New concept?

[Alex from GA]

https://www.outdoorlife.com/fishing/kill-more-largemouth-bass/

Pretty long.

[A-Jay]

Not new but times have changed.

Current C & R of bass has been as rampant as Spay & Neuter every dog

and almost for just as long.

Is it necessary in every case ?

Does it really 'help' ?

The debate rages on.

IMO, keeping a limit of cutters a few times a season is probably a good I plan.

However, the quickest way to become my new best friend

is to take a fillet knife to something like this.

#nope

A-Jay

[TnRiver46]

Preach it! A couple of great takeaways from the article. One is the fact that everyone thinks a bass automatically gets bigger when you let it go. That would be nice but it’s not the case most of the time. Only a select few have the potential to get huge, too many mouths to feed. Plenty of studies have shown old bass that were just a pound or two. They often plateau in size and keep on living. Another factor that people don’t want to believe is this paragraph I took a screenshot of 

 

 

unfortunately anglers cannot wrap their minds around this and probably never will

[Swamp Girl]

When I invite people to fish my pond, I also invite them to keep bass.

 

"But keep them the small ones," I say. "They taste better anyway." 

 

And they do.

[TnRiver46]

9 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

When I invite people to fish my pond, I also invite them to keep bass.

 

"But keep them the small ones," I say. "They taste better anyway." 

 

And they do.

That would be nice, but also illegal in almost any waters I fish. SMB have to be 18” to harvest 

[J Francho]

Seeing as the SMB record has been broken twice in the past few years, as well the LMB record getting obliterated, I'd say no correction is necessary in my state.

[TnRiver46]

18 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Seeing as the SMB record has been broken twice in the past few years, as well the LMB record getting obliterated, I'd say no correction is necessary in my state.

I’ve never fished NY but the other northern states I’ve fished actually have meat fishermen. In the south you can be publicly shamed and potentially beaten for eating a single bass 

[senile1]

Good article.  @J Francho's "Everything in moderation" signature applies in most things. Taking an extreme position on most subjects usually misses the best position lying somewhere in between.  Leave too many bass and there isn't enough food for all of them.  Remove the big ones to eat them and you take out the genes that lead to additional big bass. 

 

So eat a few, leave a few.

[Tennessee Boy]

Not to many people know this but bass reproduce and they grow over time.  Eat all you want as long as you honor the limit.  Don't worry about eating too many, if you do they will change the limit.    😆

[GreenPig]

I do my part by eating the occasional sub 3lbers.

[TLHSS]

Unfortunately, my local fishery continues to have fish consumption advisories.  Early in the year it was high levels of PCBs.  Currently it's mercury.

[TnRiver46]

48 minutes ago, TLHSS said:

Unfortunately, my local fishery continues to have fish consumption advisories.  Early in the year it was high levels of PCBs.  Currently it's mercury.

We have those too, mostly for catfish. The irony is commercial fishermen sell the same fish to grocery stores 

[TLHSS]

12 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

We have those too, mostly for catfish. The irony is commercial fishermen sell the same fish to grocery stores 

We currently have warnings for catfish and common carp for PCBs.  All predators have the mercury warnings.  The bigger the fish, the higher the mercury levels (because of the number of mercury-infected fish they consume).

[TnRiver46]

20 minutes ago, TLHSS said:

We currently have warnings for catfish and common carp for PCBs.  All predators have the mercury warnings.  The bigger the fish, the higher the mercury levels (because of the number of mercury-infected fish they consume).

That’s why farm raised fish often have higher contaminant levels than wild caught, their diet consists of only of fish food, which is ground up contaminated fish 

[Tackleholic]

1 hour ago, TLHSS said:

Unfortunately, my local fishery continues to have fish consumption advisories.  Early in the year it was high levels of PCBs.  Currently it's mercury.

I remember when that river you fish was killed off by a hog farm;  I used to live about 35 miles south of you and the Kishwaukee practically ran through my yard.  I was told that sediment may never completely disappear.

[king fisher]

I have fished a very small reservoir for five years.  This lake is exceptional for trophy size bass.  I have averaged one bass over 10 pounds for every five days I fished the lake.  I am certain an angler with exceptional skills could get that average down to one every two days of fishing.  Unfortunately I don't have time to fish the lake more than about 10 to 15 days a year.  This year I was only able to fish it for five days and caught one 10 pound bass as well as a couple over 7 pounds. 

 

The fish are big, but the fishing is slow at this lake.  Most days I only get one to three bites from decent size bass a day.  There are almost zero bass between 1 pound and 6 pounds.  I have caught more 10 pound bass than I have two to four pound bass in the five years I have fished there.  I can catch many bass under one pound, but do not fish for them, and if I start catching baby bass of that size I change location, and or tactics.  

 

The reason there are very few mid size bass is the lake is heavily commercial fished for Tilapia.  The mesh size of the gill nets used is also very effective at catching mid size bass.  The baby bass go through the mesh without getting caught, and once the bass get over 6 pounds there heads no longer fit past the gills in the nets so they don't get caught.  There are so many nets, I don't think many bass make it to the larger size.  I can only assume enough make it to that 6 pound and up size because of the very high number of baby bass every year.  Apparently there are enough to account for successful spawns every year.  I have no idea what percentage of the bass the nets account for, but I would bet it is way more than would end up in the frying pan, if an average number of sport anglers were keeping 5 bass limits.

 

I let the large bass go, not only to hopefully help the population in general, but in hopes that I can catch the same trophy bass again some day.  I'm sure that even though I have been successful, there are really not many of these monsters swimming in the lake.  My success has been more do the fact the lake is small, bass have not seen many lures, and are not nearly as educated as big bass are in most lakes.  In other words, my success is due to the bass being stupid, not because of my angling skill.  In the past years I would have to believe most of the bass in this lake never would see a lure in their entire life.

 

The last couple years a lodge owner from another lake has discovered my secret lake, and has been taking clients there every week.  I have noticed a big change in the numbers of fish I catch, and don't think the population has changed, the fish have just adjusted to the added pressure.  I have found I am not near the angler I thought I was when forced to fish for more highly educated bass.

 

I talked to the lodge owner and he is disappointed in the fishing.  While his clients have landed some very large bass, most are not happy with fishing all day for a couple of bites.  He wants to make a deal with the commercial fisherman to back off on the netting in order to have more bass for his clients to catch.  He is willing to compensate them for the lost revenue, in order for them to help improve the bass numbers.  He wants his clients to be able to catch a dozen or so 2 to 4 pound bass a day as well as have a chance at a DD bass.

 

I tried to explain to him that this was most likely impossible.  The bass in this lake were huge because of the heavy commercial fishing, not in spite of it.  I told him the best thing he could do is back off on the number of clients he takes and keep the commercial fishing the same.  The lake his lodge is on is known for great numbers of bass, so why not leave this lake the way it is and only take a few clients that are willing to put in the work for a bass of a life time to this trophy destination.  I may be wrong, but I don't see how a lake can produce on average this many DD bass, and also have a large population of mid size bass.  

 

This lake has never had any official management for bass.  The number of commercial tilapia fisherman are limited, but there are more than enough gill nets to catch most of the tilapia as well as the bass.  The management for bass has been a complete accident, but I don't think it could be managed any better.  As far as a trophy bass fishing lake goes, I don't think it would be possible to make the lake any better, and I hope the lodge owner doesn't end up over managing a lake that is already perfectly managed.  I only wish I had found out about it, a few years back when no body fished there.  I got in on the tail end of the good days, but at least I was able to take advantage of the fishery when I did. 

 

I am not a fisheries biologist, and don't recommend over netting a lake to remove bass in public waters that are heavily sport fished, but I have witnessed that taking out a large portion of the mid sized bass in an underfished lake can result in fantastic fishing for large bass. 

 

I have always believed in catch and release, but I do realize there are times when keeping bass is the best thing an angler can do for the fishery. 

[VolFan]

Never forget that they’re sunfish. They reproduce by volume. You can have 10 10 lbers or 50 2 lbers but not both. Also, they’re decent table fare.

[MediumMouthBass]

If the modern day man was sent back in time decades, hundreds, or thousands of years the human race would be extinct.

Weve been eating fish for survival since our existence.

Hunting, fishing, and gardening are the only reasons we are alive today.

 

Yet we have turned all 3 into hobbies, and forgot how much we need them.

And now people are against gardening in your yards, hunting, and eating fish. What a time.

 

Point is bass are food, they arent going to go extinct if a few are eaten.

 

And for the original topic, selective harvest is the best way to improve any fish population.

Too many fish (doesnt even matter the species) results in poor fishing.

Too little fish results in poor fishing.

[MN Fisher]

10 minutes ago, MediumMouthBass said:

And for the original topic, selective harvest is the best way to improve any fish population.

Al Lindner has been preaching that since the beginning, and I've followed it since I could first cast a line. Selective harvest IS the middle ground....

[bowhunter63]

Crappie and Spots eat good 

[Swamp Girl]

7 hours ago, MediumMouthBass said:

And now people are against gardening in your yards, hunting, and eating fish.

 

Twice a year, I add composted manure to my yard in case I ever want to turn it into a farm field. Atop that, I have seven, raised beds in my front yard that produce fruit and veggies. So, I'm glad that anti-yard-gardening people aren't my neighbors and they're likely glad I'm not their neighbor. At the same time, I have ornamental flower beds that wrap around my house, including a Japanese garden. And I laid a 60' flagstone path with boxwoods on both sides. Here's a bit of it and what a puzzle it was:

 

 

@king fisher: Thanks so much for telling the story of your lake in such detail. I think your post is my all-time favorite. That lodge owner's lake sounds a lot like my pond, i.e. a lot of two-to-four-pounders. There's a fishing derby held there every year for kids. I hope they keep their smaller bass!

[GreenPig]

My 1 acre pond went from 50 to 60 small fish an hour to a bigger one occasionally, by eating every 10 - 13" fish i caught over a two year period.

[Dwight Hottle]

On 11/27/2024 at 3:10 PM, TnRiver46 said:

That would be nice, but also illegal in almost any waters I fish. SMB have to be 18” to harvest 

 

That's exactly why you should be keeping largemouth bass not my beloved small mouths.

[TnRiver46]

25 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

 

That's exactly why you should be keeping largemouth bass not my beloved small mouths.

I rarely get a keeper LM, I’d starve! 😂 

 

they have to be 14” or 15” depending on where you’re at 

 

(thank god for white bass) 

[thediscochef]

This article basically outlines why I think Lake Fork hasn't produced 13+# bass like it used to. In its heyday, people were fishing for dinner out there. Doesn't happen that way anymore with LMs. Fact is that anyone who manages trophy ponds will tell you that you absolutely must thin the herd for your best trophy potential. Otherwise you'll have endless 13" bass. I don't see why the same wouldn't apply to larger water bodies. I would love to see slot limits back on more texas lakes and more harvesting of smaller bass