I've been around a while! Actually Bob came and visited our lake a few years ago when it was only a couple of years old.
Our lake is an interesting story and setup. It is actually divided into two lakes by a road with an 8' culvert you can pass thru with a boat. Each side has it's own interesting characteristics. One side deeper, more structure, and original to design, and the other is shallow, and recently dug out due to poor construction which left us with average 3' deep waters, with no deep water. We have taken care of that problem with 4 dirt pans cutting a 6' channel the long way through the lake. Deep holes from dirt excavations (some of which sits under my new house), and new structure added. This side was screened of from other side and restocked about a year ago with F1's and bluegill.
We have been just fishing the original (deeper) side of the lake for the past 3 years after the drain down, which may or may not add to our problem.
The more I read on the Florida's, the better I understand what is happening. We were strictly catch and release for the first 3 years, but the lake has never been fished heavily. Typically during the week, maybe two boats during a couple of days. Weekends, about the same. Fish would bite a noticeable pattern of baits, then quit.
First artificial worms were the ticket (still work the best), then spinners which they soon quit taking, next crankbaits which was a blast, but they have become very wary of them now. I have tried topwater (not much success), jig and pig, wacky worms, carolina rigging, just about anything you can name. It's funny how you can catch a 14" twice (holes in jaw), but rarely will you catch a big un twice in these lakes. I must also note that I have never tried fishing in the early morning hours. ALL of my fishing is later afternoon/evening fishing, so it's hard to analize the situation fairly.
I have caught many a bass out of this lake in the last 5 years, and have returned many (all over 14") the last 2 years. We still seem to have a bass crowded condition, even though the few of us that fish it are doing our best to cull the 14" and down bass.
No doubt the LMB in this lake are educated! Catch and release has made it harder and harder to catch "quality size" bass. We are not managing for a "trophy" lake, yet we are trying to make it fun with the opportunies to catch quite a few 3,4,5 pounders, with an occasional "big boy". It's not working. We are now mostly catching (by far) 14" and under sized bass. We keep records (past two years), and they tell an interesting story, which I don't like.
We are doing a lake seine tomorrow, and have scheduled a lake shock for September. Hopefully we have enough growth outa the new stocked bass to remove the screen, and let the F1's meet the Floridas. It will be interesting to see the results in the next few years. I was told however that the F1's and existing FLM may not do much mixing because of the seperation of the two bodies of water, and we are now actually managing and treating them as two different lakes, though connected.
Sorry for the book, just catching up.......I get lost during hunting season!!
