black lake is not the bass fishery it used to be

[Bassbuster]

I know there will be much controversy on this subject but as someone that fishes almost exclusively for bass and have been fishing black lake for about 25 yrs I'm here to tell u its not the lake it used to be. I fish black about 20 times s year and we don't catch nearly the quantity or quality the fish we used to. I can't tell u what caused the decline but I do have a few guesses. One as a former tournament fisherman I believe there are way too many tournanments on the lake. yes I know that there catch n release but the mortality rate can be extremely high especially in hot weather. The other thing is I think the lake is more popular then ever before probably because of the economy and. Its a relatively cheap vacation for folks. This is great more people enjoying the lake, the problem is people are eating way to many fish. The lake cannot simply continue to produce like the good old days with this kind of pressure constantly put on it. Listen I know times are tough for lots of folks and licensee fees continue to rise but maybe if we all think twice about saving those nice bass or walleye and keeping the panfish instead. They're much better eating and the lake is full of them. If we all do our part I think we can make BL a much better fishery for all to enjoy. Black used to be called a fish factory I don't want to see this one shut down like the all the other factories n this nation.~thanks!

[Niagara-eyes]

I also feel bass mortality from tournaments is probably too high. Most livewells simply cannot provide enough high quality water for numbers of large gamefish. Stressed fish produce lots of toxic ammonia as they sit in a well, and produce CO2 as well. Re-circulating livewell water is not enough, it should be changed constantly so there is a high turnover rate.
Just like any other eco-system, BL can only support a certain amount of "life" . Even as fertile as the lake is......there can be only so many pounds of fish per acre. Right now there are probably more walleye, crappie and pike than a few years back......so less available food for bass and other species. Fish populations change. Taking too many of one species can hurt....so selective harvest is usually the way to go. Keep the more plentiful species to eat and let the rest go. Tournaments need to make sure each boat has a good livewell and the anglers know how to use them.

[Pochucker]

Bassbuster,
If you read my fishing report from last week you will see that even though it was my first trip there I basically came up with same conclusions as you.
From what I can see there is plenty of food for gamefish but the pressure/tournaments and meat fisherman are taking there toll.

[earl]

I fished BL since 1950.For years walleye was the target of most fisherman. Bass were never the fish of choice.This allowed a build up of a very large population With the decline of the walleye ,people turned to the bass.With this change and the increase in the popularity of the lake has taken its toll

[492VS]

20 plus years myself, my thoughts. A declining Largemouth fishery started shortly before the 15" limit was put in place. This was also blamed on tourney fisherman back them. Hoping that this size limit would bring quality Bass size back. Now there is way to many small Bass <15" and Smallmouth Bass period. The meat eaters keep the 15" + fish now. Years ago the average Largemouth I would catch was 4 lbs +, an occasional very large and dark Smallmouth and no Bass under 12 period" My results the last 5 years are numerous small smallmouths everywhere, very few Largemouths over 3lbs. The largemouth size population in my estimation is 12-14 3/4" and has been that for a few years. Lately I'm happy if I catch 3 15" or better Bass in one day. Today I average catching way more Bass/day than years ago. The only difference is the fish all appear to be topped out at ~ 14"s.
In hindsight and I'm not a fisheries expert but a slot size limit such as 14-18" might have been more beneficial or just left it alone. I've seen a few Bass fisheries such as Cayuga Lake and Sodus Bay go through a period of declining Bass and size only to return better than every. They left those places alone and granted preseason targeting. I've given up on Black Lake size quality returning anytime soon unless they prune the small fish.

[fishUC]

I actually thought this year had better qualty fish than the previous 3. But I only fished 2 days of opening week instead of the whole week

Previous three years we cought some nice fish including a 5.5 lb LM i caught drop shoting post spawn in 12 ft. but overall, very few that topped 15". Most were 12-14 as everyone says

This year opening week, as a whole the group didn't do well however they spent the first 4 days in shallows and bank fishing and never caught anything so they didn't figure out a pattern

I was only able to make it up for a 2 days at the end of the week and caught 3 LM's over 15 on a green shaky worm in 13 feet in a span of 20 minutes. I then lost 2 that were of similar size, Main lake, the wind blew us off the spot and I couldn't hold it worth while.

Friday was very windy, water stained managed only 1 17" on a green spinner bait I made to look like a perch, drifting the wind in "the cut"

I think its a combination of things.

1. Tournaments
2. number of cabin rentals,
3. people keeping everything they catch. more people than you think keep every fish over 12, because they don't know the rules.
4. Greed and stupidity - I saw 1 guy with 8 bass in a submerged live box for 3 days - the fourth day, all 8 bass were dead - and there were 2-3 19-20" PIGs in there...dead pigs...
5. Water Clarity - fishery has changed since the water isn't brown stained and different tactics are required
6. Perch , panfish- there are a tons of tons, the fish aren't hungry or keying on different things from what used to work.

5 years ago, I could put a black power work on with a pegged bullet and catch 10-15 bass a day with at least 5 over 15 many times...

One afternoon, caught 20 lbs + in 5 fish in 20 minutes with 1 worm on 1 rock. past 2-3 years I stopped using them becasue the otther people i fish with still are and are catching nothing. Same goes for that purple worm with embedded hooks.

They keyed on perch colored baits this year..because - there are trillions of perch fry in every bay...i caught 1 15" bass on a red/gold red eye shad clicking bottom in 12 feet but other than that, everything was on green. no oither color worked

just my take..I got lucky in my 2 days but the rest of the group really did not. Its unfortunate that things have changed for whatever reason

the other thing that leads me to believe its more than jsut pressure is the calico and pike fishing has changed - 5 years ago - we found calico of 9" " within the first 2 days - past 3 years - we have been unable to find them in the same size and numbers and havve changed to 'gills for our fish fry - they are quite tasty too - much tastier than bass...and you can catch a hundred in an afternoon that are all the size of our hand.

A\nd We used to catch many pike by mistake - caught maybe 2 this year and they were like pencils..

Let the bass go, other fish taste way better..and can be caught in greater numebrs, faster.

[fishUC]

by the way - the pattern that always seems to work is find a large rock (the size of a car or bigger) that is surrounded by weeds or something else that transitions in 8-12 feet of water (rock comes up to 2-5 feet)- the bass are loaded up on them all the time - jsut need to figure out the pattern, whether its ripping a jerk bait or rattle trap through the weeds into the open, crawling a jig through or dropping a senko or shaky head - something will work and you will catch bass after bass until you have caught them all off the rock. And they always seem to be big fish too..

The clear water has made this possible...finding these rocks. I know of 3 but won't say where 2 of them are, 1 is just outside of Orchard on the east point. Cant give away all the spots. They seem to be the places that produce numbers and size in 20-30 minutes for me year after year.

[Bassbuster]

Guys, I have read all your responses with great interest. I thought this topic would generate a good amount of activity, 199 views since yesterday! I want to give others a chance to respond before I make any further comments.

Thanks!

[Niagara-eyes]

This subject really interests me, and I believe it is time for the DEC to change the 15" rule for keeping bass on BL. This regulation has been in place so long now that fisherman are actually artificially selecting BL to produce small fish. A good number of fisherman keep bass to eat, there's no changing that anytime soon. Some fish die in other ways...predation, disease, delayed mortality from being kept in a livewell all day, etc... We are keeping the fish that hit 15" or more, returning the smaller fish. So what we are doing is essentially fishing the lake out of bigger bass and leaving a population of smaller ones. A slot limit has worked as a management tool all over Ontario for walleye and pike to protect the breeders, I feel we need the same on BL. Maybe 12-15" bass should be allowed to be kept, other sizes released to protect the spawners and the young. This could also include a special one fish trophy category for bass 20" plus, one per day. So, under 12" are released, and 15-20" released. Maybe a limit of three per day, combined sm and lm. I think this would lead to a more balanced population in 3-5 seasons.

[cheftommy70]

i agree with everything niagara says!!! we had ppl at our camp keeping eveything they caught.14 and a half was stretched to 15 many times...and they aren't that good eating!panfish are tasty and way!!!!! easier to catch

[fishUC]

Years ago when I was a kid, we used to fish the mohawk river in little falls for SMB - never saw a sole out there. we never kept a single fish. year after year we would go 12-15 times a summer, after my dad got out of work. We'd fish til dark. It was nothing to catch 15 fish each, sometimes more in the 3-4 hours wading into the river. The SMB fishing was the best I still have ever seen. Caught 2 that were in the 21-22" class based on some dots i painted on the rod. Caught hundreds in the 15-19" range. At 9 pm, you could turn towards the bank and catch walleyes until you couldn't see any more.

Well then an immigration wave came into the mohawk valley and people that came over trying to survive lived neardby and found that stretch. Every time we went that year, there was a family and their kids fishing to eat. We watched them put every fish on a rope no matter waht size.

This happened for 2-3 years and we finally stopped going there because the fishing quality declined - sure we still caught fish but 12-13 inches was the norm.

I am sure it could have been alot of things and by no means do I fault them for trying to survive and eat. Were they following the rules - no, but that may have been their way to survive.

But I do think that 1 family fished out the entire half mile stretch of river that I grew up on.

a few years (ok maybe 10) have gone by and my dad and I make an occasional trip down there to see if its come back to what it once was and it has not.

Who knows if that is the reason or something else, but keeping all those fish week after week had to help

[fishUC]

we watched 3 guys on a pontoon boat opening week boat approx 8-10 bass no more than 12-13 inches - i really think they thought the 12 inch state lawq applied - no way they were even 14.5 stretched..

[Bassbuster]

Cell service is pretty good on the lake now, if anyone sees people keeping illegal fish or taking multiple limits to the fish cleaning station each day please write their boat numbers down and don't hesitate to
call 1-800-TIPP-DEC. We all have to band together to protect our lake from these people! More comments from me to follow soon. Please keep this post going, this is great information.

Thank you!

[ss minnow]

ok fishuc you got me fired up righteously. i have fished the rideau river system for years and it is the same scenario. ok one species..targeting northerns.. there are none to be found period. the place we stayed at the first time we went there they told us there are no northerns here..then i came back with their rental boat with two 33"'ers and i said i found them and "those fish" are ready to party they looked at me like i had 3 heads. next year not one could be found going through 4 locks! the locals there are i see are ice fishing the fish out to their own demise. what law enforcement is going to patrol minus 20 degrees f. on a frozen tundra? that is where the problems root is. yes winter is superior for taking every monster fish through the ice, and every thing else. perhaps the folks here need to wake up or this lake will be a finished fishery soon. and i personally think that it can be changed but an organization needs to be created to protect this (and every other) raped body of water and key word that will bring back black lake is "PATROLLED 24/7" and seriously enforced. listen to the stories of the folks here of the lake in the past the elders that have that same tear in their eye as that commercial of the litter polluting the envirionment, remember the indian guy with the tear in his eye. well that is our eye now. i have witnessed abuse of the law and if somebody does not agree with me please view your voice.

[marti110]

I agree with Niagara-eyes. I think the 15" size limit needs to be changed to a slot limit. I have only been fishing the lake consistently for 3 years and in that short time have noticed a decrease in the size of the fish. Out of every 20 bass we catch, at least 10-12 of them are in the 12"-14" range. I release all bass that I catch. If I want to eat fish, I'll go catch a pail of bluegills or try to find the crappies but I know there are people that do keep bas to eat which is fine but the 15" and larger fish are the ones that should be being left in the lake to reproduce. I personally would rather see someone keep a 12" fish as apposed to a 15"+ fish. The problem with that is that if they are keeping 12" fish illegally they are probably keeping everything.