Randy discusses his thoughts and poses the question on what has happened to all the big bass that once used to live in table rock lake..#tablerocklake #bigbass #fishingpressure
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What Has Happened To All The Big Bass In Table Rock Lake?
I remember the big fish kill in the 90’s the bass fishing hasn’t been the same since I think it was pollution but not sure
I got to fish table Rock in it's Hay Days and I would here of at least ten ten pound Bass caught every year,it did have a Big Bass kill around the time you mentioned, there was a guide out of Pontiac marine named doc klaymam who said he thought people were giggling the Big Bass at Bull sholes.
To many tournaments is one of the main problems
Well….the liberals keep letting people into our country and over populating it. More people = less of everything.
I used them hellbenders years ago and would catch them big bass… not so much anymore….
https://youtu.be/58m2W7LNVPE
samething happend to flaming gorge..i know why you should contact me i will tell you the ugly truth about bass fishing
I fish the Rock a lot also . I can’t tell you how many 15 , 16 inch bass I see being cleaned at all the resorts . It’s a shame the folks who keep these fish don’t realize their ruining their sport this way . MDC needs to change the length limit . Also needs to introduce more aquatic vegetation .
Randy caught them all and now they're gun shy – that's what happened…
Yellow
Hi Randy, you didn’t mention the ‘new reservoir syndrome’. IMO, this is the over-arching factor to the decline over time of lakes that are aging such as Table Rock, Bull Shoals, Fork, and so many others. That first wave of fish in a new impoundment has advantages that bass in a old impoundment just don’t have. The big bass fishery seems to peak approx 15 years after impoundment – then begin a gradual decline. Man, would I love to go back to Fork in the early to mid-80s. Will never see anything like that again in my lifetime.
Springfield, MO here. I'm not sure, honestly. But I've been fishing Table Rock since the mid 90's, and I definitely agree.
One thing I see a lot of these days among my circle of friends, are people keeping limits to catch n cook.
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against a good fish fry, but of all the game fish for eating, I wouldn't even rank Largemouth in the top 10. Hell, bluegill or crappie are way easier to catch and taste WAY better. Even catfish. I really wish these guys would cut it out…especially since a fish has to be OVER 15" to keep on TRL. Those keeper bass turn into trophy bass just a couple years down the road.
Agree a length "window" for keeping bass should be instated. For instance, anything between 12"-17" can be kept, but outside of that has to be released. Taneycomo does the same thing, and because of that it has the potential of yielding not only a state, but world record Rainbow or Brownie.
I live on the lake and I have noticed too but I think it's probably that time has changed it.
I think about this all the time as a kid I caught dozens of bass over 7 every year and usually a couple over 8. I’ve not caught an 8 lb bass in Table Rock since the late nineties and only a had full of sevens in the past 20 years. I believe our biggest problem is competition for food. We have to many small Kentucky’s that eat tons of shad and crawdads. I believe if they changed the Kentucky limit to 12 inches it would make a huge difference and would allow the Largemouth to grow to the old weights of the past.
I think you brought up a good point Randy I wonder if the big bass genetics were removed from the lake with those big bass. Texas does is right with their share lunker program and being able to breed back those genes into the bass population.
I believe that mismanagement of water quality and particularly water levels during the bass spawn have had the greatest impact on our lakes. When I'm hunting for big bass I look for lakes that have had the most steady or high water levels during the spawning cycle in past years. The best lakes are the ones that maintain slightly higher water levels after the spawn, giving the new fry a place to grow. When I lived on Grand lake it seemed like the GRDA would pull the plug and lower the lake in the middle of the spawn every year thru the 80's and early 90's. I believe this has had a huge impact on some of the best lakes in the past.
May need to take bass out because there may be too many bass and not enough forage for them to get big
I agree with you on that. Pressure and mounting for sure.
Fishing pressure and trophy bass removal, I'd agree. Fishing pressure will be the death of bass fishing if we are not careful.
I know the state record large mouth was caught out of Bull Shoals but was it a big bass lake like Table Rock in the 70-80s seems like it has a lot of bass but not many big fish.
Kevin Van Dam said " There were a lot more bass before sonar was invented ". Bass are getting killed by pollution and bait hooks, including ned rigs. Bass learning lures and the boat traffic does not help either.
I grew up in kimberling city fishing table rock and when i was in high school working at whats up dock there was 4 , 5, 6, 7 pounders floating up all over the lake. Biologiats said it was the worst largemouth bass kill theyd ever seen. After that presaure went way up and thwy just cant get that big anymore.
I grew up fishing Kentucky and Barkley Lakes. Same situation.
Smallmouth gettin bigger. Already have a 15” minimum. What good would a slot do?? Big uns out deep.
The Asians catch and release in their stomach.
Does Arkansas fish and game have a poor restocking program and does Missouri ?? lots of fisherman and no restocking of bass at all??
Significantly larger human population. Back in the 70s and 80s most fishermen didn’t have a boat and fished the bank. The fish could rest summer and winter. With so many skilled fishermen on the water with decent electronics, these fish get pounded all year. Some big fish have learned not to bite anything if they sense pinging and/or a motor.
Never have fished there, but that is interesting, You look about same way I did yesterday after fishing { COLD } lol it was spitting snow here in middle Tn , I caught 5 on a white spinnerbait, after 2 hours I was loading the boat North wind was to much for me.
Late April… See what I can do!
I agree that it's happening all over. Up here in NJ we don't have enough game wardens to patrol and many of the fisherman today abuse the limits. Especially in the winter when's the lakes are frozen. I've witnessed ice fisherman taking up to 10 bass, several over 5 lbs, through the ice to eat! Limit is 5! They just don't care! Many of the ice fisherman are either Russian or Polish, and have immigrated here and feel that the laws don't apply to them. Sucks!
Fishing pressure reduces fishing quality and that's been proven over and over across the country. When a lake gets national exposure because of big league tournaments and/or being on some top lakes list, it destroys the quality of the fishing for the locals. The fish are still there but they become conditioned and very difficult to catch. And then what's extremely hypocritical is people like James Hall (who compiles the Top 100 Bass Lakes for Bassmaster) and Zona and all of these "grow the sport" assholes that profit from your spending are extremely secretive about the lakes around their houses that have great fishing because they don't want fishing pressure to ruin THEIR great fishing.
Maybe those fish are just getting smarter.i caught a bass thiss late Summer on Table Rock that was probably in the 7-8lb range…definitely larger than 5lbs. I kept it and ate it. That fish and one that weighed 3-4lbs. Bothe were before I bought a scale to weigh fish for my boat. Now I know how much the fish weigh. I bought it because of tge big ones I caught and not knowing just how big they truly were. The biggest one was big enough that my neighbor yelled how nice it was from across the street when I took it out of the livewell upon arriving home. It was the biggest bass I had ever caught. I took pictures of it.
Anything sprayed on a lawn gets into a lake eventually. A lot of Oklahoma's lakes are heavily polluted from runoff.