That is exactly what will happen, however that's not a good argument for keeping a slot. The intention of the slot is to grow larger bass.

That has to be done on a lake by lake basis. I don't like slots, I haven't seen anyone post definitive data that they work anymore. Fork is the exception because of it's popularity and pressure especially during the spring.

I plan on being there and I will be in favor of the slot removal.

It wouldnt matter to me as long as they resume stockings if they lift the slot in order to keep the percentage of pure floridas up, its been about 8 years since a significant stocking.

Any chance you can bring up opening Squaw Creek lake?

Agreed, it is a selfish reason. I just hate to see it with all that traffic.

Until TPWD controls the water level on RR there will never be big fish on that lake , slot or no slot.

guides that fish the lake daily are not pulling big fish out of the lake. Lindy Roberts was asked 3 weeks ago on Texas fishing show what to do on the lake--His response was "Go to a different lake". For those of that fish the lake regularly--the lake without grass makes fishing very tough and big fish very scarce.

Lindy was talking about how tough the lake is when the water is cold. It may be the worst cold water lake in north Texas. Ask him that question in a month or so and see what ole Lindy has to say.

BUMP

It is, from what I heard the slot there has not produced the results they have wanted it too based on the electrofishing surveys tpw does every year, so they're lifting it in hopes to attract some tournament to boost the local economy. It seems people aren't keeping the undersized fish.

Just remember that when asked on this forum what was the most fun metro area lake to fish many if not most said Ray Roberts. just as with fork, I think the slot has helped to make Ray roberts a very good if not great lake to fish. The slot protects fish during the spawn by not allowing the removal of them from the best spawning habitats. During the rest of the year it allows fishermen to locate and stay on concentrations of good fish because they are not being constantly dragged off to weigh in areas which usually have less suitable habitat or cover to hold the fish. If tournament pressure is light this probobly would not be a big deal, but I think it will be intense on Roberts because of its location and reputation.

I don't think the slot is having an adverse effect other than limiting the desire to have a large number of tournaments on the lake. The fish I catch look good and are mostly 2.5 to 5lb with the distribution mostly toward the heavy side. Occasionally I am getting 6 to 9.5 lb fish.

In a communication I made with the TPWD biologist in charge of Roberts the following statements were made. Electrofishing and other studies indicate that the largemouth bass population in Roberts is very similar to the populations in Lewisville, Buchanan, and Belton reservoirs. Also, that electrofishing studies since the slot was introduced in 1998 have failed to demonstrate the presence of a signifigant number of big fish.all I can say about this is that I have fished Lewisville several times and that is the reason that now I always drive the extra 20 miles to fish Roberts. Makes me wonder if electrofishing is as good a sampling tool as man hours with the rod and reel. Or maybe that you don't need a big fish population to get good angling results if the fish stay around and you have good cover and structure to position them to be easily patterned by anglers. At any rate it seems that from a management standpoint that if most people like a lake that it would be best to leave it alone or at least not manage it with as cleaverlike an approach as going to the 14" minimum. Maybe some compromise like the 16 to 21 inch slot, or the present slot with the easment that you could take one slot fish per angler and no more than two per boat would be better. This would be more complicated, but still enforcible, and would probobly work for tournament fishing.

I've heard a lot of comments about helping the area economy. It might be helpful if all saying this and their buddies would break into their busy schedule of fishing lesser lakes and take a few weekends to stay at Roberts and enjoy some catch and release (where you caught them) fishing on this fine lake.

If the fishing is as good as Lewisville, then why a slot? The vast majority of the anglers catch and release anyway. Lewisville's been great for years even with all the pressure it gets, and that's with a 14 inch mininum... so there isn't any reason to keep Roberts on a slot.

I did understand what Lindy said about the lake but why are Stevenson and other guides at Fork catching fish and Roberts isn't producing. Like I said water level and grass, same thing Lindy states. Lindy will say he's catching all the fish in the lake in another month--anything up with the word GUIDE behind his name?

I've lost all the info about the shocking that happened on Roberts last year, but I think I can remember most of the info. Normally during a shocking they are able to record about 90 fish per hour. RR produced about 200 per hour with the majority of the fish were less than 1 1/2#. The reasoning was that the spawn was very good due to the high water which shut the lake down for a couple months. But the bigger fish weren't being recorded, which they were trying to protect. I'm sure that they checked many spots around the lake. the recommendation by the biologist was that the unders weren't being removed, so the slot need to be dropped.

One thing to keep in mind is the reduced pressure on other surrounding lakes, making the fishing better there. I don't think there will be more touraments, just more spread out. Lift the slot on Bridgeport too, and all of these lakes would have a lot less pressure every weekend. Letting people retain for weigh-in sounds great, but its illegal and won't happen.

no one keeps unders anyway...why not lift the slot on fork?that would make tournaments out here MUCH more interesting.i dont understand the purpose of slots since no one keeps bass anymore anyway....its BASS fault....until a few months ago when the article about how catch&release can actually be harmful to lakes came out,BASS was making it seem like keeping a bass was sacraligde.but i digress.original point,get rid of the slot.