Lake Columbia --- Grass Equals Bass

[rebeav23]

Agree or Disagree?

I'm not saying the fish are in the grass right now. I'm saying that without the grass (coontail mainly) that has started to finally grow back the lake is going to suffer another set back.  They have put more Grass Carp along with more bass fingerlings (Fla) in the lake and rumor has it that they have decided to lower it in order to kill off the grass growing on the North side.  Many many many articles have been written and tons of research has been done proving how Bass need a good diverse aquatic environment as does the forage in which they prey upon. (Forage is what the bass eat crawfish, shad, bugs etc ...FYI- for hunter4life). What's the point in putting in fingerlins then kill off the grass?

IMO these are 2 very uneducated decisions (carp and lowering the lake) that apparently no one has to explain why they were done or plan on being done. I'd like someone with some knowledge to prove that this is the best course of action for the lakes health.

This lake was once designated a trophy bass lake by the Ark Game and Fish. It once had a 16-21" slot and yielded bass in the 5-10lb range regularly and once had grass from North Shore landing all the way to the dam and on the south side it was like that.  They introduced these Asian Carp and their 7" digestive tracts to consume their weight or more per day in grass.  They not only consumed the grass depleting most that habitat but the the overall water quality was lowered. They eat and crap their whole lives so when you get a glass of water from your tap Magnolian enjoy that after taste (actually city water is pretty good). Research Caney Lake (south of Ruston, Louisiana), Lake Degray, Quachita, Toledo Bend and see what it means not to have grass.

They once lowered the slot from 16-21" to  16-18" because the bass that were lucky enough to make it to this 16-21" range magically stopped growing. People *cough*ed about that's all they caught were 2-5 lb bass. Hey you caught fish didn't you? Get ya bream pole or crappie or catfish stuff and get you some fish to eat is what I have to say about that. People don't bass fish because they are starving. If the reason is people can't fish because of the grass they have to adapt and learn new techniques to do so is what I say. Yea I know you can't get that torpedo in there and your rattle trap always gets grass on it and your texas rig worm with 1/2 lead weight get "garbage" every time. Tough crap is what I say but its not my decision. This grass has just started showing up in places that it used to be on Northshore Point and Flats, west down the Northshore bank, etc. Beech Creek is perfect and the rest of the lake should be more reflective of its main creek IMO.   

What research have they done? What are the immediate and future goals and objectives for Lake Columbia now? Is he who is appointed by the Lake Commission (or whatever) all knowing and what he says goes? I'm sure he's gotten approval from someone with authority but what does that mean? Hey I know him and he's an alright fellow but he is on tax payer dollar making  decisions that could have a small impact locally.  When 10lbers are being caught out of your lake on semi-regular basis people are traveling to fish in it.  When we fisherman travel we spend money that's a fact.  The fisherman that fish the lake regularly should have some input PRIOR to doing things like putting grass carp in. Where's the research? Call someone that has fished the lake for years (Ruby, Strick, Snap, Capt, Slick, Bates, Neal, Carter to name a few) get their input.

"The lake is small and is not going to be hosting any major tournaments ever so the fishery has to be more suitable for the community"  This would be a more viable answer versus the ones I've heard.   

Anyways I am versaTILE. I can and will move and take my tax money with me. Can't drink can't catch big bass what the hell else is there? Good Schools? LOL. There is some good hunting if you were lucky enough to inherit some land with timber still on it or plain lucky to have stumbled on some to lease or cheap enough to buy. BTW I'm sure there are some good leases to join and other places to hunt don't get me wrong I like it here but......

 

[strick]

Beav, I know where you're coming from.  It used to be you had a bad day if you didn't catch at least a 5 lber.  Now those fish are a rarity.

[airmaster]

Columbia is my main lake, i fish there at least once a week, usually two to three times a week, I have been fishing it for about 16 years now. IT is nothing like it was, it used to be that you woulld get slap wore out from catching five lbers, everywhere, grass, timber, open water, didnt matter. I have caught more fish this year than in the past few, but the size has went way down. if we catch a five lber now, we had a great day. I see potential this year for columbia to come back, but if they go through with that crap you are talking about it will def. be a setback. You are right, people dont really bass fish to eat, i do keep a few to eat but i can always go to the river bottoms or somewhere else and catch all the eaters i need. Hell, where most of the grass is, You wouldnt fish there this time of year anyway, and in the spring when its comin in it makes it that much better. I hope they do whats right for the lake, and not what just a few "experts" think need to be done.  And magnolia water tastes like crap

[lsfolse]

  go beav....sounds great too...can i copy and paste that on agfc.com  ....I dont claim to be a scientist on lake managment but its common sense...if they are going to make this lake for ppl fishing from banks during summer they should just go ahead and do it in and put a 12in min kill all the grass and let them have at it...the slot we have now is pointless if you are trying to manage for big bass....if they want to grow back the big bass we had make it least 16-21 if not to 23...bass arent good to eat when they get that big anyway....why is the commissioner putting out tree tops and then go and kill the grass....maybe he thinks if we put out 6 tree tops it'll make up for all the grass they will kill....go to middle of lake, look to the east and tell me we need more trees in the water....maybe some chunk rocks, blocks or something different...enough on him  ..."boat docks"......how do you apply for the commissioner job anyway, thats what i need ....the lake has deffinitely gone down hill in the last 10yrs...wasnt the slot dropped about 10 yrs ago?? If they kill the grass off thats about it for ole lake columbia as we knew it....it could come back if they would raise the slot up and leave it alone

Seriously....
How many of you guys think the slot should go back up?
Should the grass be killed off?

[airmaster]

slot definitely needs to be raised! who the hell wants to eat a bass over 16 inches anyway??

[John Sanner]

I agree that something needs to be done. I believe the slot needs to be changed back to what it was or change it to 18-23" and alow you to keep one over and three under the slot. I agree that the grass needs to left alone and I would love them to add hydrilla to the lake but it needs to be controlled. To address the carp problem it wouldnt take but a couple trips out there with some bow and arrows and someone could put a dent in those carp. Heck some of those things are close to 40 pounds if not over. It may help getting stuff done to the lake if we had a local bass club in place and enough members to get some petitions signed. I just dont understand where all the big bass have went. I wonder if they are running out of food to eat. A friend of mine caught a bass out there about 2 weeks ago that was 27 inches long and it was under 5lbs. It had a huge head but the rest of the fish was skinny. I think we would see the bass grow fast if they would stock tilapia in it every year and that would also give the bank fisherman something to catch and take home instead of taking the bass home. I have some more to add but I am out of time for today.

[airmaster]

john, that sounds good and i wonder where the bigger bass are too. even though i had an 8+ break me off the other day....there are alot of shad in the lake, but the little bass are hell on em..

[flipnpitch]

Beav...when did they put more carp in there?  Was it the AGFC or did the RDA do it?

[gutshot]

Beav...when did they put more carp in there?  Was it the AGFC or did the RDA do it?

I got this in an email two weeks ago:


LITTLE ROCK - Arkansas Game and Fish Commission crews stocked almost 2 million fish in Arkansas lakes and rivers during June, according to Mark Oliver, chief of fisheries. The total stocking of fish weighed more 162,400 pounds.

Lake Columbia, Columbia County, 262 yearling grass carp
Lake Columbia, Columbia County, 154,479 fingerling Florida bass
Lake Columbia, Columbia County, 47 adult Florida bass

[lsfolse]

John I agree about the bow fishing...that's a blast... got a buddy with a boat rigged out ready to go so we plan on putting a hurt on some of them when the water clears up a bit...

[duckman81]

I know of 2 7lbers that have been caught in the last 5 days!! they were only 21 inches long so I would say they are still eating good!! I also caught SEVERAL spots and small LM's there the other day and they were CHUNKS!!! I think the lake s gonna make it!!! PATIENCE GUYS

[airmaster]

ripped em saturday...caught a 20 incher..and lots of decent fish...there is potential, just has to be managed right to realize it

[lsfolse]

I know of 2 7lbers that have been caught in the last 5 days!!

who caught them, who weighed them, and wheres the pics...I knew a guy that had two fish that wieghed 12lbs untill we weighed them.... they actually was 8....we are not saying that there arent big fish in columbia just not as many and if you kill the grass its gonna get worse...reread the post

[rebeav23]

I'm not saying the lake is dead. I'm not its not capable of producing some memorable days or a big stringer (see Feb 2010 Media Results). This is why I've fished it like I have putting 300 hrs on my boat in 2-1/4 years and 3/4 of that were on Columbia.  Its been getting better (quality and size) compared to the 2006 ish. I felt like this year was going to be the last "down" year. IMHO What you sir are seeing is the lake finally rebounding from poor management decisions made a several years ago. I had no problem lowering the slot for 1 or 2 years. I understand the need for selective harvest. I think the slot should have been reverted back to its previous range of 16-21 after 2 years of the 16-18 slot was implemented (FYI- Implemented = put in place) So having said that I wonder what would result if a more modern slot was put in place.

12" Minimum
Max number per boat 6 (FYI for Hunter 4 Life 6=  1/2 Dozen)
Keep 6 between 12"-14"
1 over 21" per year that means a Columbia specific Tag?? Anyone mount a fish below 21"?

Tournaments should be run like a regular lake however. Some specific guidelines on catch and release that could be agreed upon prior to it.  
BTW I caught more fish from the bank than I did before I got my first boat in 97. Hell before 2007 I didn't know there was a lake past the gas line. Thanks to a bald headed buddy of mine I eventually figured this out and caught my PB of 11lb 15.345 oz  towards the dam by that stump on that H & H.  I had it mounted and I still feel wrong about that. With all the media capabilities available I think a replica would be just as cool.  If IF I had it to do all over I would have had more pics and some video and incorporated it in with the mount.  

reply to most previous post : i knew a guy that had 12 but it was 9 lol


I think Lake Erlin has more potential but that's a whole nother POST>

  

[flipnpitch]

"Lake Columbia, Columbia County, 262 yearling grass carp"

 

All lakes go through cycles…...and although it will never be like it was when it was new, I think Columbia is on the up swing.  For the last 4 or 5 years the baitfish have been almost non-existent.  We’re finally seeing huge schools of bait again this year, and it’s only a matter of time before the big bass and crappie return.  But, there is going to be another setback if they kill all the new vegetation that has shown up.  I just don’t get what they are trying to accomplish.  We’ve finally got some descent habitat for the forage base and young fry and they want to get rid of it? 

As far as the slot, I think the AGFC screws around with slot and creel limits too much.  Set a 14 or 15” minimum, like Texas, and be done with it.  Yeah, I’d like to see all of those bigun’s put back in the lake, but to be honest I don’t think angler harvest makes a huge impact, other than keeping them thinned out enough that they don’t destroy the forage base.  I didn’t always think like this.  I used to think EVERY bass should be thrown back.  But then I saw how over population put Columbia in the dump.  Those big ol’ slot fish just destroyed the forage base.  Nowadays more folks are throwing the big ones back on their own anyway, with or without regulations. 

I don’t think there is an easy answer, but I do think it’s more about good habitat than anything else.  I look at Texas lakes as a good example of that.  Rayburn, Lake O’ The Pines, Choke Canyon, Falcon, Amistad and the list goes on.  They all have a 14” minimum and continue to produce monster fish, and plenty of them, because they have good habitat. Lake Fork is a different animal all together. The TPWD had a plan for it from the very beginning.  But even with incredible habitat and intense management, it’s gone through some rough times.  Columbia will be back soon, if they’ll leave the grass/pads alone.

[flipnpitch]

I also caught SEVERAL spots

In Columbia?  I've never caught a spotted bass out there.  Not saying that there aren't any, I've just never caught one.

[rebeav23]

Listen hear Flip, if i  had caught a 30lb stringer and beat everyone combined I might have a different opinion...lol. You should still be ashamed...i know it was beat down back February!!

I may have caught a spot before but I am not sure. I wish I could find the picture. I don't know 100%   

The main point of the post is Grass = Bass

History doesn't lie and neither do numbers. Lakes do go through cycles just like the weather. The person or person's managing the lake should hold open door meetings before doing things like putting carp in there. As G-dub used to say this is "MERICA" by golly. The bass club will  pay 20 bucks for any of those CARP's head.   I kinda like the idea of Talopia in there. I know my neighbors here in town would like'em.