SPOTTED BASS

[MN]

Just trying to get some info on spot's.I fish nacimiento alot and about five year's or so ago they put them in.The fish they thought they were planting were floridas.My question is i can catch a ton of them but no size.I know there has to be better quality in there than what i am catching.Does anyone have any suggestion's or is it going to just be another MILLERTON.

[NaCl]

It's time to put Catch'n Release in the drawer and replace it with Sunday evening fish fries. Spotted bass fight great and grow to nice size as long as there are not too many of them. Millerton, Oroville and now Naci all NEED fishermen to return to catch and eat. Just do it selectively...eat small spots and eat them often.

Good luck!

.....NaCl

[NaCl]

It's time to put Catch'n Release in the drawer and replace it with Sunday evening fish fries. Spotted bass fight great and grow to nice size as long as there are not too many of them. Millerton, Oroville and now Naci all NEED fishermen to return to catch and eat. Just do it selectively...eat small spots and eat them often.

Good luck!

.....NaCl

[gt5bass]

Two year ago my club had a fun fish at Naci and I stumbled on something I had never seen.

On Saturday, the wind was blowing pretty good and had a good chop on the water when found a flat that we seemed to be able to catch Spots at will. All three of got limits and then some.

We want back to that spot on Sunday before the wind came up and I was shock to see a bedding area that looked like a Bluegill bedding area, nests about 2 feet apart...hundreds of them.

I figure the 10-13" spot population should be off the scales and if people don't start practicing Fish Fry's like NACL suggest you are going to have a total Rat infested pond like Oroville. Tough to do the Fish Fry thing at Oroville with the 12-15" slot. The sub-12" fish don't have enough meat and you don't want to eat the over-15" cause those are the ones you want to reproduce.

[Hipster]

"The sub-12" fish don't have enough meat and you don't want to eat the over-15" cause those are the ones you want to reproduce."

Well put Hubspinner!!!

The slot limit is not really the end all answer!!!

Think about spring at Oroville all you catch is 14 -17 inch fish, then summer comes around and the little rats are amongst us again.

Now Folsom is another story, I think there is a World record spot in Folsom!! I know last Saturday I had a six - eight lb fish on that was just plain mean!! Spit my bait right at the boat looked to be a big spot but coulda been a Largie.

[Steve]

You guys are wrong, you get a very nice fillet off of a 10-11 inch spotted bass. And it takes about 2 minutes to fillet. Two 10 inch spots are perfect for a one person meal.

At last years FED Oroville, which was a dual with the Sac and Shasta region, I fried up a bunch of spotted bass that I caught in pre-fish. I mostly did it to promote my own personal agenda of selective harvest, and to show those guys that indeed, eating small spotted bass is a viable option, can provide a nice tasty meal, is worth the effort, and hopefully will contribute to increasing the QUALITY of many of our spotted bass fisheries.

Alot of times when I tell people that I really like eating bluegill, the common response is "arent they bony, and plus they are too small to fillet". Thats a common mis-perception. Bluegills fillet out nice, and anybody thats ever done it knows that even a small bluegill produces a nice piece of meat.

If a bluegill is worth the effort, I guarantee you that a small spot is worth the effort.

[Steve]

Slot limits are the only answer. However, for it to work, fishermen have to play their role and harvest the sub-12 inchers.

The major problem with implementing a slot limit and having it achieve its objective is that fishermen do not harvest the sub-12 inchers. This is the main reason that state agecies do not like to implement slots. History has shown that bass fishermen refuse to harvest the small fish.

Heres a success story for you. On an unnamed lake in Trinity Co., the quality of the bass fishery was horrible due to years of mis-management. It was a long, ongoing problem and state officials refused to address the problem. Locals finally had it with the state, took matters into their own hands, and illegally began killing/eating many of the sub-12 inchers. Two years later, people tell me (I dont fish there anymore) the quality has increased noticeably including the condition of the fish (i.e., length to weight ratio which is an indicator of balance between prey numbers and bass numbers).

Selective harves works when everybody plays their role.

[Hipster]

Therefore to harvest is just to kill for the sake if killing them for me.

I do not agree that slot limits work WHY? if they did lakes like Oroville, McClure etc. with the slot limits on them would be thriving with bigger better spots and they are not.

You said it yourself, the angler would perfer a larger fish thus telling an angler to take a 10 inch fish is useless, they won't.

Now if I could just get me enough bluegill I would have me a FRY

[Steve]

I do not agree that slot limits work WHY? if they did lakes like Oroville, McClure etc. with the slot limits on them would be thriving with bigger better spots and they are not[/quote]

Dude, read what I wrote. Your statement makes no sense. The reason they dont work at Oroville, McClure, etc. is because nobody harvests sub-12 inchers. Just changing the regulation will not magically fix the problem, like I said, fish must be killed for it to work. So to base your opinion on whether or not slots work on the fact they didnt work on lakes where fishermen did not "do their part" is ridiculous.

Slots only work when fishermen harvest. There is plenty of primary literature out there that has tested slot limits, and its been done across the country in many different types of lakes and with many different species of fish. They work.

Now get out their and harvest some 10 inch bass. Im sure you can find a neighbor that enjoys fresh bass.

[MN]

But there is not a 12"minimum on spotted bass?????

[Bill kizer]

At Oroville you can not keep a bass between 12 and 15 inches. Under or over you can keep 5. Shasta which also has spots has a 12" minimum.

[MrSkeeter]

... Shasta which also has spots has a 12" minimum.

I thought Shasta also has a slot limit of 12-15", above and below, you can keep 5 ... has that changed?

[Triton Mike]

One thing I have learned during my short time on this board. Don't EVER mention spotted bass to a western boys or you'll ruffle some feathers I learned the hard way

T Mike

[Bill kizer]

I double checked DFG, pg 16 art 4, 12" minimum.

[David McKenzie]

Spots have been there since the 80s and it is rare these days to carch anything other. At one time it was a great smallmouth and Northern Strain LM fishery. Those days are gone. You will still catch a smallie here and there and at times a guy will stumble on a school of LM.

It is still a great fishery for what it is and is one of the only lakes I know of in the west with a tremendous white bass population. lb for lb they blow away a spot in terms of fighting abilty and they get big there. 2-3 lbers are common. Its worth the trip for whites alone if you have never caught them before and they are a wonderful fish to eat. The regs on whites are different than Black Bass or Stripers so be sure to read them carefully.

Spots aren't bad eating either and I normally take a few every trip to Naci or McClure. I kinda felt bad the first couple of times but I got over it. The cleaning table at Naci is a busy one campared to motherload and northern cal lakes. Majority of the local fisherman do infact take a few home for the table but not nearly enough to reduce the population of small fish. The samller cracker 12-13" fish are by far the best eating. I have seen the the cleaning station backed up 4 or 5 bass boats deep.

Dave

[Hardshell]

being in Nacimento for a long time. There's another factor that has kinda doomed the bass fishery and that the white bass that are in there. These little duds are about as most competitive species I know of. At one time Kawia(sp) had some in it and the DFG was so afraid they'd get into the San Joaquin river systems the killed the whole dam lake with Rotenon in the late 80's or early 90's. This was about the time that Eastman was closed because of the Hydrilla infestation and the DFG shocked up Eastman LM and restocked Kawia, or so the story goes. There's a lot more history there.

Hardshell-Jailer

[mark poulson]

just like you do small trout. Don't filet them. Leave the head on, don't skin them, just scale and clean them, the into the pan with lemon slices and green onions inside. YUM!