Fish care during the spawn

[Flysmallie]

25 minutes ago, merc1997 said:

that slot limit does not pertain to all texas lakes,

You didn't say all Texas lakes. You said Fork.

And you are right. They do have great fishing in most of their lakes. But I think that has to do with a lot of things and not just stocking. I'm not against stocking, hell I really don't care. But don't expect the same results that Texas does just because you drop 500,000 fingerlings in the lake each year. They have a warmer climate, they have a different strain of bass and they do stock fish. But take a look at a lake like Falcon. It's warm, it has Florida bass, they stock roughly 250k to 500k each year. But it also has less pressure. Hell it even has Mexicans with gill nets catching and selling every fish they can. Still out produces Table Rock.  Stock away, makes no difference to me. But a slot would be a good thing on a lake like Table Rock. I'm not going to listen to the complaint that people aren't smart enough to know the difference.

[mjk86]

39 minutes ago, merc1997 said:

that slot limit does not pertain to all texas lakes, and texas has great fishing in all of their lakes because of the stocking programs.  texas only took about 4 years to have bass back in their lakes after the lmb virus kill that they also experienced.  table rock is just now begging to have a decent bass population.  still not the best in the world, but compared to what we have suffered through since the kill back in the late 90's, it is better.  i can tell you that for many years after the fish kill, boat ramps were pretty much empty.  how many tax dollars to you suppose were not generated in all those years of empty boat ramps????  way more that the cost of stocking bass.  it could be that a slot limit might help with increasing spawning success.  but, we still have people that can not tell the difference in a kentucky and a largemouth.  so, a slot limit presents a problem.

bo

Texas has better bass fishing because of a longer growing season, different climate, different lake structure, proffered habitat , more forage...there is no way to compare fishing in texas to fishing at table rock.  The MDC stocks the crap out of largemouth in lots of missouri lakes and NOT ONE produces the fish that Fork does.  Its just simply wrong of you to assert that if MDC stocked table rock with LMB there would be lake fork type fishing.  Its just simply impossible.  If you were right than there would be many smaller waters in missouri that are stocked by the MDC that produce like texas...yet none of them do.  You have a personal dislike for the MDC, thats all.  Which begs the question...why do you live here, and why do you enjoy everything that the MDC has offered?

Get off your darn pedestal man and move to texas, you live and fish in missouri all the time yet have nothing but negative things to say about the MDC.  As you said though....Just my opinion.

[MOBass]

Is there any factual evidence to indicate the bass fishery at Table Rock is in decline and in need of protection?  I looked at the MDC page and it appears that the bass population is healthy.

[mjk86]

Just now, MOBass said:

Is there any factual evidence to indicate the bass fishery at Table Rock is in decline and in need of protection?  I looked at the MDC page and it appears that the bass population is healthy.

None whatsoever.  Pure speculation.

[Champ188]

For all the years that I worked for the statewide newspaper in Arkansas and covered AGFC meetings, I'd like to have a dollar for every time I heard "We have to do what the general fishing/hunting public wants." The only definition I was ever able to come up with for "general fishing/hunting public" was any user group other than the one I was identifying with at the moment.

Game and Fish directors in most states seem to love to hide behind that line of poop. I'll give Texas credit where credit is due ... they sure seem to have the best interest of their fisheries at heart and they had one heckuva fisheries director in old Durocher for a lot of years. He nor none of his people were afraid to make decisions that might not please everyone.

As we all know, when multiple user groups are involved, you're never gonna please everyone. But it seems to me that bass --- and certainly the state's bellcowt bass fishery, Table Rock --- has gotten very little attention for a number of years. All things laid on the Table, my No. 1 interest isn't more revenue for the area, it's catching more bass every time I go fishing! But Bo does make a great point about the revenue. If trout produce more revenue than bass statewide, I'd sure like to see some figures to prove it. Yet a TON more taxpayer/license buyer money is spent on trout than bass.

The things we're talking about in this thread --- other than supplemental stocking --- would cost absolutely nothing to implement. Arkansas bass fishermen organized in the Hot Springs area and managed to get the ear of the AGFC and see some changes made in striper stocking, bass stocking, regulations and other things. The group was/is called the Arkansas Black Bass Coalition. There's no reason that something similar couldn't be organized here.

[Champ188]

14 minutes ago, mjk86 said:

Texas has better bass fishing because of a longer growing season, different climate, different lake structure, proffered habitat , more forage...there is no way to compare fishing in texas to fishing at table rock.  The MDC stocks the crap out of largemouth in lots of missouri lakes and NOT ONE produces the fish that Fork does.  Its just simply wrong of you to assert that if MDC stocked table rock with LMB there would be lake fork type fishing.  Its just simply impossible.  If you were right than there would be many smaller waters in missouri that are stocked by the MDC that produce like texas...yet none of them do.  You have a personal dislike for the MDC, thats all.  Which begs the question...why do you live here, and why do you enjoy everything that the MDC has offered?

Get off your darn pedestal man and move to texas, you live and fish in missouri all the time yet have nothing but negative things to say about the MDC.  As you said though....Just my opinion.

Bo did not say Table Rock would ever become Lake Fork with supplemental stocking. What he said is that even with all of the intense pressure that Fork gets, it churns out lunker after lunker IN PART because Texas Parks & Wildlife stocks it.

I believe his point was that if stocking can keep Fork's bass population in prime condition, it could also help at Table Rock.

And there's also the little matter that your opinion is diminished in my eyes by the fact that you said not too long ago right here on this forum that you've killed every keeper bass you've ever caught out of Table Rock for the last umpteen years.

And that's just MY opinion.

[MOBass]

33 minutes ago, mjk86 said:

None whatsoever.  Pure speculation.

Cool.  Discussing greater restrictions with no facts to indicate a declining bass population or that said restrictions would necessarily improve the fishery.  Just making sure I was up to speed.

[merc1997 Bo]

i will live it with this.  when you build a pond to fish does it ever get full of fish without stocking??  basically what the mdc did with table rock after the fish kill is to build a pond, put a male and female bass in it, and allow fishing, and you can see the result, it has taken 20 years to build something you could call a decent bass population again.

the mdc spends plenty of money for trout, but trout fisherman, and nothing against them at all, do not generate as many tax dollars as what is spent on bass fishing.  but, the mdc is always crying they don' t have enough money.  pretty easy to figure out the solution to that , and that is to build better fisheries and draw people here to fish instead of texas.  

i do remember when table rock was the top rated bass lake in the country and people from all over came hear to fish.  table rock is not even in the top 100 lakes.  that is a pretty sad fact.

bo

[dan hufferd]

16 hours ago, Champ188 said:

I believe both abkeenan and bo have solid suggestions for additional protection of our spawning bass. Frankly, anything would be an improvement over letting tournament and recreational fishermen alike have the run of the lake during the spawn. And with tournament anglers, the argument that they are only catching five is invalid because those who are successfully targeting beds will continue to cull all day long, so they are relocating no telling how many fish during the course of a day away from their beds.

I keep hearing that the TR bass fishery is doing fine and that we're seeking problems to fit a solution, but how do we what it COULD be if we never attempt to rise aboefore bve the status quo? Why not TRY some protective measures for our spawning fish? Why not TRY some supplemental stocking, especially for the less-aggressive LM species (as opposed to brown and spotted bass)? It certainly would seem to the layman's eye that the forage base is adequate to support a greater population of bass.

And Dan, take heart ... I dearly love to eat walleye but I do release them during their spawning season. I know it's not a common practice but it would be nice if it was. For that matter, they could be given the same sort of seasonal "immediate release" protection as we're discussing for bass. Considering how much Arkansas and Missouri fish and game departments have spent stocking them, I'm a bit surprised they don't protect them more.

I like you Champ. You are all right I don't care what they say.

To bad people can't just be honest and take a pic' with measurements and then let the thing go right where you caught it,take the best 5 and be done. Then this discussion would be moot. I have youtube friends that that don't fish for anything but fun they do this all the time, and none of us question each other about our measurements. There is no reason lie. Add some bucks and prestige and watch the cheating begin. 

I never question anyone's picture on this forum, I just say "Good job" and I am happy/jealous. It is important to remember why and when we started fishing in the 1st place, and why we share our successes with others. I know this all sounds naive, but I don't care. If someone has to make a competitor tell the truth then that person is not competing they are stealing.

Sorry I am done now, wow I need to get on the lake !      

   

[Champ188]

11 minutes ago, dan hufferd said:

I like you Champ. You are all right I don't care what they say.

To bad people can't just be honest and take a pic' with measurements and then let the thing go right where you caught it,take the best 5 and be done. Then this discussion would be moot. I have youtube friends that that don't fish for anything but fun they do this all the time, and none of us question each other about our measurements. There is no reason lie. Add some bucks and prestige and watch the cheating begin. 

I never question anyone's picture on this forum, I just say "Good job" and I am happy/jealous. It is important to remember why and when we started fishing in the 1st place, and why we share our successes with others. I know this all sounds naive, but I don't care. If someone has to make a competitor tell the truth then that person is not competing they are stealing.

Sorry I am done now, wow I need to get on the lake !      

   

Well said, Dan. I particularly agree about keeping in mind why we fish to begin with ... to relax and enjoy everything God has created for us and entrusted us to take care of.