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LARGEMOUTH BASS ARE PLENTIFUL IN OLD HICKORY LAKE
AS REPORTED IN THE TENNESSEAN, JANUARY 24, 2008
Many fishermen reported a decline last year in the largemouth bass bite on Old Hickory Lake, which always has had an abundance of the species.
The reports got the attention of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, which annually studies the fish population on several area lakes.
Results of this year's survey showed that just because largemouth aren't biting on Old Hickory doesn't mean there aren't plenty still there, however. In fact, the species is thriving, according to Todd St. John, a TWRA reservoir fish manager. "What we found on Old Hickory," he said, "were numbers and sizes of bass that tell us that the bass population is in great condition."
Fishing for answers
The TWRA uses electro-fishing surveys to study area lakes. It emits a direct electric current through the water, which causes a muscle response reaction that forces fish toward the biologists so that they can be studied.
"Our electro-fishing surveys have indicated for a long time that Old Hickory Lake is one of the best largemouth bass impoundments in Tennessee and that includes information we gathered this year,'' St. John said.
"In order to make our surveys dependable we revisit the same survey sites every year at the same time, use basically the same boat and equipment to shock and stun bass, and the same nets to pick them up in order to accurately compare results from year to year. Old Hickory's largemouth bass population has been impressive for a long time."
This year 590 largemouth were collected and 25 percent were larger than 15 inches.
"We have a bunch of fish below the keeper size in Old Hickory, which is something I don't have to tell bass fishermen,'' St. John said. "But we have a strong population of fish above the reservoir's bass size limit of 15 inches."
The drought last summer and other possible variables might have had a negative affect on the largemouth bite, according to St. John.
"Anglers need to be patient with Old Hickory,'' he said. "We had a meeting six or seven years ago with concerned anglers and local Old Hickory business people after a summer when the bass fishing was down, but the following spring the lake had one of its classic bass years and everybody caught fish."