Quote Originally Posted by apb View Post
Shad and alewifes both spend a good deal of their lives well away from shore, out over open water. Not many bass to feed on them out there. I have only been fishing the lake for 15 years. The stories that I hear are that the bass and striper fishing were both better in the 80's. The last state record striper was caught out of there in 85. If the 80's were the best time for stripers, and the bass fishing was also good, then the decline in bass fishing over the last few years is not the result of the stripers. If the bass decline is a direct result of the stripers, then the bass fishing in Cumberland would have been at its best in the early 90's when the striper fishing was way down. Note that striper fishing, at least for me, has not been real good the last few years.

There are many other factors that come into play for both species. As someone else mentioned, large influxes of water early spring when bass are spawning plays a role in the bass spawn, and subsequently, the bass fishing 5-6 years down the road when that year class starts hitting keeper size. As these upland lakes get older, you get less timber and other structure. That has an affect on the bass, crappie, and bluegill populations. Also add to that the increase in the numbers of people fishing the lake. It seems that stripers become the scapegoat anytime bass fishing is down. Plenty of other factors need to be considered. I know on Norris Lake a number of years back a number of the local bass clubs filed suit to get the stocking of stripers on Norris stopped as they felt the stripers were to blame for the decline in bass (e.g., the stripers were eating the bass). A study done by Mississippi State University found no evidence that the stripers were eating bass. Cut open over 1000 stripers to check stomach contents and found none with bass in them. There were a couple of crappie, 6 bluegill (3 with holes in the nose indicating they were used as bait). Everything else was shad. Bass, in contrast, were eating other bass. Spots averaged something like 17 percent of their was bass. Smallies were around 3 percent, and LM were somewhere between.

For most of the year, stripers do not use the same parts of the lake as bass, so they really do not compete with bass.

Andrew
In some way you are proving my point. Just think how many MORE stripers are in the lake now than in the 80's. As for the bass not using the middle of the lake to forage just ask FISH FINDER GENERAL he makes good money on DALE (no stripers) catching fish that are not "using " the middle of the lake. Also ask the striper guides how many BIG small mouth they catch that NOT using the same water as stripers. IT will astound you. Why do you think the bass fishing is so tough right now. The majority of them are out in the middle under the shad.
Isn't it funny how you think the bass have died and then BAM in the spring they are laying everywhere trying to spawn. The bass in cumberland have adapted to the shad being in the middle. and to say that stripers don't compete for the forage is ridiculous.
Ok back to your study at norris if only ONE bass showed up in there bellies that is one that would have still been in the lake if no stripers where there. But i still think the impact of stripers on bass populations is competition for forage. Stripers eat and poo. End of story. If the kill is not to significate do me a favor in about 2-3 weeks be around ramseys point area around day light and watch the striper jumps. ACRES of them and all will be between 15-20 inches . I mean ACRES up at one time.