What fishing pressure does to a lake

This is from a Guntersville guide and comes from Jay Kumar's blog:



I fished Guntersville for a week in April of 2010 and it was without a doubt the best fishing trip of my life. We literally caught 3 pound or better fish everywhere we fished and however we fished for them all day every day for a week...well, except for the first day of our tournament, LOL. On the second day we ended up on a grassy flat throwing flukes and I just about caught a three pounder or better on every cast for hours.

We had about 30 pounds for two days and finished in something like 130th place.

Guntersville is a huge lake, and if the Internet and other publicity (magazines, etc.) can cause the fishing there to crash because of overwhelming pressure it can happen to any lake.

Statistics don't lie, never have!

Short of a natural calamity such as a major drought or wide spread virus, I believe fishing pressure matters more in terms of its impact on catches rates than just about anything else.

Fishing on any lake cycles. I have fished private lakes like Coon Creek where they have a year that the fishing is off by as much as half. Fish numbers fluctuate, baitfish numbers can fluctuate, hard winters cause a bigger fish die of or grass die off. To try to attribute fishing pressure to the major reason a it is harder to catch fish is ridiculous. It is like saying that quail numbers got so low in Texas for the past 10 years due to hunting pressure.
If statistics never lied then the weatherman would be right more than 50% of the time.

So, going to a farm pond that has never been fished will not be easier than going to a lake that gets hammered day in and day out?

I completely agree lakes cycle. Along with natural phenomena, man is also now a significant factor that can impact that cycle. The US population has increased by over 100 million people since 1980. The number of fisherman has increased proportionately. To think that that many more lines in the water has not had a significant impact is naive.

You must be a reporter for MSNBC to have taken my post and deduct that is what I typed.

No i was legitimately asking you, obviously they are both very different bodies of water, but i feel seeing the same lures day in and day out has a good possibility of having an impact on fishing.

^

In addition to the increase in population is the instantaneous dispersal of information. In 1980 if you wanted a fishing report you read Bassmaster Magazine, read the newspaper, or asked a friend who had actually been to the lake. Most fishermen fished the lakes in their areas instead of reading on the Internet or seeing on a live video stream that the fishing is hot (at the moment) on a lake like Falcon or Guntersville and driving 8-15 hours to go there instead.

This is also a great point to bring up. I appreciate Eric Wright's reports and from what I have read and heard he is an outstanding man and guide, but I can guarantee you after his Holbrook report that little lake is about to get hammered. It's just how it works now. Same with Athens. I am always stunned by how many boats are there during the week when I pull up. I counted 28 on a Monday morning. The Internet is killing lakes too. I don't blame guys for hitting hotter lakes, but again, it's a fact. People hear a lake is on fire and they head that way. It's the world we live in now.

Lake Arlington is on fire.

How is the stocking numbers? Are the wildlife departments still sticking bass in these lakes at a high rate. I read something a while back about TPWD and how they stocked. Basically it was fork, Hubbard, and a few others while leaving out a ton of other lakes. I don't follow it much but I'm sure that has something to do with it all as well.

4-5 years ago was fishing on Falcon....up that river north of county ramp and back in a cove that ran off the river....water had been falling and as we fished down the bank,there was small tree sticking out of the water and I could see what looked like a crankbait hung in the tree.....I eased over there and there was a piece of net tangled around the tree about the size of a dinner plate.....and there were FOUR crankbaits,a rusty jig head and a texas rigged worm hung in this small piece of net....there wasn't really anymore room to hang up another bait in the net.....
I mention this because it happened in may and every one of the crankbaits were almost new and I'm pretty sure none of them had been in that net over a few months....the jig and texas rigged worm were older....think about this a minute...how many fishermen had to fish that cove for there to be 4 crankbaits lost to a plate size piece of net....I'm gonna guess several hundred fishermen had fished that cove with various baits in the last 6 months...
incidentally,three of those crankbaits were KVD squarebills...two sexy shad and one black/chartreuse...the other crankbait was very similar to KVD squarebill in a shad color but don't know who makes it...
I took a picture of those crankbaits and piece of net and wish I could post it but it's on my laptop which is at computer place being fixed(I hope)...

I bet they were all mine.....

the number of coonasses from Louisiana with filet knives that visit a lake can fluctuate...

What hurts the most is the boat traffic activity and all the bumps that go with it. I truly believe Bass hear this and associate it with a need to escape. Bass have always disappeared on Tournament day. Get as far away from the traffic and you can go. Learn to fish these areas. They will be the best on the weekend.

True, bass get acclimated to baits; but they will continue to strike baits that are different than what everyone else is throwing. They are looking for food but can and do learn what stings them. Therefore they will avoid it the next time it approaches. Just change things up a little with what you are throwing; in size, color, sound, smell and etc.. Pull out your old school baits and plastics to give the fish a different perspective.

Cool! Loading up and heading that way now!

I actually think you were being sarcastic but here is the answer.
No where in my post did I say that pressure was not a factor. I pointed all several other factors that effect fishing. I did point out that even a private lake has its cycles of poor fishing. And not a day or two but a year or so. I did not say it was just as hard to catch fish in a staock tank. As a matter fact I never said stock tank.
The op attributed tough or poor fishing to pressure and no other factors, which is not realistic. Another example would be the lake my house that I am sitting now. For several years it was one of the hottest lakes in North Texas if not the hottest. The fishing royally sucks now and I can assure you it had nothing what so ever to do with pressure. We had a sustained drought, poor spawning and low oxygen levels for a few years. Hence the fishing sucks.

Actually the Guntersville guide said fishing pressure is what has caused the dropoff. He said boats are in line to fish areas and that every fish that is caught is thrown into a live well and taken to a weigh-in.

I know what all the pressure did to the Pines. I also know that drought played its part also. But Pressure was also a huge factor.

Bass fishing is a peculiar activity. A lot of anglers do research and find out what they hear is working to catch fish and what lakes are "hot" at the moment and they head to those lakes. It's natural to want to catch fish if you are an angler, so people go where they know people are catching fish and fish the ways that are successful at the moment.

Some of this comes from the fact a lot of people aren't too good at finding fish, just the way it is and always will be. Some comes from most people enjoy the path of least resistance to accomplish their objective (catching fish). It is what it is and I do not think it's going to change anytime soon.

The internet is a double edged sword. It's convenient, but can truly hurt some bodies of water, especially the smaller ones. It creates a lot of fishing pressure on "hot" lakes.

As the old adage goes, loose lips sink ships...

Doug elequently wrote what I have been thinking for a while now. On some lakes, the jet skis, ski boats and shoreline recreation folks add to the mix.

Some even say to find spots where nobody else is fishing...that's hard to do on many lakes because usually when I go to those places, somebody is already there! Especially on smaller power plant lakes like Fayette, Bastrop, Gibbons, etc.

It might not be a popular thought but we as bass fisherman are just like buzzards on road kill. We hear about a lake that's doing good and the buzzards start circling and don't stop till it's all gone. Then there is tournament pressure. People don't like to admit it but I think that is way worse of an issue than is put out there. Think about it this way, 20 years ago almost everybody caught and ate about everything that bit and limits were a lot bigger so the argument that there were less people isn't all that correct. Now people keep less and there are WAY more tournaments. The mortality rate is higher than anyone wants to admit. To many guys have to have that weekend tournament fix and let that get in the way of truly taking care of our fisheries

Excellent points, Skipper

could not have said it any better

X1,000,000,000!!!

White Rock and Bachman are on fire !!

Will you take me fishing and show me your spots and teach me how to find them ?

Just look at Lake Bonham for a local example!

Bennie if you make sure we put the plug in