Great question! I am assuming you are talking about largemouth bass. Overfishing and overharvesting are two totally different concepts. Let's take each concept. Overfishing means presenting baits to the same fish over and over. Bass can certainly become conditioned over a fairly short period of time, and stop biting the hand which tries to catch them. Overharvesting, on the other hand, alters the population of fish. The bad news of overharvesting is depletion of older fish. The good news is that largemouth bass recruitment can be high, so those fish can replace themselves over time. Either way, both concepts can seriously disrupt your fishery, if attention isn't paid. This may make good fodder for a Pond Boss article. We'll ponder the details and try to write about it for the May/June issue.
