Let's talk length limits

Do you thing length limit works? I can understand the better size breeding fish are important. All I see from it is just catching a ton dinks. I see PK is 16". Several are 14-18 and up and most are flat 14". There's not many fisherman that keep and eat bass so the population not getting hurt that way. I'm sure there's a scientific report backing it but doesn't it really come down to the fishery itself? Some lakes just have nutrition and whatever to help the bass flourish naturally. Where some lakes seem don't

I think the idea is that if you keep too many that haven't reached sexual maturity, eventually your breeding population will get smaller as the older fish die

Before length limits, some lakes were literally fished out/completely void of bass; but that was a time when most fishermen were fishing to eat.

Fish limits just about ensure a surplus of fish in the lake. Without a surplus of bass, competitive or sport fishing could not survive and thrive.

Both good points but sounds like you're adding no bag limits into discussion. I'm strictly talking length limits. Still 5 fish bag. Would you think fishing would be any different?

I find areas back home with 12" limits had a lot of 11 3/4" fish.

Lakes with 14" limits have a lot of 13 3/4" fish.

Lakes with 16" limits have a lot of 15 3/4" fish.


So take the lake with a 16" limit, lower length requirement to 14" and you will probably catch a lot of keeper fish for a year or two. Then it will be a lake with lots of 13 3/4" fish and people will complain they can't catch any keepers again.


I know I catch a ton of 17 7/8" spots on Alan Henry, and overs are a lot harder to come by. But at the end of the day if a larger size limit results in me catching larger throwbacks, I'm fine with that too. Although it would be nice to be able to take home 5 spots every day from Alan Henry. Kind of tough to take home two unders and get everything blood for 4 filets when I'm fishing by myself.

What about over stocking? Like you mentioned nobody really keeps to many bass in these trophy lakes because they are all expecting them to get 10lbs+. How do the biologist know that every bass will grow to be 18 to 24 inches long. There was a guy at the mcdonalds tourny at fork that caught a 10.5 ish and it was under 24". Are they saying that fish will grow another inch or 2 in the future? That's like saying everyman is going to be 6' tall. I just got back from toledo bend and did notice that alot of people there were catching bass to eat and was thinking maybe that's why that lake produces so many lunkers every year. Could it end up being like a farm pond that's over stocked and every fish is the same length.

I have had the same thought

if you take 5 sexually mature fish out of the lake, you can be pretty sure there are 5 sexually immature fish that will replace them in the breeding stock next year.

however, over time, if you keep taking out 5 short fish (they're easier to catch, the meat fishermen would for sure target them) and you have a couple older fish die... you reduce the number of sexually mature fish in the lake - you're losing breeding fish to natural mortality AND you're losing their replacements due to harvest

Let's TPWD experiment with various theories of size versus reproduction versus water fertility versus fishing pressure, etc. In other words, keeps people at TPWD employed.

From a tournament stand point we should have permits for 12" or better like Florida. The other thing is each fish grows at a different rate. I've read up on this and basically if fish A is more aggressive than fish B even though starting at the same size, fish A can be over 6 or 7lbs. in just a few short years while fish B is only 3lbs. or so. Every lake has different growth rates based on forage. More cover in a lake such as grass, the fish tend to be bigger. I'm not a biologists but I think a lot of the lakes need to be reevaluated.

Have a friend that built a large pond 5 acres or bigger and stocked it with Florida bass, biologist told him to remove so many lbs per year, to eat or feed the coons. I think we need to keep some fish for the grease ( smaller ones ). The 3-5 lb fish are the best spawners.

Bass aren't limited in length as humans are in height. Not every human has the genetics to reach 6' tall but bass continue growing in length until death. All bass have the potential to reach 18-24"+ with the vast majority of 20"+ being females of course.

Epicoutdoors- if what you say is true about the ability to grow then why have the SAL program all bass would be equal genetically ?? I mean no disrespect to your thought but genetics plays a huge role along with the environment- meaning forage, water quality and seasonal factors as well.

Kinda took left turn from op. Talking length limit not for taking fish home and eating what would do. I am asking if the same people who eat bass and the same people who catch and release was to stay the. Would anything change by shortening or doing away with length limit? Not talking about removing anymore from lake then what already is

Genetics do play a role. The program wants fish that have demonstrated maximum weight potential. Basically the ability to attain maximum body mass when given the right environment. Florida bass and or their hybrids have shown the potential to attain that mass faster and to a greater extent, given those optimum conditions. They will reach a heavier weight at a younger more vigorous age. A 24" bass can be 5lbs or 15lbs so maximum length is not the main factor.

If the length limits change then what is removed from the lake will change. It's unavoidable.

I think the length limit is fine I just don't like the slot limit but I do understand there theory of to keep those fish in the water for breeding I just don't think it works very well except on a few lakes.

I agree with this 100%. The fact that I catch so many fish just short of the legal length on so many different lakes, no matter what those limits are, makes me realize that there must be a lot more people harvesting bass than I thought. I go to an 18 inch lake like Welsh or Gilmer and catch so many 16-17 inch fish. My first thought is "in a year or two this lake is going to be full of keeper fish." But, apparently once those fish get to 18 inches people are taking them home as fast as they can catch them.

For years and years Cypress Springs had a 14" length/5 fish per day limit. It took a lot of tourney traffic. And it sustained itself as one of the best bass fisheries in the state for a long time ....until they killed the grass...