Fish do not grow any bigger once they hit the frying pan. The more bigger bass you leave in the lake the more often you will catch bigger fish. And vice versa, the more bigger ones you take out, the more often you catch smaller fish. This assumes there is a predator - prey balance. Why would one honestly expect any thing different when you actually think about what you are doing? How can you catch bigger fish more often if they have been previously removed?. It is a size management process. The numbers of bass in each size group become smaller with each increase in size group. For instance there are many more bass in the 4"-6" group than in the 12"-14" size group and more 12"-14"'s than in the 24"-26" size group. The "fish fairy" does not magically put more big fish back in the lake overnight to replace the ones that are removed. It takes quite a bit of time (usually numerous years) to grow truly big fish. Big fish are a RESOURCE. You don't cut big trees out of your lot and expect them to be quickly replaced by new big trees. Lumber companies wish it was that easy.

Many fishermen think the underwater resource is limitless simply because they cannot actually see beneath the surface and the fishing is CURRENTLY great. But with heavy harvest those same fishermen are soon saying this lake is "fished out". And it may well be severly fished down with overharvest of large fish. Restraint, usually "required by law" is the only thing that allows the resource to recover from heavy and often naive or foolish harvest.

aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine -
America's Journal of Pond Management