A question has occurred to this feeble brain. I have noticed the smallie fishing has become very tough this year. Is it possible that the Tigers are begining to have a serious impact on em, or is it some other condition that I'm not aware of?
Leaky and the Sparkinator
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Tigers have always had a negative impact on them. But I think the high water and unusual temperatures this season has created different patterns. Did not see any visible beds in the same locations as last year nor at lake EX either. Oh well, plenty of other places to go.
It's not ust you i have noticed the same thing. Last June i caught about fifty in one weekend. It was some fast action. This year it never happened I've caught about six smallies there this year. That is why I'm becoming quite fond of Mantua. I've located the good spots for the Largies and am having great success.
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My biggest problem with that is I really prefer the smallies because they fight soooooo much better. I've had good success at Mantua also and have been going there instead, also. I am looking for my favorite Pine to come back, hopefully.
Leaky and the Sparkinator
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The large mouth are in the same boat, hard to find...
The bigger the Tiger the bigger the fish they will eat, The carp numbers are down too...
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I don't know if Northerns are quite the same as Tigers, but I know that at least in Michigan they generally had a significant impact on bass numbers. However, they also had a positive impact on the average size of the bass in a particular body of water.
I have heard that pike will attack fish half their length and I believe it. As a kid, we would catch suckers in the creek (12-15" suckers) and fish them under a giant bobber for pike in some of the lakes. It's amazing, but we would often catch 24-30 inch pike on those suckers.
If tigers are anything like that, then I imagine that a 40" tiger would have no problem gobbling up a lot of the bass in the lake.
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Your right, they eat anything that don't eat them first...
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Theres plenty of dam carp in that lake in fact theres to many. The small mouth are still there and in my opinion there actually much bigger this year then last year. The problem I am seeing is that there aren't many small bass most of the ones I've been catching are two in half to four in half pounds. Still haven't caught a single large mouth this year though.
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