Had a good time electrofishing with Justin today. Despite my totally incompetent net skills, we caught quite a few fish. Largest by weight was 17.5 inch LMB at 3.85 pounds, 128% RW. Other good LMBs 15 inches and over -- biggest we shocked 18 inches -- seemed to be 100% plus, though not as fat as the heavyweight. Big gals are doing well.

But it was obvious that the smaller LMB weren't flourishing the way they ought, most 9 to 14 inch fish were below 100%.

On the plus side, tons of BG and RES of varying sizes, obviously they are reproducing & doing fine. Lots of YOY LMB too, most of which will be eaten. Saw half a dozen TP around 8 to 10 inches, but only netted two. They seem more resistant to electricity than other fish! One HSB around 14 inches.

Weeds loaded with fry, mostly BG and RES. Welcome change from last year which I attribute mostly to weed habitat improvements.

Loads of fish, something like 40 to 50 LMB in 35 minutes along with good numbers of RES and CNBG. RES surprised me a bit at how numerous they are, as I rarely catch them.

Look forward to Justin's report & recommendations. Lake has definitely improved, but still has a long way to go.

Sounds like good news Frank. Looks like it might be time to catch some of the smaller lmb. A Mepps spinner or those type of smaller baits should work well this time of the year for thinning the herd if you decide to go that way.

Did you fin clip your Northern lmb or do anything to determine which lmb are the Florida's or Northern's? Do you know what the larger lmb are?

Good suggestion re Mepps, Tracy. We did give a neighbor about a dozen underperforming LMB and one unlucky tilapia, but I'm sure Justin will recommend taking out lots more bass in the 10 to 14 inch range. Once they hit 15 inches the LMB seem to do better, I guess plenty of suitable forage fit into their mouth.

Justin could identify Northern vs Florida bass just by markings, which is better than I can do. He seemed to think it was a mixed population, with some of the bigguns Fla and some Northern. Of course, likely many of the 2018 Y0 LMB are F1s, which is fine by me.

No fin clipping, didn't think of it. Too excited about being on the water and seeing all those fish. Found a lunker hotspot, too!

A competent net man would have caught twice as many fish as I did. Oh well. At least my forage fish seem to be reproducing & thriving. Last year that wasn't happening.