03-31-2012, 01:18 AM
[quote the_agent]I noticed the stripes are looking kinda thin too. Got to wonder why they are not chewing on the shad. Or are the shad elusive to them? Thanks for the report.[/quote]
It's a phenomenon known as "stunting." Basically, there is not enough shad to go around. We end up with lots of smaller fish because there is a finite amount of shad to feed all of the stripers. This is why there is NO LIMIT on striped bass under 20". It is NDOW's way of encouraging the harvest of smaller fish to reduce numbers and combat stunting. If you reduce the number of predators feeding on the limited amount of shad the remaining fish can become larger.
So if you are so inclined, keep all stripers under 20" and release the bigguns. This is one way you can help to improve the Lake Mead fishery.
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It's a phenomenon known as "stunting." Basically, there is not enough shad to go around. We end up with lots of smaller fish because there is a finite amount of shad to feed all of the stripers. This is why there is NO LIMIT on striped bass under 20". It is NDOW's way of encouraging the harvest of smaller fish to reduce numbers and combat stunting. If you reduce the number of predators feeding on the limited amount of shad the remaining fish can become larger.
So if you are so inclined, keep all stripers under 20" and release the bigguns. This is one way you can help to improve the Lake Mead fishery.
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