Quote:
Originally Posted by Dick
It is common for the female bass to dump 10,000 eggs into 2 nests. It is true that it is the male bass that guards the eggs and protects the fry. This is happening all over the body of water resulting in multiple Millions of eggs. There is no way the lake can support all of this huge abundance (the panfish eat some of the eggs).
Many studies done over the years show that fishing has had little or no overall negative impact on the overall bass population.
Further, if the angler catches and then immediately releases, the bass will swim right back to the nest.
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Hmm. It’s early and maybe my brain isn’t working yet but I’m missing the point here I think. You seem to want people to take and eat bass? Im not an expert on bass populations but having fished the lake for forty years I don’t think there are more than there were (excluding rock bass). The actual size of the fish has certainly changed. Back in the 70’s and 80’s catching 3lb or better small mouth was common. Not so anymore. The last comment about the bass swimming back to the nest that’s going to always happen as during the spawn they have to be released.
Maybe someone more involved in bass tournament fishing can toss in some comments here with good info on the health of the bass population.