Lake Mitchell bass nation had a club tourney last Sunday on Lake Henry. As we were getting off the water the Bon Homme County conservation officer pulls in. He reminds us of the new invasive species rules and about the 5 mile per hour rule on the Lake. He asked if there will be a weigh-in and if we will release all fish. It was a tough day for most of us and He heard we caught a lot of fish between 14 and 15 inches, so he commented about the locals harvesting quite a few bass once they get to 15 inch minimum. He thought it would be nice if it were catch and release only. He was out fishing with the kids earlier this year and he saw an angler from out of town keeping bass over 12 inches and under 15 inches even after he introduced himself. He did not want to make a scene, so he waited to confront him another day and fined him $100. He didn't think the slot limits with the northeast and western South Dakota bass fisheries have would work and did not know exactly what the limits were.
He wondered if any of us had read the bass tracking study researchers did after a tournament down in Yankton. I guess some of the bass released at the weigh-in site never made it back upstream and some actually washed through the damn and were caught. I tried to look up the study and I came across an article about Pond bass angling pressure and catch ability which mentioned if you want a quality bluegill population you want to protect 8 to 12 inch bass. So if anglers aren't keeping smaller bass below 12 inches and the lakes with the slot limit have quality panfish why not go to more slot limits to protect bass populations in bass fisheries. Our tournaments would have to release a majority of fish where they are caught which is also good for a balanced fishery. If the bass aren't growing well, move some to where needed or take the slot off. I just think the slot could be tried in the southeast part of the state.
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Originally Posted by bass57348
