northern pike for 20 years now.

I find this hard to believe.  I would look at forage, habitat, and pressure to influence genetics, but not so drastically in such a short (biologically speaking) timeframe.  There's probably a missing middle of forage available that allows the pike to break through energy in/energy out equation.

 

scott

[gim]

2 hours ago, softwateronly said:

I find this hard to believe.  I would look at forage, habitat, and pressure to influence genetics, but not so drastically in such a short (biologically speaking) timeframe.  There's probably a missing middle of forage available that allows the pike to break through energy in/energy out equation.

 

scott

The DNR Biologists told me there were multiple reasons back in the mid 2000’s when I was working for them as a field surveyor. They were considering implementing harvest slot restrictions at the time because the problem was already ballooning by then.

The primary issue was a lack of larger pike. They had been harvested for too long and the only pike left were small, stunted aggressive snot rockets in many small to medium sized lakes. It takes a northern pike about 10 years to reach 30+ inches here and that’s when they start eating smaller pike. A 40 incher is 20 years old. The apex predator in many smaller lakes here that do not have muskies are adult northern pike. When they are removed, the small ones quickly over run the system because there is nothing to keep them in check since they are cannibalistic.

They’ve now implemented a daily bag limit of 10 pike here and 9 of them have to be under 22 inches. They really want the smaller ones removed. The issue is that very few people do it. Many of these lakes are stocked with walleye fry and the abundant hungry population of small pike eat them quickly so they’re just feeding the beast. Walleye fry have no chance.

I don’t target pike but I catch a lot of them while I’m bass or muskie fishing. The average size seems to slowly be increasing so maybe the special regs are working. It will take a very long time to see a significant change though.

Last year the biggest one I caught was 35 inches, which is the biggest one I’ve seen around here in years. This season I’ve caught a bunch already, including a 29 and 33.5 incher, so this is a good sign.