Took the wife and kids to my Dad's camp over the weekend. It is on a private, natural lake, probably 8 or 10 acres, full of cypress trees, lots of structure, etc. The LMB seem to be getting smaller by the week. We caught 15 to 20 each day, they probably averaged 12 inches with the biggest weighing about 2 lbs. Last year they averaged about a 1 to 1 1/2 lbs., and the year before they averaged 2+ lbs with a 5+ lb fish caught on almost every trip. The numbers seem to be increasing also. There are a few very large bluegill, and apparently not many small ones.
We have been through a cycle several times of the LMB population getting too large and eating all the forage in the lake. This has been followed by a crash in the past, where even the bass die off. It looks like we are headed for that again. We are keeping every bass we catch, but it just doesn't seem like enough. I think my Dad added more CNBG this year also (they may have been eaten already). Any other suggestions to manage the bass and avoid another population crash? We have been through this cycle at least twice before.
