Recycle those smallmouths

[tearin' lips]

I agree Daze. We all care about this wonderful fishery and all of the great game species that we have and that is what makes the discussion so interesting.

[smalljaw]

I remember reading a few years ago that many of the largest fish caught in the July tourney were in excess of 20 years old. It was stated that class of fish was established as a result of walleye depletion during the time period these bass were hatched. There was also some concern that the quantity of 5 pound plus bass might go down as these older fish died off. I personnaly did not catch as many large bass last year and would like to hear your opinion and experience.

Regards,

Wayne

[Burnham]

wait, i am 15(16 in 2 days) and some of the 18-20 inch smallmouths i have caught may be as old as me? if they are i think thats pretty cool!

[CaptJohnWI]

There was a story in In Fisherman magazine a few years ago about the results of the Ft. Francis tourney. There are very few true 5-pounders weighed in during the tourney but lots of 4+ pounders. And as I remember the story, the average age was around 20 years for those fish. I think they had one that was over 25!

Now these were actual Rainy Lake fish aged by Ontario MNR. Not from Simcoe or elesewhere down south in the Banana Belt by Toronto.

They ain't starving in the winter. At least judging by the girth of the ones I catch now and then through the ice.

[rainy dude]

John is correct with the age structure and the results of the on-going bass study being done during the derby. These are very old fish in Rainy lake. Twenty years old were the big dogs and only a few have been caught in the last few years over five pounds.

In regards to the winter starvation issue. It's not that they don't feed if a bait is dropped on their face in 40 feet of water. It's the fact that they are genetically a warm water fish and they simply don't move much all winter. Their movements appear to be in slow motion and they can not chase down bait, like they do once the water warms. So in reality they are on an extremely thin diet.

I have some footage from the MNR that was done to show how vulnerable and slow they actual are. I will assemble it and post it on utube tonight.

[Burnham]

u should put a link onto here once u get that youtube vid up..just a thought

[Black_Bay]

Just because some 5 lb or 20 " fish were aged at 20 years old doesn't necessarily mean it took that long to get to 5 pounds. Fish have indeterminant growth, that is they continue growing their entire life. Growth does slow at older ages. There are very old, 20+years, 20" smallies in Rainy and some young ones, 9 years old, also. We might be in the hay day of big smallies.

[rainy dude]

The mentioned video of smallmouth on their elephant wintering grounds.

R_D