A Few clarifications
Several posts in this chain had asked some questions that are in need of answers:
1) Big Mouth is what many anglers will call a Largemouth. Many anglers also reference the Largemouth as Green fish and Smallmouth as Brown fish.
2) 250 HP on a small boat:
The manufacturers must abide by regulations and in general this is the options available on boats:
18 & 19 feet = 150 to 175 hp and in a few cases they can go to 200 HP
20 to 21 feet = 150 to 225 HP
21 & 22 feet (that’s as big as the Bass Boats get for now) = 150HP to 250 HP and a few of the large models have an option for a 300 HP.
3) Creel information that was posted and showing a decline in size is based on an average. These numbers fluctuate due to the time of year, quantity of fish allowed and quantity of anglers in any event.
When these calculations are made, the average is taken as follows:
Total smallmouth / number of anglers = average size. Let's expand that by the fact that tournament angling is increasing in population and the number of anglers competing today is up by nearly 35% compared to 5 years ago.
In any event there will be anglers that didn't catch their limits. When you divide the total weight by the number of participants the average will actually go down and this is due to the number of anglers in the even whcih increases the number of anglers that didn't get their limit.
I have been responsible for compiling these reports for fish & game for about 9 years for our organization and I consider myself to be fairly well versed in the data structure.
If you look at the tournament information from several of the laarger groups: NEBA of NH, NH Bass Federation & MA Bass Federation, you will seee that 10 years ago the top teams had between 17 and 21 lbs at the top of the leader board. Today you need close to 20 lbs to place in the top 10 and 22 or 24 lb.s to win. To me this is a clear indication that the large fish are still there as well as the anlgers skills have impoved. ( you do the math = 8 fish per boat and divide that in 18 lb.s & then into 22 or 24 lbs. = nice average isn't it?).
There is another section of the report that may be more important. The report asks for the largest smallmouth & larges largemouth. These numbers will show the averages in large fish over the years.
Another item that needs to be added to the fish size calculations is due to years where there was poor spawn. You may ask what contributes to poor spawn and what does that have to do with average fish size.
Poor spawn can come form a variety of issues:
High Water
Low water
Late ice out
landscape modifications in primary spawn areas
heavy boat traffic; especially from jet ski's in shallow areas that churn up the beds with the water force from the jet drives.
I would like to ask all that feel that the Bass fisherman (tournament anglers) are causing the imaginary decline in bass population a question.
I believe your all fairly clear that we all enjoy the sport or we wouldn't do it. With that in mind, why would we intentionally cause harm to the fishing if it was clearly going to stop us from enjoying the sport.
Here's something to ponder:
Bass Tournament anglers have been practicing catch & release for many years. This means that we put all the fish back into the lake (alive). After a period of time there will be so many fish that the average angler will catch many smaller fish and fewer large fish due to the quantity of fish available (I have spots on the lake that a certain times we can catch 40 to 50 smallmouth with no effort at all and most of them are in the 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 lb range (no it's not during spawn)). Now please don't take this as an insult: The big fish are still around, but we all have to improve our skill levels to find them. In our circle of competitors there is about 15% or less of the competitors that will almost always find the big fish. Why? = They are excellent at finding the fish, figuring out what the fish want to eat, as well as developing a pattern by which they are more successful at catching them.
Last idea:
Perhaps we could set up a meeting place where we could have representation from Fish & Game, a few of the large Bass clubs, and members from the general public (including members of this site), in attendance. An open forum like that could be educational.
If you’re interested, perhaps a few of us could work on the logistics of setting this up.
Regards to all,
John/NH
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