Bag Limits

In my opinion Lake Delavan is the best public bass fishing lake in the entire state of Wisconsin (outside of green bay). It also has the most restrictive limits of any lake in the state I'm aware of. The fish are protected during the first part of the spawn. There are not tournaments because of the bag limits. An 18" fish up north is probably equivalent to a 22" fish in Texas. I drive past a 100 lakes to get to this one because the fishing is so good. Some food for thought for those who think lakes can't be over harvested.

Largemouth bass and smallmouth bass: May 5, 2018 to March 3, 2019. The minimum length limit is 18" and the daily bag limit is 1.
Muskellunge and hybrids: May 5, 2018 to December 31, 2018: The minimum length limit is 40" and the daily bag limit is 1.
Northern pike: May 5, 2018 to March 3, 2019: The minimum length limit is 32" and the daily bag limit is 1.

It works in some lakes and doesn’t in others. Just because there are restrictive limits doesn’t make them a good lake.
Texas has experimented with it and still does. Purtis Creek for one that was good for a few years and now is mediocre to bad.

You can restrict limits all you want but pressure in the end is what affects the fishery imo. We have a few lakes that are nearly catch and release only, the pressure still affects them. Look at fork, tremendous fish population protected but pressure gets to them.

Yeah, not suggesting its a panacea. Certainly lakes cycle. Certainly mother nature can throw a wrench in things. In general though we are all going to have to come to terms with reduced harvest at some point. More and more people and the same amount of water. Lakes that could support X fishermen harvesting in the 90's may struggle to support 2X today. What about when we hit 3X or 4X? The day will come. The good news is we do a lot better job overall of managing the fisheries so that helps.

Purtis Creek was the best lake around until they eradicated the habitat/grass. Size and bag limits play a huge part in the success of a fishery IMO. Of course favorable habitat, forage, and conditions do as well but tough enforced limits I think are the best thing for the animals. Tough limits = no tournaments which = less pressure and bigger and better catch rates. My $.02

Weather plays a huge part in it as well. Our fish have a longer "growing" season. Personally I dont think Texas lakes are broken and need fishing. Numbers wise the fishing up north is better as bass are not as heavily targeted as they are in the southern states. More multispecies anglers up there. Geographical area plays a huge role in this.

Texas leads the way in regards to our wildlife department. To me it ain't broke.

10-4. Pressure, loss of habitat and drastic changes in level. I remember years ago when Rayburn was 13 ft. low and lost about all the hydrilla. Never came back like it was then.

We can all say what we think is the magic answer. But most of us don't really know. As for pressure I'm sure Fork, Fayette are close to the top for pressure in Texas. But they still put out #s.

Amistad and Falcon prolly get more fish harvested then any other, but yet numbers and size is good.

I agree habitat is something most of us don't consider when looking at a lake.

I also agree with Mark, I think its a challenge to find a lake that needs limit changes in Texas. Up north sure, different circumstances.

If you want to make a difference get with Texas Parks and wildlife and find out what you can do to restore habitat on your lake of concern.

No lake in Texas has more harvested bass than Toledo. I guarantee it. The 8 fish limit is definitely put to use.

I dunno about that, but that is just my gut feeling on that. But even if it is the lake is doing pretty good.

That and Cajuns will basically deplete an animal population if they are allowed

It's not even close. The amount of bass that comes out of that place mainly in March April and May is incredible