New regs on Spotted bass for Truman Lake

[Flysmallie]

Must be a small picture.

But I agree with what you are saying. There are gangs of them in the James River that run 14 to 16 inches. Lots of fun when you run into them.

[dtrs5kprs]

The pic is there, but must have a glitch. It shows up until the page finishes loading, then "poof", gone. It's a nice spot. I have dozens of pics of spots from TR that apparently shouldn't be there. Babler has lots more, as have others who post. The whole fish killer issue came up this past summer because some guys got on big schools of 15"+ spots and posted pics. They exist.

Had not followed this issue much, but went and looked through some old posts. Looks to me like there are some folks from mid-MO who are upset that their favorite lakes are aging and changing, and have not learned to adjust. Or aren't willing to. 

Heck, I'm not thrilled that 43 is around the corner for me, but I'm adjusting. Age changes stuff, to put it mildly.

We all had to really learn to target kentuckies at TR after the LMBV kill. Couldn't just go up the James and catch blacks like before. We'd all caught spots, but it took a lot of learning to be able to catch good ones. It's possible.

 

[SpoonDog]

From what I've read, 6-7 years is the maximum lifespan for spots, not the average.  Old fish don't grow as fast as young fish (just like people), and while five years isn't a long time in terms of human lifespan, it is for spots.  Most aren't gonna make it to five years and 15", much less seven years. 

Without trying to state the obvious, TR and Truman are different reservoirs, and the White River coming out of Arkansas is a whole lot different than the Osage coming out of Kansas.  Table Rock's max depth is what, 220'? And for a good part of the growing season you have adequate dissolved oxygen (DO) levels through a good chunk of the water column. Deepest spot on Truman is 80' and a whole lot of the lake is much shallower.  I'd be willing to bet oxygen is depleted higher up in the water column than TR, and that low-oxygen conditions last longer and are more severe on Truman than Table Rock, too. 

If big spots like deep water, and there isn't much deep water in Truman, perhaps that explains the lack of big spots in Truman.  If a 12" Truman spot doesn't have the access cool, deep, well-oxygenated water a TR spot does- maybe it doesn't extra boost in growth a TR spot does.  Maybe it has less to do with reservoir aging or angling pressure or size limits or skewed fisheries data- maybe the differences are just a reflection of the fact Table Rock and Truman are two very different systems. 

[dtrs5kprs]

Sure there are differences in the two lakes, but spots thrive in all sorts of water- TN River lakes, CA mountain lakes, West Point in GA, on and on.

My point was more that it is laughable to claim there are few 15" K's in TR, and that it knocks the lifespan and growth rate info into question.

Truman certainly has deep enough water to support spots, and enough clarity in places. Pomme arm, Tebo, etc. The extra current that routinely comes through Truman might even be a plus for them, if not for their growth.