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Would you support slot limits vs minimum length?

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MidTennFisher

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I'm curious if the general populous of fishermen feel the same way as I do about this, whether you are a strict catch and release angler when it comes to bass or you're like me and like to eat them. Smallmouth Bass have a minimum length of 18 inches in almost all of our lakes here. I think we can all agree that we'd like to see 3+ pound Smallmouth released. However, that isn't going to be the case with an 18 inch minimum. There are plenty of guys harvesting Smallies. I have no guilt about harvesting an 18+ incher but I would certainly be happy to release that fish if I was allowed to harvest a handful of 14-16 inchers.

Would this be the best of both worlds and make everyone happy? Sure there are people who want every bass released and I'm really not talking to that crowd. That's like telling a vegan why I like to hunt. But for those who are willing to meet the other halfway - with allowed slot limit harvesting, guys like me who enjoy the taste of bass can harvest smaller fish and would be fine letting larger ones go so that they can pass on good genetics and be caught another day.

I'd like to actually propose this to TWRA and want to know if I could confidently say that many anglers would support this change.

Dale Hollow has something similar. You can harvest one Smallie under 16 inches and one over 21 inches. That's not exactly what I'd like to see on Center Hill and Tims Ford but it's better than the 18" minimum and last I checked, Dale Hollow wasn't hurting in terms of being full of giant Smallmouth.
 
I'm a fan of slot limits over a minimum length. This is because quite a few of the rivers and lakes in this area have precautionary advisories against eating some of the species of fish that are protected by the minimum length. https://www.tn.gov/twra/article/contaminants-in-fish . Most of the contaminants in the fish are PCB's and Mercury which build up in the fish over time. I just think that eating these fish before the contaminants build-up to unsafe levels is the most logical thing to do. I usually play it on the safe side and don't eat any of the fish with the precautionary advisories. A slot limits would also allow the harvest of juvenile fish which probably have a lesser survival rate when compared to an adult fish.
 
I am a big fan of slots. I personally believe the minimum length has hurt some species such as sauger by creating a selective harvest of the larger breeding female fish
 
That contaminant advisory is scary. Do not eat the fish, do not make contact with the water, some even say don't make contact with the river sediment! What a shame that we've ruined bodies of water to the point the fish aren't safe to eat and in some cases the water isn't safe to be in contact with! That's a whole different discussion though. I'm not eating fish out of those areas. I eat them from JPP, Tims Ford, and Center Hill. There are a lot of smaller sized LM and SM bass that have to be released while only being allowed to harvest larger ones.

Cottontop, I agree. The minimum length rules mean most of the harvested fish will be females. I think it would be better all around if we could thin out some of the smaller fish and let the fish that have gotten past that 17" mark (just my example for SMB) to go on and breed and become a trophy catch for someone.
 
If the regulation is 18 inch minimum it does nothing to protect larger fish. It results in only larger fish being harvested. If there is a legal harvest slot of 14-17" for example, it absolutely protects larger fish since fish bigger than 17 inches can not legally be harvested.
 
"If there is a legal harvest slot of 14-17" for example, it absolutely protects larger fish since fish bigger than 17 inches can not legally be harvested." - Well that would never fly with the tournament guys. I wouldn't like it either if I caught a 5 lb. smallie was not able to keep it.
 
I guess that's one detail I overlooked, the bass boat tournaments. Those tournaments bring in a lot of money and money talks. A slot limit of legal fish simply wouldn't work with bass tournaments would it? I can't think of anyway it would. Think about how many guys are hardcore bass tournament anglers that wouldn't buy a TN license anymore if they couldn't fish tournaments here. I personally don't care for those tournaments but we risk too many license sales that way.

As far as the slot, that is just an example. I'd be fine with a slot for harvesting your 5 bass limit with one fish over 20 inches or something allowed if you want to mount your trophy or if you just want to harvest a bigger fish to get more meat. That doesn't bother me one bit. I'm not saying I have an exact rule I'd like to see implemented, I just wanted to throw the idea out for a slot harvest instead of minimum length and see how people responded.
 
I guess I was thinking of a slot differently than the rest of you. To me a slot is where you can't keep fish between a certain size, such as they have with trout on the Clinch. This is the only place I fish that has a slot, so it was the first thing I thought of.

"All trout 14″- 20″ must be released. There is also a creel limit of 7 trout with only one over 20″."
 
Man I love the creek fishing. No special limits, just statewide, I release most fish but sometimes keep one or two for dinner


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If you are talking walleye, sauger or muskellunge, a minimum size makes sense but you asked about black bass.

Slot limits usually protect fish ranging from x inches to y inches in regards to bass.

I think it depends on the lake or river.

I'd like to know the reason for the 18 inch minimum in the 1st place.
 
Doskil":kunrptcm said:
I'd like to know the reason for the 18 inch minimum in the 1st place.
Click to expand...

It was actually anglers in the Chattanooga area who first pushed hard for an 18-inch size limit on smallmouth in this area (around the year 2000). They saw potential for more trophy smallmouth and lobbied hard, under then-TWRA Fisheries Chief Bill Reeves, for the 18-inch size limit. Biologically they probably could have gone with a 15 or 16-inch limit to protect spawners, but since a significant, and vocal group of anglers were pushing for 18 (in the Chattanooga area), wildlife commissioners passed it. Then, when they begin expanding smallmouth size limits elsewhere, they simply adopted the limit that began in the Chattanooga area.
 
What's funny is that same group of people would be pissed to see me paddle back to the ramp with a few 18+" Smallies. Hey, you asked for it!

This is why I'd like to be able to harvest smaller ones and let the big ones go. They'd like all bass released but they aren't going to get that.
 
The slot limit in my observation is bad. Looking at Dale Hollow smallmouth health and population it has hurt it. I believe you create a core of fish that has to battle with each other for survival. You can catch a 20" smallmouth from Center Hill Lake with the state 18" size limit and that fish will out weigh a 20" smallmouth from Dale Hollow. I also believe the big smallmouth die off at Dale Hollow couple years ago, could have been contributed to unhealthy fish in slot size. I also been on each side of bass fishing. Eat them and want the biggest for a bass tournament. In the end I want the healthiest bass fishery and again I don't believe slot is the answer!
 
rsimms":5vuwnclc said:
Doskil":5vuwnclc said:
I'd like to know the reason for the 18 inch minimum in the 1st place.
Click to expand...

It was actually anglers in the Chattanooga area who first pushed hard for an 18-inch size limit on smallmouth in this area (around the year 2000). They saw potential for more trophy smallmouth and lobbied hard, under then-TWRA Fisheries Chief Bill Reeves, for the 18-inch size limit. Biologically they probably could have gone with a 15 or 16-inch limit to protect spawners, but since a significant, and vocal group of anglers were pushing for 18 (in the Chattanooga area), wildlife commissioners passed it. Then, when they begin expanding smallmouth size limits elsewhere, they simply adopted the limit that began in the Chattanooga area.
Click to expand...


Thanks. That would answer it

I'm sure the biologists would know best but managing for trophy fish might not be it.
 
After eating a few of them, don't matter to me either way.
If I am gonna eat a fish it will be a catfish, crappie or bream.
In reverse order. :D
 
diamond hunter":qw659nwd said:
Old Hickory lake needs a size limit on crappie.11" minimum and 14" maximum.The lake would explode in 2 years.Everything eats crappie.The fish that eat a lot of them are bass and rockfish.
Click to expand...

Actually, the scientific research that has been done has shown that crappie are not a major food item for stripers. That old wives tale has been debunked in more than one study.
 

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