I fish Oak Creek Reservoir and for the last 2 years 90% of the whites I catch over 10 inches are skinny and the longer they get the skinnier they get. My theory is because the lake level continues to get lower each year for the last 5 years the number of fish continue to be compressed into a smaller area and the availability of food has become an issue. But why would this not effect the small fish? Just curious if anyone has other ideas. I caught and cleaned a few hundred last summer and my first 50 the last two days and I have not noticed any parasites.

i suspect it is the forage base. My home lake is 4 1/2 ft low but the sand bass are butterballs.We have not had a shad kill in 5 years and our lake is loaded with shad.
Johnny

Too much McD's oh wait you mean the fish?

The problem could be too many large gizzard shad. Gizzards can easily grow large enough to be safe from most predators. Lots reservoirs have been stocked with stripers to eat large gizzard shad and overall the other fish in the reservoirs have thrived.