05-17-2021, 12:15 AM
You are not going to hurt the SMB population by keeping a limit of 8-10 inch fish, infact you will be helping it. Our SMB populations are stunted in many waters, Lake Powell, Rockport, Echo, etc. so keeping those smaller ones will not hurt the population. It is keeping the 2-3 lb fish that hurts the recruitment. Jordanelle is a case in point. It was producing 5-6lb SMB in it's early years, but people would keep all those large females and the size of the average fish is small now. Remember, those large fish have the genetics to produce big fish, so if you take em out of the system, you are left with genetics that produce smaller fish.
LMB are a different case. We have lost so many LMB fisheries and the recruitment is so bad in most that catch and release is almost a necessity in our LMB waters. Deer Creek used to have a great LMB fishery, but removal of the big spawners and the competition from the SMB have pretty much wiped it out. You hardly even catch one anymore. Even Lake Powell LMB are not what they used to be, so I would release all LMB, keep a limit of 8-10inch SMB, and have fun out there !!!
LMB are a different case. We have lost so many LMB fisheries and the recruitment is so bad in most that catch and release is almost a necessity in our LMB waters. Deer Creek used to have a great LMB fishery, but removal of the big spawners and the competition from the SMB have pretty much wiped it out. You hardly even catch one anymore. Even Lake Powell LMB are not what they used to be, so I would release all LMB, keep a limit of 8-10inch SMB, and have fun out there !!!