I live and fish in an unusual environment. here on Kauai bass fishing is
limited to few reservoirs that are open to the public. Several years back
I discovered a small hidden reservoir that had not been fished in over ten
years. I began packing in there a couple times a week. it was really cool
to be able to flip a lure out and catch a LM on every other cast. Most were
about 1 pound with a rare 2 pounder every now and then. Any day would
produce 8 to ten bass in an hour.
Bait fish were rarely seen. I would every now and then see a small tilapia
or bluegill but not often. I believe they were just eaten as fast as they
were spawned.

I began taking a few bass for the frying pan every trip in. I took out 60
bass around a pound each over a 6 month period. I still was able to get
plenty of action even though this water was little over 100 feet wide by 600
feet long and 8 feet deep. It was not long before we started catching some
larger fish. By the second year of culling the small fish we were catching
3 pounders on a regular basis. Action definitely slowed as we now were only
catching 2 to 3 bass per hour but nearly all were larger. Small bait fish
are now seen frequently so I can only think that it is because of the fewer
number of larger fish preying on them. That I feel is also one reason of a
lower catch, the remaining bass are not as hungry.

I think some culling of smaller fish where they are over abundant is proper
and healthy for good fishing.
No science, just personal observation of one case.

Ken


"go-bassn" wrote in message
...
I've said it before Ronnie, the overpopulation of small bass on any lake
is
99% of the time based on an inbalance somewhere in the water's ecosystem.
The problem of stunted fish generally means that those fish don't have
enough to eat. Removing small bass is nothing more than a temporary fix;
It had nothing to do with the cause of the problem & it has no bearing on
solving it.

Balanced ecosystems have a way of mainting healthy populations at all
levels, that's my belief at least.

Warren
--
http://www.warrenwolk.com/
http://www.tri-statebassmasters.com
2004 NJ B.A.S.S. Federation State Champions



"RGarri7470" wrote in message
...
I say turn em all loose.


on some lakes that adds to the problem of overpopulation of small bass.
Ronnie

http://fishing.about.com