I spoke with a fisheries biologist today, who happens to also be the manager of a large (65 pond) state sport fish hatchery here in LA, and she told me something I was not aware of concerning large trophy sized bass. She said that once a 10 lb plus LMB is caught, regardless of the handling afterwards, that moment marks the peak of that fish's development and it will begin to enter a slow but permanent decline from that point forward. She said that data from both the Texas "Share a Lunker" program as well as the Toledo Bend lunker program show this correlation. (They attribute this fact to the stress catching and tagging imparts on such a mature and older fish) In fact, they have NEVER seen a re-caught "lunker" sized fish that showed ANY growth post catch, and in fact each and every one has been in decline. Which begs the question, at what point does tagging and releasing become a danger and/or hindrance to a developing fish?
