Could the B-dub/Quetico lakes become dominated by stunted smallies?
I just returned from a trip where we fished a lake the person I was with has fished for 20 years. We caught lots of small smallies, on this lake and few big ones. We also caught smallies four inches long that were 20 feet deep, so going deep is no way to escape the small bass either. We did catch nice walleye and pike, but he was telling me that he never used to catch nearly as many small bass.

So I started to wonder why so many small bass seem to be in so many lakes. I also remember reading a book written by Bud Hinselman (BWCA Ecosystem) that stated that lakes that have had smallmouth introduced to them have shown to have a decrease in both walleye and lake trout populations as the smallmouth compete for forage and eat the young walleye and trout. I also remember reading an article in the MN Conservation Volunteer regarding lakes designated as trophy pike restoration waters. One part of this article that really caught my attention stated that a lake that lacks large pike will end up having a stunted pike population. It turns out the large pike cannibalize the small pike keeping the smaller pike numbers lower. Without large pike, the small pike flourish, compete for available forage against each other, and none of them can become large enough to cannibalize the smaller pike, thus increasing the small pike numbers.

So here is what I am wondering. Are the small bass numbers increasing in the eyes of others and if so, does anybody think that they are out competing the other game fish for forage and also eating the smaller walleye, pike, and lakers?

In other words, could lakes become dominated by aggressive and numerous stunted smallmouth that are unable to become large themselves? Without large sized pike and walleye, could small smallmouth flourish essentially free of predators as even large sized smallmouth bass are not able to feed on the small bass as they lack a mouth big enough to cannibalize a small bass?

I just got back from the number chain. The smallies I caught were small, compared to the past few years on other lakes. But, that could just be that its a busy area.

Fished Seagull lake very hard aug. 2-7 and caught ONLY small ones!!! First time That happenned in 10 years! Lots of skinny small pike, too. In all that time, never saw a quality fish except for the 3' nosky as he tried to steal my 16"pike from me!

We also experienced alot of small smallmouth this past spring. Smallmouth bass are the scourge of the boundary lakes. Kill them all. Of coarse, anybody who frequents this fishing forum knows my stand on SMB.

I don't think we know yet how damaging Sigurd Olson and Kenneth Reid's smallmouth bass project will become. Hopefully it won't be that bad.

Greg everything you just stated absolutely could happen without sound management practices. The fact that some love smallies and some hate them is evident. Now since they are a fact of life, and i believe nobody likes a bunch of small ones, then you have to put a management plan into action that targets the problem. What im going to say next is just my opinion but i think first, the taking of any Norhtern Pike over 30 inches should be severly curtailed, because they are the top predator in most of these ecosytems and the are the barometer of a healthy fish population. They keep the smallies from becoming to abundant, and eat lots of the smaller ones, also they eat alot of smaller pike keeping that in balance also. I would make the taking of smallies 13 inches and smaller legal year round except the spawn, and would increase the limit of such fish to ten. If fisheries mangers found illegally introduced species in a watershed, they should be legally able to destroy or relocate them to a watershed that has that species already. Sometimes you have super year classes that come about every ten years, i believe the last superclass of smallmouth was in 1986 or 1987, so the fish your getting right now that are small, might not necessarily be stunted, they may just all be from a recent year class say two or three years ago. The key in my opinion to maintaining a healthy population of any species is protecting the genetics of the top predators and culling the smaller fish.Water and soil conservation play a vital role also,mant trout streams have gone by the wayside because of poor management and enforcement and that needs to change.Again this is just my opinion :-)

Basspro69, was waiting for you to chime in. I knew you would and your response sounds well thought out.

I especially like the idea of a year around open season on 13 and under bass. If they only tasted as good as walleye and pike, people would likely be more inclined to keep a few. I ate my first bass on a recent trip, they were fine, but a bit dryer than the pike that accompanied them.

I'll try to give you a call this week and we can talk fishing a little more.

its all about how you prepare the fish

Many lakes producing only small smallies this year. This could be attributed to colder water than usual & many smallies not spawning.
Burntside lake, near Ely, just got a thermocline in about 27 FOW last Friday.
The fish have been scattered all over for most of the summer.

Bassmaster, willing to share any tricks for bass preparation? TGO, why would lack of spawning cause thebass to be smaller this year?

well how do you prepare the fish normally?

The one and only time I had bass it was breaded and deep fried along with pike. The pike was whiter and less dry. Does bass require something extra to prevent drying, such as a shorter cook time?

ahh well the breading and deep frying is the problem. With bass i like to coat the fillets with a little butter, add some salt and pepper and some dill weed. Wrap in heavy duty aluminum foil or a few layers of the regular stuff and grill it, it keeps the fish nice and moist and keeps the flavor of the fish as well.

BM, thanx. With bass being as readily available as they are, I will be sure to try it that was. Seems like there's a trick for everything if you look for it hard enough.

if you ever want fish breaded dont get it deep fried, it takes away from the flavor. just have it lightly coated in melted butter with a light coating of breading, while its cooking add a little lemon on top, not too much though

gbusk,

With many smallies not spawning because of the cold water temps, it seems that the larger ones are still very inactive.
I don't know if the cooler temps prevent them from ingesting their eggs faster, thus making them less interested in feeding????????
Some lakes have been producing good quantities and sizes of fish, but none have been consistant this summer.

We noticed a very scattered sluggish bite on the SM also this year...so far. We also did not pick up SM in the walleye spots like we usually do. The top water bite has been poor. I am sure water temp has affected the bug hatches also.

A few reasons the SM are doing so well in the bwca is because of the lake sturcture, water temp, and forage base. Next time you eat a SM just look inside the stomach and see what they are eating. 99% of the SM we have cooked up were full of crawfish...very very few minnows. I am sure they do eat the poor little walleyes sometimes but these fish are thriving because of the number of crawfish in the lakes. They will continue to thrive until there is a balance between the fish and the forage.

I personally like the taste of SM in the bwca. IMO...just about any fish caught out of cold water is going to taste good as long as you prepare it correctly.

MagicStik

As far as bug hatches, we had about a 6 week, non stop mayfly hatch that went into the last part of July.
Never saw anything quite like it.
Burntside Lake just got a thermocline last Saturday, and a few bigger bass were far more active today in about 20 FOW.

Majic stik, I agree with you on the taste of fish out of cold water, the colder the better.

There should not be a closed season for smallmouth bass in NE Minnesota.

I think the impact of bass on native fisheries in the BWCA varies by lake and is complex. I would suspect that some of the smaller, more infertile trout lakes will be more impacted than the larger lakes with more species diversity and higher fertility.