08-25-2011, 04:55 PM
[cool][#0000ff]Popular opinion is that the smallies in Strawberry have been "transplanted" from Starvation by anglers who kept a few in their live wells and then relaunched on Strawberry. Not nice and not legal. But if planted in larger sizes the illegal immigrants find plenty of crawdads to eat and WILL grown to good size.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There are not a lot of smallies caught from Strawberry because there are not a lot in there. Nobody knows what the population is but there have never been any fingerlings observed. At least that is what I have been told by DWR and by other knowledgeable anglers. As PBH states, the problem is not that smallies can't spawn. They probably do. But by the time the water warms enough for them to spawn the growing season for hatchlings is already short. And the tiny invertebrates upon which they must survive for several months all disappear after the early fall and early freezeover. There are several months in which there is virtually nothing to eat for baby bass. If they could make it through their first winter it would be a different story.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Planting smallmouth in Strawberry is almost like planting wipers. Makes for fun fishing but no problems of rampant reproduction.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There are not a lot of smallies caught from Strawberry because there are not a lot in there. Nobody knows what the population is but there have never been any fingerlings observed. At least that is what I have been told by DWR and by other knowledgeable anglers. As PBH states, the problem is not that smallies can't spawn. They probably do. But by the time the water warms enough for them to spawn the growing season for hatchlings is already short. And the tiny invertebrates upon which they must survive for several months all disappear after the early fall and early freezeover. There are several months in which there is virtually nothing to eat for baby bass. If they could make it through their first winter it would be a different story.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Planting smallmouth in Strawberry is almost like planting wipers. Makes for fun fishing but no problems of rampant reproduction.[/#0000ff]
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