Originally Posted by
DaveStewart
I would be amiss to try to quote any actual statistics on the numbers of fish over 7lbs caught here so far this year. Personally, in my boat we have had 12 over 8lbs (I keep mental track of this because on this lake I do not consider a bass to be a "trophy" until it hits the 8lb mark. I get a lot of reports each week...and keep tabs on more tournament results than most of you will ever hear about unless you are a local down here...there have been a few over 10lbs caught here this past spring and some numbers of 9lb fish too.
Here is my take on trying to compare Ky Lake to Lake Fork or any other good deep south lake:
The fish in Lake Fork and other touted fisheries in the deep south are Florida stain bass and have much longer growing seasons...the fish in Ky Lake are northern stain bass and the growing season is shorter. I don't see any fair way to compare a Florida stain bass with a northern strain bass at least as far as seeing them both as equals..they are two different strains. Florida's grow bigger and get bigger faster. In my way of thinking, if I catch an 8lb northern strain here, it is a big an accomplishment as catching a 12lb Florida strain. To me "size" is all in how you look at it. It would be like trying to compare a 7lb Smallie caught in Canada with a 7lb Smallie caught in Dale Hollow....not a fair comparison as far as how long it took to grow a Smallie that size....obviously we have a longer growing season here than they do in Canada and even though both fish may be of the same strain...it took a lot longer for that fish in Canada to get to 7lbs.
Before I moved here, I lived in Frankfort....in central Ky when I lived there, it was a big deal to catch a LM over 5lbs, here on Ky Lake it is not a big deal. Our lakes are much more fertile here than in central Ky so catching that over 5lb bass there in my mind was like catching an over 8lb bass here.
So, in other words...in my way of thinking..."size matters" is only a relative term to where you are fishing.
As far as latest Lake Fork advertising campaign...it is directly related to the bass boom in Falcon, Amistad and Choke Canyon....Fork area is losing business to lakes that are now producing numbers of really big fish and they are getting a lot of publicity about those lakes because the big tournament trails are fishing there instead of Fork.
No doubt that if you want an increased odds of catching bass over 7lbs you can increase your odds by going to a lake with a great reputation that has Florida strain fish and a longer growing season...no way I can argue that Ky Lake is gonna produce more of these bigger fish...but we do have numbers of fish here in the 7lb range as compared to other lakes in this region...hands down....you still have to catch them though....that is the challege that keeps us all going back out there.
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