Catch and Release

[gstott]

I think you need to understand the fishery we're referring to. It's very small and is severely drawn down for irrigation. You have a couple of good water years like we've had and you have a boom of fish. They're fat and healthy and looking good. You get a couple of years of drought and suddenly there isn't a lot of food to go around. A body of water has a set biomass. There is only so much food to go around. You can divide that food up between a ton of small fish, or you can dish out bigger portions to fewer fish and watch them grow. No, I'm not someone that keeps a ton of bass. I used to be all catch and release on bass. I rarely keep any now. In the case of this reservoir I will keep a couple of smaller fish on occasion. I also catch more good sized fish out of this place than anybody I know, but the fact of the matter is there are a ton of little guys there. I would like it very much if they would take some of those little guys and put them in Winder and Foster which were drained down a couple of years ago, but I doubt it will happen because of the manpower to do so. So for the time being, I eat a couple here and there. Just a curious side not, you have Twin Lakes that is a family fishery and has no special regulations. It grows a lot of big bass. Then you have Condie which has a 2 fish limit and no bass under 20" may be kept. I'm attaching two pics, one a 19" bass from Twin, the other a 19" from Condie. You tell me which one looks healthier.
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