I'm curious as to how you guys would classify the fishery at RM? For trophy BG, for Trophy LMB, or balanced? .... ( I know, its FANTASTIC. but I'm curious about how it would be looked at management wise)
With the size BG you guys have shown, I have never seen bigger so consistently , so that makes it trophy BG to me. The LMB are big, but it seems like I have seen reports in the past of some ponds producing bigger.
After the time we spent there, with experienced guides, I don't think I can reasonably answer your very valid first paragraph.
As Bob said, the lake is an "enigma." It is totally unlike anything I've fished in my 60+ years of fishing many days a year over that time. In North America, I've fished from Manitoba and Ontario to Maine's Bay of Fundy, to the Gulf Coast, both freshwater and saltwater. I've fished the west coast. I've also fished crazy places like the lagoons of Midway Island, and the bridges of downtown Stockholm, Sweden.
This was very different. I'm not sure this is fair, but it was like being in part of an Alfred Hitchcock or Steven King scene -- except we felt no fear. It was peaceful and serene. It was incredibly beautiful. The entire scene was fun.
To catch a fish, you nearly had to bonk it on the head with a bait or lure. The fish were basically very lazy, and wouldn't chase a bait -- not even an inch. But, once you got that fish on your line -- watch out! If I recall properly, I had two bluegill and one bass break the line on appropriately sized lines/rods, with the drag set properly.
Interestingly, I believe that nearly every fish I pulled in was "lip hooked." Fishing my ponds and public waters for big BG usually results in 10-20% that are deep hooked, gill hooked, or hooked outside of the mouth. The hooks we were using were no different than I normally use. The baits weren't that much different. I think it may have been because of the lethargy of the well-fed fish.
I would agree that it is a trophy BG lake. I caught my "personal best" BG more than once, even though I have some pretty healthy BG in my ponds.
I may have caught my "personal best" LMB. I've never been much of an LMB fisherman. I was mostly fishing for BG, but the guide set me up with with a few rods with braided line and bass baits. I wasn't there to fish for LMB, and I've never really kept track of the largest LMB I've caught.
Whatever it was, my "personal best" probably came out of the brackish waters of Back Bay, on the VA/NC border, just south of Virginia Beach, VA. Back in the late 70s and early 80s, we could easily boat over a hundred very big LMB in Back Bay in a morning or afternoon, many over 5 lbs. We just dragged them in, marveled over them while we unhooked them, and sent them back into the heavy weeds. Unfortunately, that fishery has been destroyed.
I fished for LMB, on and off over two days at RM when the BG weren't cooperating. I caught a few in the 1 lb. category, but also some really impressive fish. I don't even know what my largest was. Somewhere between 3-5 lbs? Still, very impressive. The Wr on the 1-pounders was probably right around 1.0. Yet, the Wr on all the bigger bass was very high. We believe we caught native bass, feed-trained bass, and bass that were born in the lake from various types of parents. They all looked a little different.
From a management perspective (and I'm no expert), I believe it would take more than two days on the lake with a team like we had, to determine what is going on. Two days of fishing, with Pond Boss type people, would probably be needed in early spring, late spring or early summer, mid-summer, late summer, autumn, and late-fall/early-winter to know what is really going on.
I believe that shocking, during any season of the year, would only tell part of the story. There are enough deep areas and inaccessible areas, that shocking would only be a partial story.
Anyway, those are my crazy opinions and observations.
Ken
