07-12-2013, 06:46 PM
[quote UVU_bass] The only way good bass fishing continues is most bass fisherman either are 100% C and R or practice selective harvest. [/quote]
I'll stay out of the specifics of this case, but I felt that this warranted a comment. I would say that it is fairly rare that 100% C&R is the preferred action. It would maybe be in a case with low bass populations, high pressure, and good growth potential. (maybe Utah lake?, community ponds?) Most places are not like that around here. The most common problem around here seems to be an overabundance of small bass, especially smallies, very few big ones, and poor to sub optimal growth. Reproduction is often too good. In this case, selective harvest is ideal, but it appears many folks have no clue what that really means. It doesn't necessarily mean just take one or two small ones, the ideal, if there are too many small ones is to liberally harvest these little guys and bon appetit! Do release the bigger ones as they are a rare resource in this situation. It would be hoped that with fewer stunted small fish around, the remaining ones would grow faster and more bigger fish would be found. Remember the analogy of the cookie jar. The jar will only hold so much cookie biomass. If the jar is full of crumbs, then the only way to get big cookies in the jar is to dump out some of the crumbs. Scartinez does get this and this was what he's trying to suggest. Carry on.
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I'll stay out of the specifics of this case, but I felt that this warranted a comment. I would say that it is fairly rare that 100% C&R is the preferred action. It would maybe be in a case with low bass populations, high pressure, and good growth potential. (maybe Utah lake?, community ponds?) Most places are not like that around here. The most common problem around here seems to be an overabundance of small bass, especially smallies, very few big ones, and poor to sub optimal growth. Reproduction is often too good. In this case, selective harvest is ideal, but it appears many folks have no clue what that really means. It doesn't necessarily mean just take one or two small ones, the ideal, if there are too many small ones is to liberally harvest these little guys and bon appetit! Do release the bigger ones as they are a rare resource in this situation. It would be hoped that with fewer stunted small fish around, the remaining ones would grow faster and more bigger fish would be found. Remember the analogy of the cookie jar. The jar will only hold so much cookie biomass. If the jar is full of crumbs, then the only way to get big cookies in the jar is to dump out some of the crumbs. Scartinez does get this and this was what he's trying to suggest. Carry on.
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