i forgot to put that in my latest report from Timber Lake, but I noticed the same thing.  The little 1-2 pound bass were very healthy, but the bigger ones (3+ pounds) needed a protein shake.

Tom Dillon and I fished Lakeside at Martin's Mill July 21 and noted the same thing. Tom posted a picture in the fishing report of that trip.

When a certain size class of fish is underweight it is caused by that class of fish not having the forage size that, that particular fish wants/prefers. It is generally accepted that a small bass (under 14 inches) eats smaller bluegill (sub 4 inch) and medium size bass (15-19 inch) eats mid size bluegill (4-5 inches) and a big bass (20 inch plus) east bigger bluegill (6-8 inch). Once a bluegill reaches 8 or so inches it becomes almost impossible for a bass to eat. Again, these are very general rules and the reality is a bass will eat anything it thinks he can swallow. And in lakes where the food is very limited big bass are even known to chase dragon flies out of the air.  However, a bass would prefer to follow the outline above. So, we often see lots of very small bluegill (1" to 2") and a few dozen to a few hundred (that is not many in a 10+ acre lake) very large bluegill and not many bluegill in the 4 to 6 inch size. This is the case in 90% of lakes that we survey rather they are part of the PWF family of landowners or not. 

You can correct the issue by adding 4 to 5 inch bluegill. Generally you add 250 to 500 per surface acre at approx $.75 to $1.25 ea. So, in a 25 acre lake the cost would be approx $6000 to $12000. And or you get real aggressive with harvest. Harvest of the small bass leaves more food for the remaining larger bass.  This is also why we ask you not to remove any bluegill. Bluegill are the backbone of the food chain. Most landowners don't have the budget to add that kind of bluegill, so harvest becomes critical.  In most cases the landowners allow PWF to help with the harvest, however, we have a few landowners who are not on board with harvest, so we have to live with their decision not to harvest. Harvest, IS NOT necessary in all lakes, it all depends on the lake and the life cycle of that lake. For example, La Grange Rock Chimney lake near Houston has these cycles. There are some years where harvest is necessary and some years it is not. We have had two fish kills on the lake and thus we felt it prudent to stop harvest.4 or 5 years later we may need to harvest again. I have seen lakes where cormorants or otters have decimated the bass population and harvest is not necessary. But, generally it is necessary. Some lakes require only 10lbs per surface acre  of bass removal and some may need as much as 50 lbs per surface acre. We do our best to monitor this at the 70 lakes we lease. 

So, when we ask for you to harvest, it is important that you help. Doing so, makes thin bass get fatter. We are trying to remove 2000 small bass at Cleburne every year and we rarely hit 800 in a given year. We are trying to remove 750 bass at Timber and we are lucky if members remove 300. Some of our members are not on board with harvest. Please do your part and we will have less big headed, thin bodied bass. 

Thanks!

Steve

Excellent explanation, Steve; I think we've learned something today.  Makes sense to me.

Thanks Steve for a great explanation.  HARVEST away!
 

I saw bass breach three different times trying to snag dragonflies out of the air at Fox lake the last time I was there. Craziest thing…decent size fish too.

As a follow up, do most of you harvest to live well and discard, take and filet for use at home, give away or whack and throw back for the turtles and fish to consume?

Having been a member since early 2015, I’ve seen harvesting work, and I was raised being told you should never kill a bass.  Best example I’ve witnessed is the reports I’ve read from Laneville, Hidden Springs Ranch.  It seems to have made great improvements since I fished it in early ‘16.  (Too bad the lodging is no longer available, it was great.)  Harvesting works, and PWF monitors the reports to make sure it’s done right.  Harvest where we are asked to and the fishing will only get better, it works!

David,

I would prefer that you discard them behind the dam or at least 100 feet from the boat launch or take them home to share with friends, family or someone in need. If you harvest 50 fish or even 15 fish in a given day and you whack them on the head for the turtles it can be a unsightly seen for a landowner for a day or two until mother natures cleanup crew (buzzards, Landowners would not like to see a bunch of floaters in their lake. 

my usual harvest practice for the summer goes something like this.  i keep all the little ones in my live well and clean them somewhere around 5-6 in the evening.  i have an electric knife and big cutting board and do it on the tailgate of my truck.  doesn't take long, and gives me a little break, since i'm usually pretty worn out about that time of the day (after starting at 6 am).  after that cleaning session, any fish of harvest size get put in the live well but discarded on a bank on a remote part of the lake.  thus, when it's time to leave at dusk, i can just load the boat and go, without having to clean fish for 30 minutes or more at the end of a long day.  i used to do that, and it was no fun at the end of the day.

i hate to just throw the fish on the bank, but i do understand the importance of harvesting, so i do it.  if i see the owner, i offer my fillets to them; my freezer is getting packed and i just can't eat them fast enough.

Thank you both, that is very helpful. I feel terrible leaving them on the bank but bringing them home to clean has resulted in a temporary loss of domestic tranquility on more than one occasion.