8 inch bass

I seem to only catch in fairly large numbers 8 inch bass, and just recently after really good panfish dominated the shores I fish in in pool 10 and 11 (Guttenberg, IA) this summer. I thought I read it took 3 years for a bass to get large enough to keep (14 inches in Iowa). Any reason why this is the predominant size and why just recently they have started to appear? I mainly just use crawlers for bait, but get more 8 inch bass (no smaller, no larger) than panfish lately. Oh yeah, and any tips for getting a keeper size bass from shore? (Never eaten a bass before and would like totaste one.)

Traditionally,
You will have different years with better than overage spawn and years with poorer than average spawn reflecting what seems to be “cookie cutter” fish. This is very typical of out river system. Next you might be mistaking a “School” of fish for the fish you are catching in very large numbers. Thirdly, You might be duplicating your pattern in areas that hold specific sized fish. Typically you will find you largest un pressured fish on the best spots in regards to feeding activity, DO levels, cover etc. IE the biggest guy is always first in line at Shoneys. From there the smaller fish in the ecosystem will filter in available habitat that offers the “next best” variables. What then happens is that the smaller fish will be void of areas (in general) holding bigger fish. This is very easily identified when looking at an open water environment. Typically the biggest fish will be under the smaller. This is for a variety of reasons that I won’t get into or I will bore you to sleep. This behavior allows the smaller fish (sometimes of the same species) to occupy the higher water column. Thus when you fish a crankbait through them you will usually catch the smaller fish. So to paraphrase you are fishing the wrong fish. –sound simple doesn’t it-
Don’t get me wrong its not near as easy as it sounds. If you do get into some bigger fish make note of the conditions and positioning of the fish. These “setups” will be repeatable time and time again. As for the smaller fish…. Each bite is a blessing.
Jc

They taste worse than sheephead.
jc

Dubiccf, You might want to take the ferry to Cassville and try the closing dam upstream. When the water is a little lower the old dam especially the end of it can be very good for bass. Another spot worth trying is the rip rap below the WPL powerplant. I’ve caught LM and SM bass along that shore. If your going to keep a bass I would suggest try to stay as close to the minimum size limit as you can. The larger they get the worse they taste.

I walk the shore in Pool 11 a lot, Iowa side. Where my cabin is located, its just too easy, and I have a couple favorite spots for walleye and lm/sm bass. I run into the same issue…lots of small bass. Jeremy I feel is correct…in most of the places I fish in this area (upper pool 11), there just isn’t a whole lot of bigger bass, just a bunch of smaller ones. But when I do catch larger fish, it always seems to be in the exact same place, and almost the exact same circumstances (time of day, time of year, pressure, color of lures, etc). Personally, with how little time I actually get to fish lately, I try to concentrate on when I know from 25 years of fishing the upper pool 11 areas when I know its in my favor to fish…usually early fall, pool level at L&D 10 around 5-6 feet, hit the wing dams and rip rap hard, dark colors seem to do better on average. The thing I noticed the last few years, small fish early/late day, and big fish right at high noon, lots of smaller fish at all other times (for bass anyway). Example…last Saturday after ‘clones game (6PM)…storm front moving in, level about 6 feet, I went to my favorite “walking spot”, at the base of a wing dam fishing either side of it with a 1/4 oz black/chartreuse beetle spin, my favorite fall bait. In 30 minutes I got 4 15-18″ walleye, a 15″ white crappie, and 4 LM all sizes 8-16″. I KNEW I’d catch the type of fish I caught at that time, with that bait, at that location because I have for the last 10 years. So, if you are catching a lot of smaller bass, I’d say keep searching till you catch larger ones, remember everything you can about that fish…bait, time of day, location, pool level…every item you can to describe that catch, then try to duplicate it. Pool 11 IMHO pales in comparison to what I read about other pools here…judging from the tourney boats that race by my cabin at 6AM every weekend, the pros think so too, so in this pool try to duplicate any success you have to make the odds in your favor better than average. Just one amateur hacker’s opinion…

The rich man’s Crap. Seriously, smallmouth aren’t too bad, but large mouth are terrible. Stick to Sunfish and Walleye, and release most of what you catch.

Regarding the small size I am not sure how to respond. We have caught some really nice bass on the river this year. The smallies on Wingdams and in front of rockpiles with at least some current. The LM somewhat ironically in weedbeds, but next to deeper holes with current.

Hmm, bass tasting like crap? I’ve eaten lots of largemouths, mostly 1.5 pounders or so. Not in recent years, as I’ve been pretty much strictly catch-and-release on bass. It’s true they aren’t as good as pike or pannies (I’d include walleyes, but they’re so bland they don’t taste like anything except what you put on them, which is why Norwegians like them so much) but these bass tasted really good. They all came out of clear northern Minnesota lakes, and I wonder if that’s what makes them taste different from the Big Miss bass.