Catch and release bass lakes

[turn_in_poachers]

I was out on Turlte Lake in Shoreview yesterday. Caught one bass that had a big ol' head and mouth, but it was very pale in color and very, very skinny. The head of a 3-4lb'er with the body of a 2lber. My bro in law fishes the lake a lot and he's caught some nice fish. He's said all of them are long and skinny with big heads. Which got me thinking, maybe the C&R bass is working too well. Maybe theres so many bass in there that theres not enough food to go around. Thats why the bass are so skinny. Turlte Lake has been a C&R bass lake for how long now? 10 years? Could this be a logical explanation for the skinny bass?

[Cabela10]

I don't know the answer for this question but selective harvest would work. Where you could keep anything between 12-14 but throw back anything above and under those numbers. For people that keep bass to eat, 12-14 inches would be the recommended size for that anyways.

[Central Bassman]

How big is Turlte lake??

[turn_in_poachers]

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How big is Turlte lake??

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408.62 acres according to the MN DNR. Its a good size lake.

[bgreen82]

i dont know for sure, but keeping bass to eat isnt the most popular is it? i never cared for them and i only eat them in the bwca when i have to cuz we depend on fish up there. never had lmb. but i know demontreville and olson are c&r and good sized fish come out of those lakes.

[Slyster]

Thats what I was thinking? Does anyone even keep bass? Who eats bass? Pike and walleye so much better. So if that's true.. why aren't all lakes filled up with skinny bass?

[lotsofish]

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Does anyone even keep bass? Who eats bass?

Pike and walleye so much better.

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I would guess that there are more "if I catch it, I eat it" fisher-people out there than we're giving them credit for. Personally, I think bass taste ok. They are in the sunfish family after all. That said, I don't normally keep them. My wife prefers the taste of bass over walleye, so I will sometimes keep a couple smaller ones for her. I never keep ones over 13-14" though.

[Central Bassman]

i have never had a bass and dont plan on having one anytime soon. To me it just doesnt seem like a good fish to eat.

[DaveC]

I have fished Turtle Lake for over 20 years. It was always considered a meat lake when I was young for people that ate what they caught, in the same token it was always a very healthy fishery for bass.

Once the C and R regulations went on the lake, the lake went on an upswing for bass. It was not uncommon to catch more than a couple 20" and a lot of 18" and 19" large mouth in an outing.

The fishing actually was so good for a few years, I quite angling there. It was to the point I was just catching and not fishing.

I stayed away for a few years and returned to find the fishing was still great but as stated above, the fish have huge heads and skinny bodies. I questioned an angler that was part of the group that worked with the D.N.R. to make this lake C and R about the depletion of the spot tail shiner that was very important to the make up of this lake. This angler stated the lake was on a down swing for big bass as every lake goes thru.

I don't feel this is the case, without the meat eaters I feel the balance of the lake if way off base. One thing I can;t figure out is why the bass did not start to eat the sunnys as there main forage? Or did they deplete this source also?

This once healthy and vibrant bass lake I feel has been destroyed in the name of catch and release.

I also fish Demonterville that is now as heathy as it seems it could be. Will what ever happen to Turtle Lake happen to Demonterville?

Read past issues of BassMaster Mag. almost every other year they have an article about selective harvesting and the benefits to the lake.

Bass are now the most sought after game fish in America , I have to imagine they are also the most eaten fish also. Years ago the bass was the table fair of many until a genius named Ray Scott taught us the magic of C and R, Ray Scott also endorses selective harvesting for the health of the lake.

[Slyster]

Hehe! I love your comment about how you were catching and not fishing. I was just thinking about that situation today.. how if you caught fish EVERY cast.. it would just not be FUN anymore! It would become a chore. No challenge. Especially for bass since (most) don't keep them.

I love bass fishing because there is so much brain power involved. I would say the OPTIMAL day for a bass outing would be around 4 bass per hour per person. NO more than that! Otherwise it would start to get less challenging.

[Hammer Handle]

Bass are good to eat, especially in the Spring. Towards the summer, they don't taste as good.

They are a thicker piece of fish meat that most other species, and some people like this better.

[MVBASSER]

I live on the north shore of Turtle lake and the bass numbers have increased drastically over the past 10 years. There are some days when i can just go out on my dock with a senko and catch 5-6 bass within 10 minutes.

One thing i know cannot be true is that "there isnt enough food for the bass". My neighbor has a floating water-trampoline and those things are sunfish magnets. There are hundred of thousands of small sunfish and there are many big pods of baitfish cruising the both the east and west points on the lake. Something that might be affecting their health is that the bass here get massive fishing pressure daily in the summer. There are some monsters in there, but the average seems to be around 1.5 pounds. My personal biggest is 6.5 lbs.

Hands down, its my favorite in the metro..

[Meat-Run]

regarding a stunted fish and needs some harvesting isn't necessary IMO. I have fished lakes up near Walker that is all C&R for bass and not one is stunted or looks funny and this program has been going on for at least 10 years with great benefits. I just thing that there might be a bad strain or a bad genetic that spawned but other than that if every fish looked the same maybe a call to the DNR maybe be needed but other than that I wouldn't worry about a thing and let nature take its' course.

mr

[joeyquicksand*]

bass are great till about mid summer, easy to clean, and great fillets. Try some cajun shore lunch, and you'll be supprised. I'd rather eat bass than northern anyday... untill mid summer when the heat kinda makes them a little mushy.

[DaveC]

MVBasser, have you seen the bass with huge heads and small body's? I don't know how long you have lived on the lake, but it always got massive pressure. Long ago angler's could park on Rice Street and also across the street at the church. IMO that is when the lake got the most pressure.

Not trying to call you out on anything, but this use to be one of the smaller lakes with one of the best spot tail shiner populations.

Just trying to figure out what happened to this lake, as you said "Something that might be affecting their health is that the bass here get massive fishing pressure daily in the summer." So I figure you feel there may be something going on also.

[MVBASSER]

yes, i have seen the bass with unproportional head size to body size. Yesterday i went out for a few hours and caught about 10 bass. About 7 out of 10 had larger heads and skinny bodies. The skinnier bass were in shallower and the fatter (not really fat, but somewhat normal bodies) were on the outside weed edges.

Also most of the fish are now POSTSPAWN, and it is normal that they would have skinnier bellies this time of year. I guarantee from years of experiance that the bass WILL plump up more by late June.

I just fished a tournament on Big Marine this past weekend and nobody caught any fat fish, all were either 13-15 inch males or they were the longer, skinnier females. The catch and release shouldnt affect the bass's ability to grow fatter, since lakes like Stieger is C&R and there are fat bass in there.

[DaveC]

Thanks, for the reply MVBasser.