Dogooder

It appears to be a bacterial infection from a water-born bacteria named Columnaris. It's quite common and not a big deal. It is always present in the water and usually shows up in a fish after it has been stressed in some way, such as after being caught and released in a tournament. The stress makes the fish susceptible to the bacteria and then they get the infection. It is not LMBV. LMBV does not express itself by showing any external characteristics.

They are probably reproducing so well because there is less competition among smallmouth since some individuals are being removed. Reduce a system below carrying capacity and the bass will respond with better reproduction and better growth of remaining individuals. We should just kill all fish that don't matter. Anything that is not a bass goes. Chubs, suckers, minnows, darters, gar, bowfin, etc. Who needs them? I'm sure that it will not affect any populations of remaining fish. All money should just be spent on raising and stocking more bass. It's not very cost-effective, wastes most of the money from natural resources agencies, and usually does not work, but it shuts anglers up, so let's just do that.

Carp scales are usually more circular in shape than that. They also do not have the ctenes that embed the scale into the body like the scale you have a picture of does. Could possibly be from a big drum as well.

When the lake "turns over", water from the bottom portion of the lake mixes with the top portion of the lake. When this happens, nutrients that were not previously available (like phosphorus) come to the top where plants and algae can use them. This is what causes your algal bloom. Conversely, this is what can cause fish kills during fall turnover too because the algae will use of all of the oxygen in the water.

A fish tagging system will work well if you want to track individual fish. However, the most important part of pond management is not tracking growth of individual fish but the overall population. If you just have lengths and weights of all fish you catch, you can track how the entire population increases in size from year to year. And never forget this...you HAVE to catch and remove fish every year or else you will end up with a bunch of small fish regardless.

I did this float wice last year and caught a bunch of senkos fished weightless. And, yes, be prepared for musky. I wasn't when he creamed my horny toad and my heart almost stopped. Beautiful trip though.

If you want a good guide to fish care, look up the "Keeping Bass Alive" handbook from BASS. It was written by two of the most respected fisheries biologists in the US who do a lot of work with largemouth bass mortality in tournaments. Also, there are numerous recent articles out there that give numbers on delayed or post-release mortality. As a fisheries scientist, I recently did some research on the very topic, and it is very surprising and alarming how high delayed mortality can be. Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it isn't happening.

Additives do help in general because it promotes the secretion of the slime coat which protects the fish from bacterial infection and makes it less likely to get any abrasions or injuries during handling at the weigh-in. Cooler water temperature slows down metabolism during the warm summers, holds more oxygen, and is probably the main thing to be concerned with. A good rule of thumb is to fill your livewell with cool water first thing in the morning before the water warms.