Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Is this theory possibly correct?

As a fish taxidermist I see a lot of trophy fish. And one of the most common species I mount are largemouth bass. Anyway even with more favorable fertility and ph here New England seems to produce larger Largemouth bass and more bass in the 7 to 8 pound range. Not super common of course but more common than my state of Indiana.

I know this because I used to live and fish in Massachusetts and still go back there on occasion.

Anyway the thing that is strikingly different about the two states is there is virtually no pressure on bluegills in Massachusetts. In fact many people out there consider them trash fish.

Could sufficient bluegill forage gape size availability for larger bass be a factor? With no pressure it seems there would be no shortage of whatever size bluegill is needed to efficiently feed. And lakes I have fished in Mass do not have stunted bluegills. In fact I've caught them to 11 inches.

OTOH bluegills are hammered in Indiana year around with no bag limit.

I think that could have a strong correlation. I guess you would have to get out average temp charts and lat/long lines and other things to really compare growing seasons.

But I know there is a move to higher than the conventional 10:1 BG:bass ratio of old. especially if you want big bass. More like 30 or 50:1. And more mouths to feed usually equals smaller average size fish. more small fish more for the bass to eat?

Also I have never fished a lake for bass, so I don't know much about bass/BG ecosystem in a lake

Longer colder winters in Massachusetts. Shorter growing season. Lots of snow (think ocean effect vs. lake effect) It's farther north in lattitude than Indiana too. Mass state record is over 15 lbs.

Cecil, is the fishing pressure for the LMB the same as here too? Who knows, maybe those big LMB are here too, just too hook smart to bite?

But I think you may be on to something.

How do native/stocked trout fit into the mix? Are there more trout there too? Look at the LMB in California where they stock RBT in the reservoirs.....

Wow 15 lbs in Mass? I think Oklahoma is just under 15, and you would think it would be much better area to grow largemouth.

They do stock trout heavily out there but in the lakes where they stock them here I still don't see the sizes they have out there.

They target bass out there too and tournaments like we do. I saw an odd night tournament (I was night fishing for trout and crappie) where they kept the bass they caught which I thought was strange.

Yes I believe that pressure on bass and their education after tournament catch and release here can be a factor, but it seems there has to be more to the equation out east. Maybe the fact that a state a third of the size of Indiana has 5000 lakes and reservoirs could be a factor?

One possible factor (limited to those waters that attach to the ocean via rives and streams or those that once were but are now landlocked)is the presence of alewife ( a herring/shad like fish). It is very high in food/nutrient quality for LMB. I would think that the difference has to be food or genetics based and not location/climate.

http://www.web1.cnre.vt.edu/efish/families/alewife.html

You have a point there Eric but most of the lakes don't have alewives that I know of but some do. That said there are some ponds near the coast that get runs of spawning alewives from the Atlantic and the one the 15 pound largemouth came out of was one of those.

Just a weird thought here. I grew up in mass. Chain pickerel were just as abundant as bass. Is it possible that the pickerel would compete effectively with the smaller bass enough to reduce thier numbers. Competing by eating the small bluegill. The fewer remaning large bass would have a feast of larger bluegill to feed upon? Just a thought.

Could be another factor.

Where did you grow up in Mass? Was it an adjustment moving to Texas? It was for me moving to Indiana.

Grew up in the haverhill,bradford and Methuen area. Dads side of family is in newburyport. Yes it was quite an adjustment. Really like texas though.