Oct 15 2022
Rodney Schroeder
Fingerling
Member Since :
2011
Number of Posts :
80
Reservation Number : 34102
Property Name : Boatwright Lake
Reservation Date : 10/14/2022 All Day -
Total Fish/Sizes : 11
Lures Used : pop-r, plastic worm, underspin
Decided to try Boatwright on Friday since had a been a while. Based on past trips thought it would be a good place to get some freezer meat.
Got a late start around 8:30 and fished till 2:30. Water temp started at 73 and was 76 when finished. Clarity was at least 3’. Action was sporadic but still able to cull 5 and return 6. Missed or lost at the boat at least that many including what I feel may have been a really good one that I was not able to turn before it was buried in the mass. (I have been using a smaller hook on plastic worm and this may have be an issue). Bass were pushing bait fish against the bank all day and exploding on them. One so active it end up on the bank itself.
I remember the first time I fished this lake the cull rate was probably 9 culls to 1 return. The size has not increased greatly based on recent catch but I did not catch any 6-8” fish like in the past. This is second trip I caught a bluegill big enough to get a whole treble hook in its mouth and were from 10-13 inches in length. I have always though this lake was full of them and after talking with owner before I left it as confirmed. Should have puller out the flyrod. I understand reason for not taking bluegill but I am wondering if some this large are not competing with the the smaller bass segmen not only for food but by eating bass fry after spawn. Two cents worth from a forester that took some fish and lake management courses so many years ago.
Oct 15 2022
Joshua Massoud
Keeper
Member Since :
2021
Number of Posts :
485
Great report and discussion point about why harvest is so important to the success of these lakes. I’ve talked with a number of members and some are reticient to harvest. Too me it is like buying a labrodor and then not training it and then wondering why it isn’t doing what you want. Harvest is one of the only ‘training’ tools we have to get bigger, better bass and maintain their health.
The general rule is that if you have a ton of small bluegill, you need more bass, if you have a bunch of mixed sizes (3”, 5”, 7”+) and mixed sizes of bass, you are in balance, and if you have a bunch of large bluegill and 10-14” bass, then you have too many bass. If there are too many big bluegill, then we would say you need to harvest bass as the primary consideration and then, once bass are in check, you can harvest top end bluegill to vary the size (but until the former is done, the latter shouldn’t be). Bass will eat a ton of bass fry and fingerlings, more so than the BG.
Difficult to gauge these things until a survey is run and a proportional size distribution generated to gauge where a lake is at. A ‘trophy’ fishery will run at about 150-200 BG shocked per hour and 50 bass or so. I would say in general that most of the lakes I’ve fished at PWF (I think I’ve hit about half of them), they could all use more bluegill and more bass harvest. In this case it is great news that the size is improving!