Once again, great information from long-time BassResource partner and contributor, Bob Lusk!

 

Good stuff.

His position is exactly mine. I don't keep large bass! I know of people who routinely keep bass over 5 lbs. Oh my! I would release every one of those. Like Bob said... every 10 lb bass was once 5 lbs but not if he met the skillet. Where I fish, we catch enough, if we want fish for dinner, I don't see the need for anything culled over about, say, 2 lbs. The 1-2 lb bass, eatin' size.

The "max effect" is most important at the beginning of the lake cycle, so new impoundments/lakes/ponds offer the best chance to grow record bass (i.e. competitors, that interfere with bass growth cycle, keep bass from reaching full potential in established lakes).  With that said then most likely in a record bass as time goes on is going to come from private waters, not public waters, I don't know how many new public lakes are starting from scratch, unless huge draw-downs or fish kills reboot the cycle.  

Bob Lusk is one of a kind.  I enjoy his articles the most when I'm researching pond management.  Not only is he very insightful, he's a great writer with a story to tell that keeps you engaged.  

So, just looking at a few charts, it sounds like a fish should be harvested if it's about .75 lbs below it's recommended weight for its length. Does this sound about right? 

On 4/20/2016 at 9:27 AM, livemusic said:

His position is exactly mine. I don't keep large bass! I know of people who routinely keep bass over 5 lbs. Oh my! I would release every one of those. Like Bob said... every 10 lb bass was once 5 lbs but not if he met the skillet. Where I fish, we catch enough, if we want fish for dinner, I don't see the need for anything culled over about, say, 2 lbs. The 1-2 lb bass, eatin' size.

Me too. I have a slot I'll keep. usually between 12-15" fish. That works out to 1-2lb fish and every pond, lake and river has plenty of those size bass. When a bass reaches 3 lbs, it's starting to beat the odds and you should leave it alone if you like catching fish over 3 lbs. I never see a bass that's 14" and 2.5 lbs where i fish. Even the big bass over 5 where I fish don't haev big guts on them, but 5-7 pounders are common.

Awesome.

I could listen to Bob talk all day

Wisdom defines Bob Lusk however it's his humor and down to earth manner that makes him so enjoyable to listen to. Thank you for sharing this vedio.

When California transplanted Florida strain LMB into San Deigo city lakes back in 1959 giant bass wasn't the goal or even thought of. Increasing the average size bass caught from 2 lbs to 3 lbs was the goal. The FLMB program in California was terminated and considered a failure because they were harder to catch and the rates went down per man hour fished.

Then the double digit bass started showing up and everything change!

Tom

I argue about this topic with my friend all the time. Any time he catches a big one he wants to keep it to eat. He ain't starving and in fact has  a gut on him. I tell him if he puts it back he can catch it again. He says if he doesn't put it back he's making room for another big one. But I got my friend into kayak fishing and he finds it hard to keep any from that platform.

Bob nails it when he says a 3 pounder won't grow to 5 pounds in a skillet.

Enjoyed the video, I don't go fishing for spawning bass, in fact last weekend was the first time I even attempted to do so, it still would have been for a short photo op and then back in the water she would have gone, not only should the fish have the opportunity but so too should our children and their children be able to enjoy our fisheries, great advice from Bob.