Excellent point.Originally Posted by TritonMan250
Excellent point.
This is the one thing that gets me. The same guys that keep everything they catch will be the ones wondering where all the fish went when it goes to crap.
Knowing how prolific bass are i just cant imagine them taking enough off the lake to hurt populations. As stated by others this is not new. Why were we not complaining about this years ago? Cuz it was fishing good? Grass is usually the factor that effects fishing the most, and from my experience its not immediate. Loss of grass effects bait fish populations. Sure the lake is not fishing like it once was, but we see this all the time. Have seen it on Toledo before. Plenty of other examples to look at.
Lets not villify people exercising there rights. It may not be the real problem.
Im ready for my beating.
Bryan McDonough
2023 Nitro Z21 XL
Nitro Team
Grass is an absolute factor, but don't think for a minute I as well as many other folks have sat on their hands while the filet tables were packed. I witness with my own eyes and had another guy in the boat with me at Ivie a few years ago, pontoon anchored up on a spot I had been catching big ones on, they had seen me on the spot the day before. They were live bait fishing with water dogs and the two men had ten bass on a stringer and they said the smallest was over 11 biggest was over 13. I told them that's a good way to eliminate the population and they said we will be back until they won't bite then we will go to another lake. I think the Game Wardens put a lot of pressure in the guys and they hadn't been back.
Grass is definitely a factor, it makes locating the fish a lot easier. The bass population is bigger than we think but taking so many out like it has been the few years will take its toll. Yes, toledo has always been a lake where the majority keeps and cooks everything and there's nothing wrong with that when it's normal pressure. Now with the #1 rating we have people from all over coming and keeping fish. I know it's pretty bad when my wife says something about how many boats are stacked in an area.
I don't know if I can fault people for keeping fish, I also don't think harvesting or the lack of grass hurts the population as much as everyone thinks.. a couple of examples: several years ago the grass was allowed to grow back in Conroe, within a year or two 25-30lb stringers were common.. I don't believe the "grass" produced a bunch of 5-7lb fish in a couple of years.. I think it moved the fish up so they were easier to catch.. I think the lake record got broken 3 or 4 times in about a 4 year period.. (13-14lb fish) the grass wasn't responsible for those fish.. but it was responsible for them being caught.. next would be falcon..no grass and half the lake is covered in gill nets.. and always has been.. the Mexicans take tons of fish out every year.. we didn't see it start going down hill until all the catch and release guys started pounding it... these are healthy fisheries and I think TPWD does a great job of managing them, I think the fish get lure smart.. especially bigger fish that have been caught once or twice.. I also think they move a lot more than we realize.. I don't know, I just kinda wonder sometimes.. I look at Fayette, pretty much C&R only and it has went downhill.. a lot of poor looking fish, I cant remember the last time I saw schooling like the old days.. and I haven't heard of an over in years.. we advocate selective harvesting in all our other wildlife populations.. white bass, crappie, deer, waterfowl, doves, hogs, etc etc.. but when it comes to Bass its C&R or nothing?? I don't get it.. if its good for the other species, why not bass??
Agreed, the grass just gives the bait fish something to hide in and the bass to relate to. It has nothing to do with the population. The bass are going to be close to wherever the buffet line is ...
I disagree Reggie. Grass gives new hatched fry and young bass a great advantage of making it the first few months of life. Therefore increasing the population a great deal.
Good point I had not considered. Was thinking about the current population
So what about all the Great Lakes that don't have grass. I just think that grass is not the great wonder everyone makes it out to be. Nature is pretty resilient and I think all these lakes go through phases that none of us will ever understand. I personally think these lakes would be a lot healthier if we (bass fishermen) would keep our limits more often, cull down a few trips here and there. selective harvesting works, Tpwd sets these limits for a reason..
The bass on toledo bend are Florida strain bass and they like grass and the same goes for Sam Rayburn. The grass also gives the spawned babies a place to hide and grow up. Taking the small bass off the lake only helps the larger bass grow larger and that is with any lake in the country. People that take 4 pound bass and larger home to eat could care less about what is happening to a lake and the time it takes for a bass to grow to trophy size. The small bass are much better eating than the larger ones are anyway. The ocean can be fished out and so can a lake if there are too many zip lock fisherman taking everything they catch home. I have been fishing both lakes since they were made and I have seen all the changes they have gone through over the years. Catch and release on all the large fish is one way to keep the lake going strong for many years to come. Articles like BASS aren't good for any lake in the country especially where humans read those articles and only want to harvest what they catch.
^^ Bingo.
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