Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Sunfish-Including Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass High & Low Vulnerability to Angling

For those who can't have brooder pond, being diligent to clip a dorsal spine of fish caught on artificial lures can identify fish that one can retain as adults. To prevent brooding by fish never caught on artificial lures, one could try to remove them preferentially by fishing for them with live bait or electrofishing if that is an option. Return spine clipped fish you want to breed. Removing fish that one cannot catch on artificial lures will have the most profound effect of diminishing Low Vulnerability inherited traits.

IMHO, no management plan is complete without planned recruitment of a core adult population that is consistent with goals whether "big bass" or "balanced". Recruitment should take into account natural mortality whatever is a good assumption as an average for adult fish under catch and release. For example, for LMB >12", if one expects average annual mortality for recruits of this size to be around 10% for the subsequent 10 years. A recruitment rate of three 12" fish to the acre each year with 10% natural mortality is an annual population of 20-21 adult fish (perfect for growing large LMB in a moderately productive pond) ... assuming no fish live more than 10 years after selection at 12". So in the context of a recruitment plan conducive to vulnerability to angling, this core recruited population are spine clipped LMB that have been caught on artificial lures (or possibly supplemented or supplied from a brooder pond as FishingRod suggested or a fishery supplier whose fish are not subjected to angling selection). IMHO, the core population that is to be catch and release should carry an additional fin clip so that it is easily identified to be one the fish which comprise the core adult (brooding) population.

I agree with Eric. Vulnerability to angling is challenging. Because under most circumstances, LMB recruitment is excessive without removing fish. You can't meet goals without capturing and removing them and low vulnerability individuals can be problematic. Aside from not enjoying catching them or easily removing them, they become a headwind that must be overcome to grow the fish you can catch. If they number too many they will cause slow growth.

There is one other thing we should probably consider. Even high vulnerability fish can become difficult to catch. They learn to avoid artificial lures and become harder to catch over time. Restricting lifetimes can allow one increase the population of selected adults and/or increase annual growth rates with out increasing the forage required to support the population. The population changes at a greater pace with new fish with less experience in the art of avoiding anglers taking the place of older more experienced fish. Other advantages of restricting lifetimes can be greater growth rates, and better condition on the same quantity of forage.

For example, 3 12" recruits per acre-year living no more than 10 more years and undergoing 10% mortality can grow to 7.85 lbs (.66 lbs gain/year) on 382 lbs/acre of BG forage annually. Average condition should be in the neighborhood of 111. This much forage supports a population weight of 79.66 lbs/acre of LMB. The population of adult LMB is 20-21 fish per acre.

Alternatively, 4 12" recruits per acre-year living no more than 6 more years and undergoing 10% mortality can grow to 7.25 lbs (1.0 lbs gain/year) on 379 lbs/acre of BG forage annually. Average condition should be in the neighborhood of 129. This much forage supports a population weight of 79.98 lbs/acre of LMB. The population of adult LMB is 20-21 fish per acre.

Both scenarios produce similar top end weights of fish. Both scenarios are equivalent in terms of the biomass of LMB supported. Reducing ultimate lifetimes reduces the amount of forage used for maintenance and increases the amount of forage used for adding weight. So more weight is being produced annually. But for the topic of hook-smart fish ... fish that you have caught that have become smarter ... the approach of limiting lifetimes keeps fresher, younger fish.