Saturday Was Awesome.

[9LB]

TOO BAD WE CAN NOT GET A PRODUCTIVE THREAD LIKE THIS WITH GOOD FEEDBACK ON HOW TO CATCH FISH ! THIS READS LIKE MY WIFES FACEBOOK PAGE WHEN SHE IF FIGHTING WITH HER SISTERS. This forum is not to scold a young fisherman for keepin what some of you consider the "sacred LM bass" They are not the holy grail of fish. HOWEVER the young fella will learn he could of kept more of the smaller ones they clean better and cook better and maybe one of you old farts can show him how you can usually catch 3-4 eyes in about 2 hours for the fying pan and then you can go hit the bass up for fun. We all know catching walleyes is no fun compared to them big chunky bass.

[REDSOXWSCHAMP]

I'll only keep bass if I really need fish to eat and cant catch any keeper crappie otherwise I release them... That being said I take the side of reasonable keeping is just fine. Any deer hunters out there? Are you going to let that big buck walk so he can reproduce his genes and get bigger? On public land there is not one person that would!! Why? Someone else will shoot him! What I'm trying to get at is that just because you release that big bass doesn't mean the next guy will. Just another way to view it.

I would let the BIG BUCK walk by and wait for a doe to shoot, again better to eat

[REDSOXWSCHAMP]

Hell ill say it. I think the young man done killer Seems like the guy complaining has. A pic with fish he kept?

the whole point of the this wasn't to knock on someone for keeping bass, just maybe a few smaller ones, thats all

[Phil Lilley]

TOO BAD WE CAN NOT GET A PRODUCTIVE THREAD LIKE THIS WITH GOOD FEEDBACK ON HOW TO CATCH FISH ! THIS READS LIKE MY WIFES FACEBOOK PAGE WHEN SHE IF FIGHTING WITH HER SISTERS. This forum is not to scold a young fisherman for keepin what some of you consider the "sacred LM bass" They are not the holy grail of fish. HOWEVER the young fella will learn he could of kept more of the smaller ones they clean better and cook better and maybe one of you old farts can show him how you can usually catch 3-4 eyes in about 2 hours for the fying pan and then you can go hit the bass up for fun. We all know catching walleyes is no fun compared to them big chunky bass.

Actually 9LB, I thought this thread has been a good discussion. People has expressed their opinions on keeping bass, big and small. No one has bashed anyone. It's been a good discussion.

Now if this were over on the Table Rock forum... well now!

[powerdive]

Actually 9LB, I thought this thread has been a good discussion. People has expressed their opinions on keeping bass, big and small. No one has bashed anyone. It's been a good discussion.

Now if this were over on the Table Rock forum... well now!

Are you suggesting things might be a little one-sided over there?

They sure do love to drink that Kool-Aid.

[Flysmallie]

Now if this were over on the Table Rock forum... well now!

Yeah don't tell Babler that you cleaned one of his pets or we will have to get the defibrillator out again.

[9LB]

that is so Funny but true - I remember a thread like this going around on the Rock forum about a fella keeping a few small mouth. You would of thought the guy kidnapped some kids and was holding them randsome. The only difference is Stockton has better bass, but don't tell them guys on the Rock forum ! I would rather learn about how you caught them vs. if you kept them. This Forum is famous for a lot of opinions but not much info. The Rock Forum is FULL of information. Guys like Phil Liley, Bill Babler and some other's will point dummies like me in the right direction.

[powerdive]

And why does Stockton have better bass? After all, Table Rock is much more fertile. Of course, the harvest rate seems to be higher up here. Oh, the horror.

I will agree on Babler. He may be a crotchety ol' bass-hugger, but the quality of info he freely provides is second to none. A superb resource. Even when bass are over-populated as they are at TR, they can be tough for weekend warriors to pattern at times.

[Phil Lilley]

This Forum is famous for a lot of opinions but not much info. The Rock Forum is FULL of information.

You think? I've always admired the Stockton forum for it's loyal following and sharing of info. Yea I think the TR forum gets more into technique and tackle (Ned Rig to name one) but you can take that info and use it on Stockton just the same.

Plus I think you have to look at the size and use of the two lakes - and the popularity. I don't think a lot of Stockton anglers want TR's traffic! Same for the forum. Keep it on the down low...

[Phil Lilley]

There are many opinions and experiences out there and this debate will always exist as different folks have different main reasons they fish… i.e. food or fun, or a combination of both. Here are the facts. MDC manages each fishery with the knowledge (based on both surveys and angler creel information) of what species are in there, how they interact with each other, how fast they grow, what the food availability is, year class strength (spawn success), etc. The creel limits are set based on what the lake can support being harvested and still maintain a quality fishery. There is a portion of the population that harvest black bass for consumption, and current regulations allow for that while maintaining a quality fishery. And as is commonly known, the environmental conditions of a given year are far more important to the size of a black bass year class than the number of spawning individuals.

It is hard to deny the fact that if all the keeper bass that are caught were kept, the population size structure would suffer and a notable decline would be observed in catch rates. BUT, we know from angler creels that this is not the situation. According to past creel surveys conducted on both Stockton and Table Rock, anglers released approximately 70-75% of the legal bass they caught. In addition, of the 25% of bass that were harvested on Table Rock, 79% of those were harvested during a tournament, which means they were likely released later. I haven’t got all of the last 2 years of Table Rock creel data analyzed yet, but my suspicion is that this percentage of released fish probably increased. Just look at some of the data from 1995 and 1996, anglers only released about 35-40% and the fishery did well then. With these numbers, we are not at all concerned that too many bass are harvested on Table Rock or Stockton. Stockton is scheduled for another creel survey next year, so we should be able to get some more updated information then.

Shane Bush, Table Rock

Adam Boman, Stockton

MDC Fisheries Biologists

Emailed to me today.