bass in decline

[BASSTRACKER]

was wondering if anyone knew if the middle school is still releasing fingerling largemouth.seems i cant recall catching anything smaller than 1lb largemouth in quite some time. and most around 2lbs.and none with tags.does this mean that the aging population of black bass will die out in a few years?? seems a normal lake would have more runts around than 2 and 3 yr old fish. hope it turns around.

[Stan Wright]

The HFFA is still releasing largemouth bass from the hatchery... some just a few months ago.

I wonder if those little 8 inch bass are ending up being fish food for the peacock bass?

One of the reasons you might not have caught more tagged largemouth bass...... Of the 254 fish that I tagged.... only 16 were largemouth.
I admit that I don't normally fish for largemouth. The way I fish brings me more in contact with the peacocks. Peacock bass are more aggressive.

I think it you used plastic worms or jig-n-pig type lures fished slowly in the thick cover.... you'll catch more largemouth.

I just like the fast retrieve of lures near the surface where I can watch the peacock bass chase the lures.

[adpetree]

aloha guys,

not sure if anyone remembers me, Stan you probably might. im the "float tube guy", we have spoke on the phone a few times. well, i just got back from Afghanistan, and im gonna go back to fishing the lake quite often. thought i might weigh in on the largemouth subject. i am a diehard bass fisherman, and have caught more largemouths out of the lake than peacocks, i have caught some nice peacocks, but i definately agree that if you truly "fish for" largemouths, you'll catch em', i havent caught any big ones, but in my ten or so trips before i left, i caught em pretty good. anyway, hope to see you all out on the water in my tube very soon. aloha.

[BASSTRACKER]

actually call me sick but i usually target bass more than the tucs. i like the challenge.just seems they are vanishing, i still catch em but not like it used to be. go to any mainland lake and you get more 1lb or smaller fish then 3lb fish. used to be similar here, id catch 4-5 small runts with a nice one . now i get 1-2 maybe 3 bigger ones and rarely a small one. same tactics same places. i just see it as a sign of a lake in need of help with the future generations missing.

[skunked]

I agree with you. I grew up since age 6 fishing this lake and I remember seeing juvenile largemouths every time I'd go fishing. I hardly ever see them nowadays. I hope they make a miracle comeback, but I don't expect it to happen. I'm pretty sure almost all the released fingerlings end up in the stomachs of tucs within days or even hours of being released into the lake.

[adpetree]

i agree guys,

i dont really have a basis for comparison, but i definately agree, that the largemouth fishing here is NOTHING like anywhere else in the country, and im from Texas, so its definately different, ha ha ha!!

[kahuna bass]

Greetings All,

As it was mentioned long ago, Tuc's will be the down fall of the large mouth bass. I agree with Skunked, as soon as those baby bass fingerlings are introduced into the lake, it's almost an instant meal for the Tuc's.

Tuc's are just too agressive. Though we all appreciate a good "Tuc bite", espacially at Morgan's and Blue boat point, it's their over aggressiveness, that is elimnating the LGM bass.

I really think "catch and keep" for 1 - 2 lb Tuc's, can be a way of saving the LGM bass future. I know this will not be popular with some of you Tuc fishermen, but it can also improve the size of bigger Tuc's.

Many lakes stateside do the same thing, when LGM bass population becomes a problem. Limited take of younger fish (1 lb - 2 lb), of course strictly regulated, has improved the larger size LGM bass.

Lake Wilson is full of small Tuc's, and is starting to effect thier "stint growth".

Just one live baiters opinion

Mel "Kahuna bass"
Gotta love those Tuc's

[OO7:BASSINASSASSIN]

I went fishing last Sunday morning. I saw a white oscar swimming towards me and I noticed two smaller fish swimming under the oscar. It looked like two small largemouths. I made a few casts with a roadrunner and caught a healthy 6" bass. I think it was a wild bass, it was to small to be one from the hatchery.

I think the hatchery is growing out the bass to a larger size to keep predation down. I also heard they do not tag the fish anymore when they release the fish into the lake.

While tucs compete with bass for food and tucs do eat bass, tucs and bass (and pongees) did coexist nicely before the 90's. I remember seeing "hundreds" of baby bass along the weedline during good spawning years. We used to catch choke with floater/minnow or fly rigs by the railing on the ramp. At the same time there used to more small tucs than there is now. People used to line up the bank by the sewage outfall ( like halalu fisherman, almost shoulder to shoulder ) to catch tucs. People used to have 50 to a 100 tucs on their stringers. Those were the days. Unfortunately for me, I was just starting out therefore I kind of missed out on catching a lot of big bass.

[BASSTRACKER]

yep ifor the longest time growin up id think"one day ill catch a bass over 1lb" back in the 70s and 80s catching 2 dozen runt tucs and bass was common at the ramp and all thrue the park. my fav spot was under the water trestle just west of the ramp.........ahhhhhh the days of worms and bobbers. but i agree with assasin, bass and tucs lived together no problem for 40 plus years, this decline is modern and its tied im sure to the loss of crawfish and many other factors. red devils? loss of bluegills?the loss of the weedbeds after the spraying first for hyacinth and then a few yrs later for salvinia? summer fishing the grass beds all along south and north fork was an awesome pattern,lotsa bass and a few tucs too boot.the water treatment outfall changing? tilapia populatin sure dropped, perhaps the algae that fed the shad too leading to less shad? im sure there some of all of it is to blame. im stoked if you saw a few small ones, and if they are wild im really stoked!somehow a bass fought off the red devils and got a few outa the nest!

[Stan Wright]

I spoke with a guy today who told me he is catching lots of bass.
They are mixed in with the tukes chasing shad.... fish deep.

[OO7:BASSINASSASSIN]

Maybe basstracker remembers this, back then when there was more bass, on rare occassions the bass would hit your lure as soon as the lure hit the water. I remember my friend threw a spinnerbait into the california grass, and the water exploded just as it splashed down. We thought dats one big bass, wuz one big pongee. ha ha!

One of the weird sights you would see back then, was a wake would appear meadering along the surface of the water. The wake would speed up and slow down, dissappear and reappear. Sometimes the wake would end with an explosion. It turned out to be a medium to large tilapia. Under the tilapia was medium size lm bass.

[BASSTRACKER]

aw yes. i remeber a few times we paddled our boat close to the grass and had bass literally jump out of the water and into the boat!happened on at least 3 occasions,twice at nite one in the daytime.and yes there were times lures never made it out of the rings of the splash before bass hit em,maybe again one day................for now ill take what i can get and be thankful the waters up for a trip to the lake on a 4 day weekend!hopefully the fish will be cooperative!