5 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

we do have a slot limit on free flowing rivers in TN. You can keep fish under 13 and over 17, the ones inbetween 13 and 17 have been found to be the prime breeders, opposite of what everyone thinks so they protect that length range. The ones over 17” have already spread their DNA for several years 

See now that's a rule that makes perfect sense where you are.  They've researched the issue, established a restriction, and implement it which greatly helps protect the biomass of spawning age fish.

 

I think sometimes we forget that what works for one state may not work for another.  Tennessee and Minnesota are very different and have different climates.

1 minute ago, gimruis said:

See now that's a rule that makes perfect sense where you are.  They've researched the issue, established a restriction, and implement it which greatly helps protect the biomass of spawning age fish.

 

I think sometimes we forget that what works for one state may not work for another.  Tennessee and Minnesota are very different and have different climates.

The only reason they think that slot limit hasn’t helped much is because not many harvest smallmouth and the majority of people that do harvest  don’t care about the rules. 
 

then you have thousand of birds that can’t read the regulations 

1 minute ago, TnRiver46 said:

The only reason they think that slot limit hasn’t helped much is because not many harvest smallmouth and the majority of people that do harvest  don’t care about the rules. 

That's unfortunate.  Not a big fan of rule breakers, aka poachers.

Yeah they suck. The game wardens say they are stretched too thin to catch them but that’s BS. I went to college with like 7 game wardens and we all still talk frequently.  they are well paid to do little to stop it . 

6 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

The game wardens say they are stretched too thin to catch them but that’s BS.

There aren't near enough of them here.  They have massive areas to cover.  I've never encountered one in 25 years of fishing and hunting here.  A larger presence wouldn't bother me one bit here.

I saw two of them checking the same guy on a bridge Tuesday. At least they both rode in the same 80,000 pickup truck 

19 hours ago, MassBass said:

The fishery in my backyard, a fairly sizable system, is all stunted smallmouth. Three years here and I have not caught a solid 3lber, or really anything close to that. If you ask locals, you might hear a legend, but as of now I believe the gene pool is stunted. 

 

I have a pond like that near me. It's a great-looking pond with only one house, but there are only small bass in it. I think its gene pool is also stunted. I was working the shoreline and caught 15 dinks. So, I went deep and caught nada. I've asked the people who live in the one house and they've only caught dinks.

1 hour ago, ol'crickety said:

 

I have a pond like that near me. It's a great-looking pond with only one house, but there are only small bass in it. I think its gene pool is also stunted. I was working the shoreline and caught 15 dinks. So, I went deep and caught nada. I've asked the people who live in the one house and they've only caught dinks.

So in a small pond without any selective harvest, that will happen. I have seen it to myself. In the case I mentioned, it is what I would consider big water, and it is just smallmouth that are stunted. I have caught a fair share of big quality largemouth, and I have caught decent numbers of smallmouth, but nothing big. Compared to other Atlantic drainage rivers I have fished, I find it unusual. I will consider that for meat fishermen and poachers, big aggressive smallies will be the first to be taken.  

Hmmmmmm,

I feel like my river is either rebounding or the pendulum of universal equality is swinging my way.

Over the past 5 or 6 years I've fished  the same stretches of river for 400 to 600 hrs annually. In that time I've gone from an average of 1 fish per 4 hrs to about 1.5 fish per hour. And the average size seems to have increased as well. But I havent improved that much.

I can remember grinding for days just to catch 1 or 2 dinks after skunking day after day. Dragging a senko for hours, seeing 12 topwater blowups in one day and never getting a single hook into flesh.

I guess the state of New York is not suffering from a decline. Take a look at these two threads incase you missed them.

 

 

https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/poachers-backpacks-bass/
 

ironically in the state with the best SMB fishing 

8 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/poachers-backpacks-bass/
 

ironically in the state with the best SMB fishing 

That is insane 

The fishing is great but the traffic on my river as become unbearable...even on a weekday. We have two rental places in the area and they drop hundreds of floaters in the water every day. Each with a bunch of liquor and a boom box. Even the number of floating locals has gone through the roof.

 

No kidding the floaters can cover the river from bank to bank and it doesn't bother them to use the side of your boat as a handrail.

On 6/15/2023 at 3:31 PM, TnRiver46 said:

The only reason they think that slot limit hasn’t helped much is because not many harvest smallmouth and the majority of people that do harvest  don’t care about the rules. 
 

then you have thousand of birds that can’t read the regulations 

We have a slot limit for black bass in rivers. I don't think much research went into it but I really think it's helped the bass population. Most locals here keep and eat EVERYTHING they catch. Hopefully some only eat what's legal.

 

I don't really keep anything out of the river anymore. I LOVE to eat bass but I catch a lot. A few guys like me could do some real damage if we were eating them and I'm not the only one who can catch them. Once in a while we'll keep a small one (under 12 inches) if it's hooked bad but that doesn't happen much because I smash down the barbs.

 

I have permission to fish a private pond that's loaded with small stunted bass. I can catch 50 in a couple of hours. Once in a while I'll go there to get some largemouth for the fry pan.