Fishhead :

If it has been 3 years and you see no LMB smaller than your original stockers I think you should check some more. Have you done a seine survey ? Here is a link to assessing fish populations by visual inspection and seine survey. Look on pages 10-11 at the chart (chart 2 top segment where it says at left side no small LMB present [in seine] ). In your area I would think that in about a mth it would be a good time to try one.

http://msucares.com/pubs/publications/p1428.pdf


Ron Moore, Fisheries Biologist, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
June 2000
Last month, we conducted shoreline-seining samples on lakes in our area.
Shoreline seining is a method we use to evaluate the success of the bass and
sunfish spawn in each lake that we manage. The method involves using a small,
fine meshed seine to capture young fingerling fish that were spawned in the
spring. Typically we will seine a forty-foot stretch of shallow water near the
shore. The young fish that we capture are separated by species, then measured
and counted. Several seine hauls are done on each lake. We consider an
average of six or more bass per seine haul to be a good spawn for a lake. Three
to five young bass per seine is considered an adequate spawn, while less than
three usually means a poor spawn and would qualify that lake for supplemental
stocking of young bass. The number of bass caught is not the only criteria for
recommending supplemental stocking. The ratio between the young bass and
their preferred forage, the young bluegill sunfish, is also critical in determining
when a lake needs supplemental stocking of bass. For example, a lake that has
had a huge spawn of young bluegill but only a fair bass spawn could be a
candidate for supplemental stocking of more bass to keep the prolific bluegill in
check.