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I fish Pineview quite often. I have noticed that the last couple of years I have caught quite a few small mouth compared to previous years. The only concern I have is their size. I catch my fair share of 14" smallies, but I catch a ton of dinks too. Do you guys think that it is becoming over populated and stunting their growth? The proclamation says that you can only keep smallies over 15" and the limit is 6. I really don't keep many fish from any water, but do you think it would be helpful to the reservoir if they changed it to something like 1 over 15" and 3 under? For that matter, I am not for keeping any over 15".
Just a thought... what do you guys think?
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Shoot I remember the days when a 17" rainbow wasn't at all uncommon and the crappie were 5 to 8". The lake is definetly changing. As for the smallies I think you have a point, I just don't know what the solution is. I just thank God I can take my kids to such a amazing place.
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The smallies in pineview are just fine. There are always alot of small smallies in any good smallmouth lake. I fish Pineview alot and we catch alot of quality fish over 15" catch and release only of course.
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I agree that good smallie fisheries have a lot of smallies. My concern is that there are so many predator fish in Pineview. I mean, the smallies are competing with Tiger Muskies, Perch, Largemouth, Crappie, and the occasional trout for food. If they are over populated and there isn't enough food, it is going to stunt their growth. I think we are seeing a larger number of good sized smallies this year because of the drought. I know that sounds ridiculous, but the last 5-6 years it has been very tough on the perch and crappie... their numbers have declined drastically, mostly due to not having anywhere to spawn. So the smallies have not had to compete nearly as much. I'm just worried that if this year really is the end of the drought, and we consistantly get water for the coming years, the panfish population will again skyrocket, and we will see much smaller smallies.
Just my $.02. What do you guys think?
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The smallies are a top of the line predator it is the rest of the species that have to compete to stay alive. However if the the panfish populations dont rebound the smallmouth will have trouble due to lack of food, and there are not enough crawfish to sustain them. We will have to see how the high water affects the perch. I dont think there are enough crappie left to make any substancial comeback but hopefully we have 2-4 more high water years to find out. Also alot of bluegill there numbers should rise aswell.
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