The latest research from the 2000 Black Bass Symposium.

Minnetonka largemouth also vie with many other species for space in the lake. A large pike population and fewer perch (important food for largemouth) could be slowing bass growth. Walleye and musky stocking programs also could have an effect. And the greater numbers of largemouth could be competing with each other. In peak populations, growth is slow and recruitment low, while population structure is excellent.

The bottom line is that the Minnesota researchers have realized that bass tournaments provide a wealth of reliable and cost-effective ways for agencies to monitor the health of bass populations. They suggest cooperating further with tournament organizers to sample tournament-caught bass before they’re released and to remove otoliths for age determination from dead bass.

Connecticut’s Bold Leap Forward

As scientists conduct more detailed research, it becomes apparent that lakes, rivers, and reservoirs are unique. State-wide and province-wide regulations fail to take into account the characteristics of fish stocks and the relationship of particular fish populations to available habitat, competitors, and forage. At the same time, managing bass is only half the battle. Managing bass anglers is more challenging.

Undaunted by the challenge, Connecticut stepped up to the plate in what Fisheries Division staffers Bob Jacobs, Eileen O’Donnell, and Bill Hyatt call the “bold leap forward.” After more than 30 years of managing black bass with a 12-inch minimum length limit and six-fish creel limit, Connecticut developed a statewide bass management plan implementing slot length limits and higher minimum length limits in more than a quarter of the state’s lakes, with partial exemptions to these regulations for permitted catch-and-release bass tournaments. The plan grew from the results of experimental length limits on selected lakes and statewide electrofishing surveys.

At Moodus Reservoir, for example, they found 74 percent more 12-inch-plus bass following the implementation of experimental length limits. After the limit, anglers caught bass at the rate of 0.27 fish an hour compared to 0.07 an hour just a couple years earlier. Similar results were seen on other lakes where experimental length and protected slot limits were implemented.

Simultaneously, an eight-year electrofishing survey on over 100 lakes and ponds showed that total annual bass mortality rates were high in 27 percent of largemouth populations and 74 percent of smallmouth populations. Bass and panfish populations were often stockpiled. And many lakes contained surplus forage fish.

Upon reviewing 20 years of data, fishery managers proposed that lake-specific length and creel limits were the most cost-effective bass management tools at their disposal. They proposed that more than one quarter of Connecticut lakes be designated in one of two special categories—Quality Bass Management Lakes with either a 12- to 16-inch protected slot limit or a 16-inch minimum length limit (depending on recruitment rates) or as Trophy Bass Management Lakes with either a 12- to 18-inch protected slot or an 18-inch minimum length limit.

Due to tournament popularity and their major economic boost, it was agreed that tournaments would not be held in July or August when warm surface water temperatures reduce bass survival rates. In some lakes, catch-and-release tournaments will be exempt year-round from the special regulations while pen-holding experiments test actual fish mortality. Connecticut’s new plan has received rave reviews, demonstrating what’s possible when good science and objective public consultation come together.