08-26-2008, 12:02 PM
[cool][#0000ff]You know what I would REALLY like to see in Mantua? Flathead catfish. Now those are some bluegill eatin' machines. But, as they get bigger, they would also vacuum up the bass and everything else in the lake. They got no pride and no standards. They eat anything that don't eat them first.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]NOPE. Mantua is a small closed system with limited depth and an overabundance of weeds. It is too small for much of anything except what is in there right now. Even just a few tigers or northerns would ruin the overall fishery in short order. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I agree with Bassrods about needing a more aggressive limit on bass. As the top predator they are the only means of controlling the bluegills. So, if none of them are allowed to get big enough to clean up their share of the bitty blues the balance gets way out of hand.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Anglers are the same everywhere. They feel like they have to keep their biggest fish to take home and show off to everybody. Since keeping one big bass is legal on Mantua, that means a lot of larger fish leave the lake every year...and there are not that many large ones in there. Every large bass that goes home in the cooler reduces the predation on small bluegills and also shrinks the breeding stock for more bass.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Mantua makes a good argument for individual regulations on each water rather than a statewide limit applicable to all waters. It has the potential to produce some very large bass, but under the current regulations there are not enough bass allowed to get larger.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We might also point a finger at DWR, for using Mantua as a "brood pond" for all their bass plantings up to this point. The supply is not inexhaustible. Hopefully the new warm water hatchery operations will remove that element from Mantua's problems.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]NOPE. Mantua is a small closed system with limited depth and an overabundance of weeds. It is too small for much of anything except what is in there right now. Even just a few tigers or northerns would ruin the overall fishery in short order. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I agree with Bassrods about needing a more aggressive limit on bass. As the top predator they are the only means of controlling the bluegills. So, if none of them are allowed to get big enough to clean up their share of the bitty blues the balance gets way out of hand.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Anglers are the same everywhere. They feel like they have to keep their biggest fish to take home and show off to everybody. Since keeping one big bass is legal on Mantua, that means a lot of larger fish leave the lake every year...and there are not that many large ones in there. Every large bass that goes home in the cooler reduces the predation on small bluegills and also shrinks the breeding stock for more bass.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Mantua makes a good argument for individual regulations on each water rather than a statewide limit applicable to all waters. It has the potential to produce some very large bass, but under the current regulations there are not enough bass allowed to get larger.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]We might also point a finger at DWR, for using Mantua as a "brood pond" for all their bass plantings up to this point. The supply is not inexhaustible. Hopefully the new warm water hatchery operations will remove that element from Mantua's problems.[/#0000ff]
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