Yellow Bass on Barren River Lake
Yellow bass seem to have made some serious inroads on Barren River Lake.
Do you have any suggestions as to how we could blunt this attack of the Small Yellow, and help the bass, hybrid and crappie increase in size..
I had in the past suggested a no-limit situation but because the yellow bass is so close to the white bass in size and looks I was told it wasw not possible. However I believe that most fishermen in the state know enough about white bass to recognize yellow bass quite readily. Any regulation we suggest is not going to be recieved well due to the hybrid population in the lake being endangered by the no limit idea... however it seems that the more yellows there are the fewer hybrids the lake will hold..
So lets contact Fish and Wildlife concerning a new regulation taking the limit off of Yellow Bass. An educational program around the lake should blunt any problems with harm to the Hybrids. Is anyone with me on this.
Jim Dicken
PS.. as always this has nothing to do with the management of fishin.com, or its advertisers and is my idea as a fisherman.
Re: Yellow Bass on Barren River Lake
How big do the yellows get there? Do fishermen take them home in the first place? I've never fished Barren, but I know that at Guist, I could go and probably catch a limit of yellows just about any time; they're pretty plentiful there, too. But most of the ones you catch are just too small to fool with. So taking away the limit wouldn't make much difference, if nobody's harvesting them in the first place. And how much of a threat are they to the hybrids, really? I'm not arguing, just asking. But it seems to me that if conditions are good for yellows, they're good for hybrids, as well, so is there really a problem?
Re: Yellow Bass on Barren River Lake
I'd never caught any there til about 3 years ago. They're mean little boogers. Just right about the time you go to grab them, they flare out every fin they have. They're a porcipine fish.
Re: Yellow Bass on Barren River Lake
Jim,
You have a terrific idea. If only for a couple seasons, it would be a great. I don't get down to fish Barren that often...I've got several family members that have homes right on the lake next cove up from sailboat cove.
It's really over fished compared to the lakes I go to regularly...Dale Hollow and Kentucky Lake. What I mean...is there are some really good fisherman that hit it often and it's not as prolific a fishery as the other ones mentioned.
Yellow bass are as good as bluegills my friends.
M
Re: Yellow Bass on Barren River Lake
[QUOTE=RoadToad;338087]How big do the yellows get there? Do fishermen take them home in the first place? I've never fished Barren, but I know that at Guist, I could go and probably catch a limit of yellows just about any time; they're pretty plentiful there, too. But most of the ones you catch are just too small to fool with. So taking away the limit wouldn't make much difference, if nobody's harvesting them in the first place. And how much of a threat are they to the hybrids, really? I'm not arguing, just asking. But it seems to me that if conditions are good for yellows, they're good for hybrids, as well, so is there really a problem?[/QUOTE]
Too many fish and not enough forage. They grow slow, and fill a niche that Hybrids, White Bass, Bluegill and other fish could better fill. They were not meant to be in an impoundment this small. They are ok in a lake like Kentucky Lake or Barkley, or in a river system, but when introduced to smaller lakes are a real problem.
Re: Yellow Bass on Barren River Lake
[QUOTE=fishbum;338511]Too many fish and not enough forage. They grow slow, and fill a niche that Hybrids, White Bass, Bluegill and other fish could better fill. They were not meant to be in an impoundment this small. They are ok in a lake like Kentucky Lake or Barkley, or in a river system, but when introduced to smaller lakes are a real problem.[/QUOTE]
I think at least everyone should fill their limit everytime out,usually i accidentally throw them on the floor and step on them.
They have ruined the crappie on Barren
Re: Yellow Bass on Barren River Lake
I absolutely hate these fish!!!! I really wish we didn't have them in Barren. The kdfw really messed up on this one.
Back in end of March I was on the lower end working on getting my boat dialed in and saw the kdfw shocking. I went over to watch for a bit. Well I get to talking to them and they're trying to find yellow bass for a survey. Said they didn't think there was a problem with them cause they'd only found a couple. At this time you couldn't hardly crappie fish up the river or creeks cause of the yellow bass. They seemed surprised when I told them this. I would have thought they'd been aware of them running up to spawn.?
I'm not a Biologist but I really think Barren doesn't need yellow bass.
Re: Yellow Bass on Barren River Lake
So how did KDFW mess up? They didn't stock them in Barren.
Re: Yellow Bass on Barren River Lake
[QUOTE=JoeB;339399]So how did KDFW mess up? They didn't stock them in Barren.[/QUOTE]
Ditto here. They got in by accidental introduction, most likely from bait brought from a lake like Kentucky or Barkley. We need a law that prevents the transfer of bait fish from one body of water to another. EXAMPLE.. Ale wives from Dale to Cumberland, to Barren for hybrids.. We dont need Ale Wives moving around the State and ruining more fishing. They actually eat the eggs of walleye and other fish. they are ot filter feeders.
Jim
Re: Yellow Bass on Barren River Lake
[QUOTE=300ZX;339384] Well I get to talking to them and they're trying to find yellow bass for a survey. Said they didn't think there was a problem with them cause they'd only found a couple. At this time you couldn't hardly crappie fish up the river or creeks cause of the yellow bass. They seemed surprised when I told them this. I would have thought they'd been aware of them running up to spawn.?[/QUOTE]
I don't know about their spawning practices but you told them right about the river and creeks, looks like they would have been in those areas checking.
Re: Yellow Bass on Barren River Lake
I don't know the truth to this, but there is a rumor around here that with the effort to get the stripe fishery back, that a mix up happened and a load or loads of yellow bass accidently got dumped here on Barren. I fish here about as much as anyone and these things didn't just show up one here and there. It was like holy cow, these things are everywhere. I realize they are prolific but I can't help but think a mistake was made and not a few from some guys bait bucket got dumped. The first year we caught them they were all almost the exact same size about 4" long. I guess these things are here to stay but I HATE 'EM!!! LOL
Re: Yellow Bass on Barren River Lake
KDFWR doesn't even have yellow bass at the hatchery to mix up with stripers and whites. They came from one of our fine citizens moving fish around.