12 inch limit on spotted bass to go into effect April 30

[snagged in outlet 3]

1 hour ago, Quillback said:

Arkansas removed length limits on spots in Beaver lake several years ago.  You can keep 6 of them, any size.  I don't know if it has made any difference at all in the bass fishing.  When there is a good year class of bass, it is usually attributed to good spawn survival due to high water in the spring (more cover).

Have not heard anything from AGFC as to whether the spotted bass rule change on Beaver made any difference.

New set of regulation proposals just came out for Arkansas.  They are proposing a move to 12" on smallmouth in "reservoirs" down from the current 15" in Beaver.  Reason is to make the rules uniform across the state.  Doesn't appear to have anything to do with fish management.  

I took the survey and “voted” against it.  

[Bill Babler]

This is what you get from uneducated people that spend almost no time on a lake and have no idea what they’re doing. 

I had one day last week I had 40 K’s between 15” and 19”.   My neighbor the day before had 30 plus K’s over 15 inches. 

This is strictly a money grab. Within 3 years this wonderful BIG spotted bass lake will be nearly devoid of 15” plus spotted bass. 

The idea that they are dying of old age prior to being 15” is totally unsupported by any type of prolonged research. 

This is more stupid than the brilliant idea of reintroducing otters. 



 

[tjm]

4 hours ago, Bill Babler said:

Within 3 years this wonderful BIG spotted bass lake will be nearly devoid of 15” plus spotted bass. 

can you explain that? 

Is it because people are currently eating lots of the over 15"ers and with length lowered they will not only eat all the existing big fish but also eat all the ones that are between 12" and 15"? 

[Bill Babler]

Absolutely,

MDC has put a bounty on spotted bass by lowering the length limit.  By doing this they are saying we have to many bass in the lake and need the numbers reduced.  
This is totally ridiculous.

Our forage base can support many times the number of predators we have in the lake. 

This is going to put enormous pressure on the guides to kill fish. 99% of Table Rock guides are currently, catch and release on bass which supports the population. With the new moratorium on spotted bass it effectively takes away catch and release. 

MDC is pretty much saying we want them removed from the lake.  Pretty hard for a guide to be catch and release when MDC is saying we want the fish killed. 

The harvest by guide clients along with the current number of yearly 2 person trips will account for 50,000 to 100,000 dead fish a year. 

Now take in consideration the yearly visitors and locals as far as death numbers and a rough estimate is the removal of 1/4 million bass a year from a population that instead of being decreased should at the minimum be sustained. 

Even the removal of 1/2 that number of 12” to 14”  bass are Kentucky’s that will never exceed that 15” mark. 

Let’s face it, a 10 year old with a zebco 33 and a can of worms can go down on most any community dock and catch 6 spotted bass under 15” just about any day March thru October. 

Table Rock lake is one of the best Big Spotted bass fisheries in the country by killing 3/4 pound to 1.5 pound fish you reduce the number that can become 2.5 to 3.5 or even 4 plus pound fish  that Table Rock is known for. 

The idiocy of saying that they are dying prior to reaching 15” is pretty much a straight out lie, or totally uneducated observation. 

That crud is totally dispelled by tournament fishing results and MLF coming several years ago and fishing 2 tournaments here over a several week period and catching 1000’s of pounds of 15 plus inch bass. 
There is absolutely no upside in this new BS regulation. 

The biologist and commission that thinks this is a good idea, so out of state visitors can come and kill our fish and promote fishing licenses sales are going to have a legacy of the people that destroyed  one of the best bass fisheries in the country. 









 

[tjm]

11 minutes ago, Bill Babler said:

MDC has put a bounty on spotted bass by lowering the length limit.  By doing this they are saying we have to many bass in the lake and need the numbers reduced.  

Seriously, are they paying a bounty? have they said don't release any spotted bass? 

14 minutes ago, Bill Babler said:

This is going to put enormous pressure on the guides to kill fish. 99% of Table Rock guides are currently, catch and release on bass which supports the population.

How so? if the guides are currently taking 30-40 >15" spotted bass per day and the clients release those, why would the same clients want to keep the small ones? 

 

16 minutes ago, Bill Babler said:

MDC is pretty much saying we want them removed from the lake.

I did not get that message from the MDC report.

Why don't you and the other guides gather evidence of the large spotted bass numbers there, time dated photos of those 30+ over 15"ers on consecutive days for as many days as you can and petition the Commission for a restoration of the 15" limit? perhaps organize a few tourneys where only spotted bass over 15" count and report the totals to the Commission? If you can show scientific/real evidence that they have made a mistake, and accompany it with a petition having a hundred or a thousand signatures asserting the numbers of over 15" spotted bass taken,  I'd bet they will reinstate the 15" limit. You obviously have evidence that they missed, so show it them. 

[Bill Babler]

I’m not a guide I just fish here 200 plus days a year in all 4 seasons and have for the past 50 years. 

Guides release bass so as not to deplete the population. By lowering the length limit they are obviously stating the population should be reduced.  
If your not seeing this your not realistically looking. 

Never said guides are catching 30 plus 15” K’s per day. They are however exceedingly that number counting short fish most days.  

Scientific evidence is already here just thru the tournament weigh-ins. This isn’t about science for MDC. signatures wouldn’t make a difference  

MLF rates TR as the 7 th. best Big spotted bass lake in the US.  So you’re saying removing small bass and reducing numbers is going to perpetuate that?  

Tournament anglers are pursuing the largest 5 fish bring to the scales limit they can catch. They hope it doesn’t include 2 and 3 pound spotted bass. However spotted bass are easier to catch than LM and are by far the majority of fish weighed in by tournament anglers. 

This of course doesn’t even mention the numbers of spotted bass that are released on the water by anglers that cull caught spotted bass to replace them with larger LM if they catch them  

In catch weigh and immediate release tournaments spotted bass far, far exceed LM. The reason being spot’s are social schooling fish that anglers can catch in numbers. LM though larger are for the most part solitary fish that have to be individually pursued. Keeping in mind that spotted bass as well as any of the black species must be at least 15” to be weighed in any TR Lake tournament format. 

You seem very passionate about killing bass, that’s fine. 






 

[tjm]

15 minutes ago, Bill Babler said:

You seem very passionate about killing bass, that’s fine. 

I just have difficulty believing that any one wants to eat them. 

I might get interested in killing them for the bounty that you talk about, where does one sign up for that?

[ozarksfishin]

In 2 years you won't be able to catch a 3lb Spotted bass on Table Rock, dumb decision by MDC

[Quillback]

52 minutes ago, tjm said:

I just have difficulty believing that any one wants to eat them. 

I might get interested in killing them for the bounty that you talk about, where does one sign up for that?

Spots are very tasty.  I'd take a 13" spot over a 15+" if I was going to keep them.  I would ask of MDC to do some studies of the bass population before and after this change is implemented.  Otherwise all we are going to have is anecdotal evidence.  In other words, it will depend on who you talk to as to the results.

I'm more concerned about overall pressure, there are a lot of us out there using some sophisticated equipment to hunt the fish down.  

There is a guide service out there, I will not name them, that see this as a great change.  They'll be able to send their clients home with a limit of spot fillets if nothing else.  Will it make a difference?  I don't know.

[tjm]

Doesn't Ar.  already have a 12" limit?