Spots to 12" possibly

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

https://mdc.mo.gov/newsroom/mdc-seeks-public-input-proposed-spotted-bass-regulation-change-table-rock-lake?fbclid=IwY2xjawJYL2NleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHR0n1XExAYeLGwtH5E1S8hFi83D9RVmhpz2fUPyO7gEKJDXuj8fcGOya9Q_aem_Ubl--84Xnaj4cV4IVLQWkw

 

[Phil Lilley]

I thought this would get some good discussion.... esp on this forum.  May be I need to nudge Babler.

[Quillback]

I'm neutral on this one.  Several years ago they changed the limit on spots on Beaver Lake.  No minimum size and you can keep up to 10.  I don't know if it has had any impact.  

I'd like to see a slot limit on spots, 12-15".  If so few make it over 15", then those fish should be released.  

[Dutch]

Most of the bass that I catch on Table Rock are spots.  I don’t know if it’s because they have taken over the water or if it’s because the largemouth are reduced due to the overwhelming number of tournaments.  I like to catch bigger fish so if that would increase the largemouth then I would be for it.  If all it would do is provide more small spots to catch then forget it.

They changed the limit on Stockton and I have seen no change.  We rarely catch one down there.

Does MDC have information on what % of the fishermen keep and eat bass?

[Bill Babler]

My question for them is why?  Being on the water 200 plus days a year and really looking at a forage base, that seems to be extremely plentiful, with both gizzard and threadfin shad not to mention perch and crayfish what are they hoping to accomplish. 

Instead of removing game fish why don’t we stock some LM.

If your a sport fisherman what difference does it make to you whether a spotted bass is 13” or 17”?  He’s out there slamming your top water just as hard. 

I don’t believe there is competition for forage and the result of removing bass to grow bigger bass is pretty asinine. 

Maybe in a 1 acre pond that gets fished once a year but in a 45,000 acre reservoir that has huge bass fishing pressure 365 days a year that I believe could support 5 times the bass population we have now with no problem. 
With the rise of the walleye population and really a resurgence of crappie, why start killing spotted bass.

Just wondering why the walleye populations have gotten so good. We all know the reason. 

Not to even mention that this is a great bluegill fishery and really a totally under harvested catfish fishery. 

Table Rock has not been known as a kill and cook lake for the last 60 years. It’s nationally known to harbor 3 species of Black Bass in its pristine waters.   It’s known to be tough, it’s known to make you think, and most of all it’s known to make you happy with what the Lord has blessed you with for your day on the water. Pro’s and Joe’s alike. It can humble anyone or it can produce amazing fish. 

Let’s not cheapen it and make it something that it’s not or was never intended  to be. 

[Gavin]

I kill 100% of the spots that I catch on the rivers in the eastern Ozarks, and in Mid-MO. They hybridize with smallmouth bass and other bass species and really mess allot of stuff up. They are the Bradford Pear of Missouri bass fishing.

 

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

It is a weird discussion, I catch so many spots between 12-15 inches. And if they say the average age of a spotted bass at 15" is 6-7 years its at the end of its life anyhow.  If that's the case we should keep them at 12".   Either way I don't think it will have much of an impact.   I can think of many days in tourneys I wish I could have kept that 1lb rat......but the other guys would have to so it wouldn't have probably mattered

[Bill Babler]

Just a couple of reasons not to kill them. I’ve got literally hundreds more of the same. 

No

 

[snagged in outlet 3]

I love catching big spots.  They’re aggressive and fight well.   

[Bill Babler]

Spotted bass are extremely social, at times the majority of a lake  section population will frequent small area’s. 

On Table Rock from May 20 th. to the 1st.of July there are about 50 locations that will load. 

This is over 43,000 acres, from the road bed up Long Creek to Wooley up the James to Big M on the White.

I have everyone of them marked as do hundreds of fishermen.  During the dates I mentioned if on those locations and they do migrate between locations they are as easy to catch as bluegill on a cricket.

No secret, people and guides know these. Not uncommon to catch 50 plus a day in these areas during that period. These are post spawn fish recovering from the spawn.  They will disperse and chase in open water, but as I’ve stated in the past they are extremely vulnerable during this period. 

Now here is another caveat.  Live Scope.  The bass at times could fool the Jimmies and Joe’s by not sitting on the tops or sides of these locations but suspending at the same depth in the proximity of the humps but over open water.  How do you think that’s going to work with Active Target or Panoptics?

I’ll tell you how, Blood Bath.

Bill Anderson our previous lake biologist told me years ago just the guides harvesting keeper limits for their clients could lower the population of 15” fish. Very few guides will kill them. 

With residents, visitors and guides harvesting  12” fish on live bait and slaughtering them as would be expected as the 12” limit alludes to we need to get RID of them. I’m saying by the 3 rd. season of this, catching a keeper or even a 13” fish will be an issue. 

I heard KVD on a podcast a couple of weeks ago say until these young Scoper’s  came along we really had no idea where fish lived  He said we now know and have made them vulnerable 365 days a year.

With even the current format and length limits they are more at risk now than ever.
 

I know they are showing lots of spotted bass in the sampling, but if harvesting starts at 12” that is going to change in a hurry. 

Worse  yet, it is going to have ZERO to nothing to do with the LM Or SM population.