Maximizing the odds of landing trophy Largemouth bass is a common desire among anglers. Throughout their journey of learning how to improve catch rates, they figure out what forage species are dominant within each particular fishery and the behaviors and tendencies of those forage fish. Honing in on these details brings a level of strategy and excitement to the sport, fueling the angler's passion.
Match the hatch, if you will.
Robust forage fish populations that can make bass fishing so exciting also play a significant role in fueling the growth of trophy bass. Maintaining a thriving forage population over multiple years is often incredibly challenging, requiring a great deal of hard work and an intimate understanding of the waterbody. As a result, trophy Largemouth Bass fisheries are rare and temporary.
Heavy on the word, "temporary".
Oftentimes, managers and biologists do not know how many pounds of forage exist in a waterbody at a given moment. Still, they can make reasonable estimates depending on whether the forage base is thriving or has room for improvement. When electrofishing a thriving forage base, water can become so thick with forage fish that you get the sense that you can walk on water across all those silver flashes.
This maximum density of forage is not sustained throughout the year, but rather something that booms and busts on an annual...and seasonal...basis. Think of it like a pendulum swinging back and forth between a forage population growing exponentially, exceeding predation rates by a mile, followed by a period when predators consume baitfish significantly faster than the forage base can sustain. Fish don't spawn all day every day. That process is seasonal.
This pendulum swinging back and forth aligns with the seasonal cycle of water temperatures fluctuating between warmer and cooler conditions, teamed with the amount of sunlight fluctuating between longer days in the summer and shorter days in the winter.
Each forage fish species is different, but warm-water forage species generally reproduce when water temperatures exceed 65 degrees and continue through spring, summer, and fall. During this time, the rest of the food web can fire on all cylinders if appropriately managed, providing an all-you-can-eat buffet of forage fish that lasts throughout the growing season.
Depending on the waterbody's geographical location, this productivity period typically lasts between 5 and 9 months, although in some places like southern Florida, it can last nearly year-round.
What does this mean to you?
Your fish spawn, and if given the chance, they grow. When they grow, they add mass. Mass equals more nutrition. "Chance", you might ask? Suitable habitat, solid food chain for those baby fish, a balance of predators...and you can grow mass.
Maximizing the forage population's rapid expansion during the growing season should be one of the highest priorities for managers since predation rates significantly outpace forage production every year during the cool season. This leads to a large reduction in the forage population, especially this time of year when temperatures for growth are in the perfect range.
These events occur in the fall when the hours of sunlight start reducing significantly and water temperatures cool. As the water cools, the food web that feeds these forage fish moves slower, the forage species grow slower, and those bait fish no longer reproduce...except bluegills in the south.
In short, one of the most important objectives when managing trophy Largemouth bass is to produce a surplus of forage during the growing season, which allows that population to carry through winter with enough momentum to withstand predation and still have a large enough population to expand at an exponential rate once water temperatures warm up again next spring.
A sound management strategy, hard work, and discipline are necessary to achieve this...as is timing. The path to success and overall potential of the fishery will look different depending on geographic location, the waterbody's characteristics, goals, budget, and local regulation. Taking a data-driven approach is the best way to achieve success. With the correct data, decisions can be made regarding what forage species will provide the best opportunity for the bass fishery to succeed.
Data? If that doesn't ring your bell, call your biologist and ask what to do.
To an extent, the more productive the waterbody, the greater the biomass of forage the waterbody can support, resulting in each individual fishery producing varying levels of forage fish. Therefore, the predator fish population needs to be sized accordingly to ensure they do not continually overwhelm the forage population throughout the year.
Think "culling".
Determining and maintaining the proper number of predators is typically one of the most challenging management tasks. As a result, overpopulated predator fish populations are the reason most fisheries fail to produce trophy bass.
That last sentence may be the most important one of this story.
To help combat the issue of forage becoming depleted, it is common to implement strategies that require annual stocking of fish species like Threadfin Shad, Tilapia, Bluegill, or Golden Shiners. Layering in supplemental stocking annually allows managers to improve the odds of achieving a forage base that grows exponentially each year, thus significantly improving the odds of success.
Diversifying the food chain, understanding how to fill open niches, and managing your predators allow the lake to hedge its bets and grow some giant fish.
It's normal to assess forage fish species by observing from a boat or while walking along the edge of the waterbody. Still, the best way to understand their size distribution and biomass is to electrofish the waterbody multiple times per year. Based on the data collected, forage fish can be stocked or slot fish harvested as necessary to keep populations abundant and balanced and ensure your forage fish meet the preferred edible size range desired by each size class of Largemouth bass. Forage that is too big or too small will have a negative impact on bass growth...as a population. Data collected when electrofishing is critical to the success of the fishery. Therefore, a decent percentage of effort must be focused proactively on the variables that lead to the recruitment, growth, and mortality of the forage base.
This is best done by making routine observations and collecting data throughout the year to ensure water quality, plankton, fish feed, vegetation, algae, cover, and predator populations and those important parameters align with management objectives. Water quality, in particular, is critical and often one that is least understood as well as most overlooked. Excellent water quality provides the opportunity for the forage base to thrive. It impacts growth rates for forage fish, the appetite of forage fish, and how well they reproduce.
Management steps should be taken annually to monitor and improve water quality.
Plankton bloom management is another proactive management component that requires ongoing attention. Maintaining sufficient densities of plankton species that work their way up the food chain while discouraging those that do not (think blue-green algae) can be a great deal of work but vital to sustained success. This can include a variety of techniques such as daily or weekly monitoring of the bloom, fertilizing with phosphorus or nitrogen, adding micronutrients, seeding plankton populations, mitigating phosphorus, mixing the water using aeration, and treating undesired algae species.
Sounds easy, but it's not. But it's worth it to manage the consequences.
If taking a reactive approach to managing the forage base or cutting corners on data collection, you will eventually learn the hard way that the forage base did not expand at an exponential rate. When the forage base fails to expand rapidly, the bass population's relentless feeding behaviors stack up against the forage population, putting the forage in a tough position.
They get eaten faster than they can produce.
This chain of events makes it nearly impossible for their population to recover back to a thriving state without stocking a significant amount of forage fish or harvesting a large number of predator fish. When this occurs, bass growth rates are negatively impacted, resulting in lower top-end growth potential for the bass. These issues can profoundly impact bigger bass, in particular, because they prefer eating large bait, which can take 2-3 years to establish. When the forage base fails, it can sometimes take two more years before an ample population of bigger bait fish are available again.
When looking at the challenges, it is not just the bass that feed on the abundance of forage fish. The old saying, "If you build it, they will come," relates well to thriving forage fish populations. Birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, insects, and fish all gravitate to the waterbody as the forage base flourishes. As a result, forage populations are continually under pressure. Maximizing the growth potential of bass requires limiting the amount of forage fish consumed by all non-bass species. This is a never-ending management task, and as a result, only a small number of waterbodies intended to become sustainable trophy fisheries achieve the status. Simply put, maintaining a thriving forage base can be challenging.
David Beasley is a Fisheries Biologist and the Director of Fisheries at SOLitude Lake Management, an environmental firm providing sustainable lake, pond, wetland, and fisheries management services. Learn more about this topic at www.solitudelakemanagement.com/knowledge
Reprinted with permission from Pond Boss Magazine
