Photo by Ron Sinfelt.

The largemouth bass is Kentucky's most sought-after species of fish. So it's not surprising that when it comes to fisheries management, much time and study are spent to make bass fishing the best it can be in every public waterway.

Fishery biologists with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) use a variety of methods to keep tabs on bass populations. They have several ways to manipulate populations, but each lake environment is different and poses a different set of circumstances to consider before management can make decisions.

Broad-stroke regulations are often easier for anglers to understand and remember, but a more specific set of rules is sometimes needed to control the harvest of bass and shape the population into a higher quality fishery. Certain limits generally produce a particular outcome. It's the biologist's job to look at all the factors and recommend the best approach.

Of course, the toughest factor to contend with is nature itself. At times, nature will deal managers an unpredictable hand or permit only a finite number of options.

And some waters are simply better suited for largemouth production and growth than others. In Kentucky generally, those waters to the east pose the biggest challenge.

Three of the major reservoirs where biologists are continually working to offer the best bassing possible are Grayson, Dewey and Carr Creek lakes. In recent years, a number of variables have affected the largemouth populations in these waters. As biologists have learned more from research, and as environmental factors have changed from year to year, they have employed numerous management techniques.

One thing anglers will commonly notice on these waters is the 15-inch minimum-size limit on largemouths and smallmouths. As most anglers know, spotted bass don't have a size limit: In most waters, the overwhelming majority of spots die of old age before they reach 15 inches, so regulating them under that limit is essentially pointless.

Additionally, spots compete some with largemouth for space and forage. Since largemouth are the more desirable species, keeping Kentucky bass numbers at bay through harvest may help bucketmouths to better growth and survival rates.

We'll take a little look at the history of Grayson, Dewey and Carr Creek, explore some of the issues biologists have contended with, and see how the 15-inch limit has worked on these waters in recent years to improve fishing success.

Let's start with the biggest lake of the three.

GRAYSON LAKE
"Over the years, Grayson Lake has experienced a number of management practices aimed at trying to improve the quality of the largemouth population," said Fred Howe, assistant fishery biologist for the KDFWR's Northeastern Fishery District.

"A number of years ago," he said, "Lew Kornman (head of the Northeast District) initiated the 15-inch limit because the quality of Grayson bass was lacking. This measure helps protect bass from harvest longer, so they have a chance to get larger.