Small fish.....

**Craig Johnson** · 08-11-2014, 02:17 PM

Originally Posted by drakewoodie

Dont worry about just the shorts being taken. It worries me how many big blues are pulled from Milford early in the year when their biting good. You have any thoughts on this Craig?

drakewoodie,

I don't have access to all the sampling data and harvest data for blues at Milford so I won't make any wild assumptions.

The daily creel limit on blues at Milford was dropped from 10/day to 5/day several years ago which obviously limits number of blues that can be harvested but doesn't have any impact on the size of fish that can be harvested. Some states, such as Oklahoma, have gone to "one over limits" on blue catfish as part of the daily creel limits. An example of this type of limit would be "one fish over 30-inches per angler per day" which would spread out the harvest of those larger fish.

El Dorado Reservoir currently has the 35-inch minimum length limit in place on blues. This regulation was put in to place in 2005 to protect the young population from angler harvest until it was mature enough for natural recruitment. The regulation has worked well and the blues are now producing good year classes and will soon be able to withstand some angler harvest without suffering ill effects. The 35-inch length limit will be repealed to allow harvest of the smaller fish. In order to further assist in the development of the trophy potential of blue catfish at the lake, harvest regulation options such as the 'one over limits' are being explored. This type of limit would allow for the harvest of smaller fish while protecting the larger, older, more valuable fish so they may be caught multiple times before being harvested giving additional anglers the thrill of catching a trophy sized fish in Kansas water.

**Craig Johnson** · 08-11-2014, 02:32 PM

Originally Posted by bluebasser86

We've been having smallmouths puking up zebra shells in our livewells lately too. The redears are packed full of them in the lakes where the two coexist. Hopefully they all keep eating the dang things.

bluebasser86,

I've not seen any smallies with zebra mussels in them and I haven't had any puke up zebra shells in my livewells so this is a new one to me. Makes me wonder if they are eating the zebra mussels intentionally or if the ingestion of the shells is a cost of feeding on the bottom on crayfish or other critter. What lake were you fishing? During the peak density of zebra mussels at El Dorado, it was nearly impossible to get in the water and NOT eat a zebra mussel as they were EVERYWHERE!!!

**zummy** · 08-11-2014, 09:14 PM

So what habitat was El Dorado lacking for the Red ears?

**bluebasser86** · 08-12-2014, 03:45 AM

Originally Posted by Craig Johnson

bluebasser86,

I've not seen any smallies with zebra mussels in them and I haven't had any puke up zebra shells in my livewells so this is a new one to me. Makes me wonder if they are eating the zebra mussels intentionally or if the ingestion of the shells is a cost of feeding on the bottom on crayfish or other critter. What lake were you fishing? During the peak density of zebra mussels at El Dorado, it was nearly impossible to get in the water and NOT eat a zebra mussel as they were EVERYWHERE!!!

I wondered the same about them getting the zebra mussels as a byproduct of feeding on something that was on/near the bottom. I don't know how much zebras may open and close like a freshwater mussel, but any small movement can attract a curious smallmouth. The main reason I don't think it was incidental was there was a few dozen shells in the livewell with an 18 1/4" and a 20" smallmouth, seems like that's a lot of shells if it was accidental. This happened at Melvern this past April, one of these two fish or maybe both.

**Craig Johnson** · 08-22-2014, 02:01 PM

Originally Posted by zummy

So what habitat was El Dorado lacking for the Red ears?

Sorry for the slow reply, zummy!

Redear sunfish prefer deep, clear, weedy water. El Dorado has pretty good areas of water willow along shorelines but not much in the way of offshore weedbeds that would be beneficial to the redear. Even though the redear are found more offshore than the bluegill, they weren't able to establish a population during our 3-year stocking effort.

**Craig Johnson** · 08-22-2014, 02:16 PM

Originally Posted by bluebasser86

I wondered the same about them getting the zebra mussels as a byproduct of feeding on something that was on/near the bottom. I don't know how much zebras may open and close like a freshwater mussel, but any small movement can attract a curious smallmouth. The main reason I don't think it was incidental was there was a few dozen shells in the livewell with an 18 1/4" and a 20" smallmouth, seems like that's a lot of shells if it was accidental. This happened at Melvern this past April, one of these two fish or maybe both.

bluebasser86,

Were the shells open or closed? Were they live zebra mussels or just the shells? Single shells or still connected to the other half? Sorry for all the questions! If they were live zebra mussels, then more often than not they are firmly attached to the substrate meaning they are rather difficult to pull off. If the shells don't contain a live zebra mussel then they aren't usually attached and can sometimes be found in large piles of loose dead shells which would be really easy to inhale a few while snapping a crawdad off the bottom. If the regurgitated zebra mussels were still alive then the smallies could have been targetting the zebra mussels as they would have to expend some energy to dislodge the attached zeebs from the bottom. Again, sorry for all the questions! I've not seen any sign of the El Dorado smallies eating zeebs so hearing of your trip has my interest!

Great looking smallmouth! I bet those were a BLAST to catch!

**zummy** · 08-23-2014, 07:04 PM

Originally Posted by Craig Johnson

Sorry for the slow reply, zummy!

Redear sunfish prefer deep, clear, weedy water. El Dorado has pretty good areas of water willow along shorelines but not much in the way of offshore weedbeds that would be beneficial to the redear. Even though the redear are found more offshore than the bluegill, they weren't able to establish a population during our 3-year stocking effort.

Have they ever thought about Coffey County? That lake is deep. It also has had an explosion of zebra mussels, and a coinciding explosion in offshore weed beds. Sounds like it could be a prime candidate.

**bluebasser86** · 08-24-2014, 02:44 AM

Originally Posted by Craig Johnson

bluebasser86,

Were the shells open or closed? Were they live zebra mussels or just the shells? Single shells or still connected to the other half? Sorry for all the questions! If they were live zebra mussels, then more often than not they are firmly attached to the substrate meaning they are rather difficult to pull off. If the shells don't contain a live zebra mussel then they aren't usually attached and can sometimes be found in large piles of loose dead shells which would be really easy to inhale a few while snapping a crawdad off the bottom. If the regurgitated zebra mussels were still alive then the smallies could have been targetting the zebra mussels as they would have to expend some energy to dislodge the attached zeebs from the bottom. Again, sorry for all the questions! I've not seen any sign of the El Dorado smallies eating zeebs so hearing of your trip has my interest!

Great looking smallmouth! I bet those were a BLAST to catch!

Had a mix of all of it, some were half shells, some both halfs and empty, some must have been recently eaten and were still closed. Smallies can clamp down pretty hard for a bass and in areas on Melvern the zebras get stacked on top of each other and are easier to pull loose in clumps. Maybe the bass are starting to recognize those as easy targets? I don't eat smallmouths and this is the first time I've put one in the livewell at Melvern and only did so because it was a tournament so I'm not sure if it's a regular occurance or if I just caught a couple oddballs. Yes, they were both a blast to catch too, the big one went 4.80lbs and won big bass for the tournament.

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