Sandman how long does it take for the cycle to run ? Can you provide a description of what you see over one cycle with approximate times ? Does the tree cover shade out most sunlight ?There is more going on than just to many LMB IMO.
The first couple of cycles we didn't really know what was happening (as opposed to now knowing what is happening but not how), so my observations are mostly from the last cycle.
The cycle seems to run about 6 or 7 years. When the die-off occurs, there are very few fish to be found of any species. After a couple of years we start to see a small # of large bass. This is the fishing we like best, we catch a fair number of large bass on any given trip. after a couple of years of this, we see a dramatic decrease in the size and increase in quantity. We go from catching 8 or 10 fish 3lbs and up to catching 20 or 25 fish 1 1/2 and under. When in this phase we very seldom catch anything over 2 lbs. After a year or two of this, you can fish all day for 1 or 2 fish. The population seems to rebuild for a 2 or 3 years, then we go back into the big bass phase.
I mistakenly said before that we kept all the fish under 3lbs when in the large fish portion of the cycle. We actually did use a slot this past go around. Not exact, but roughly we released everything under 12" and over 3lbs.
There are a lot of open areas in addition to the thick cover, so a good bit of sunlight gets to the majority of the lake. There are about 10 of us who fish it, but irregularly.
