Killing Rock Bass
 

Over the past five years, the number of rock bass i have been catching in Winni has grown exponentially. I am very concerned that they are going to take out the native species of fish here before too long. A fishing guide recently told me that fishermen have been asked to kill any rock bass they catch in order to help keep this invasive fish in check, and I just wanted to see if others have heard the same thing.

Thanks!

While you might not hear that officially from anyone at Fish & Game out of fear that people that can not tell the difference between a Smallmouth Bass and a Rock Bass (because of the similarities with their eye color), might accidentally kill young Smallmouth Bass. However the general consensus among most fisherman is to kill any one of these that you catch and send them to the bottom for the crayfish to eat, I do.

They have really taken over Winnipesaukee the past few years and have now made there way into Lake Winnisquam.

As an avid fisherman who used to spend sometimes (2 or 3) 13 hour days every week on all three of the big lakes from ice out to ice in for many years. I hate to say it but Winnipesaukee's smallmouth fishing is dying a quick death. This spring there were practically no fish on beds where there would traditionally be hundreds. Yes you can still catch smallies, today but where are the new fish going to come from in the next few years without successful spams in the future.

Lake Sunapee had the same problem several years ago and is now rebounding. I don't know if Winnipesaukee can recover unless they start to do something soon.

I have heard that on Sunapee they were having "unlimited" catch and kill tournaments for a while, can't confirm if this is true or if it was ever sponsored by fish & game. I had also heard from what I would consider a reasonably reliable source that a local farmer for a while was offering .05 cents to kids per dead rock bass for fertilizer.

Top-Water, your observation about small mouth fishing is what we have encountered this year as well. We are catching them but not nearly as many as we have caught in the past. Was thinking I was losing my touch.......

Your probably not losing your touch, it's more likely that whats happening in this video is taking place all over the lake.

Thanks to Diver1111 for posting it in this thread.
http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...ad.php?t=20633

If I had to guess the rock bass by there shear numbers are taking over every bit of available habitat and eating everything in sight and pushing the smallmouth into less than favorable places. For now as fisher-men and women we might only be seeing this affect the smallmouth because they generally inhabit the same places in the water column. I'm not sure what the future will be if they expand there range into other areas of the lake and start feeding on things that support the cold water species in the lake.

That was an amazing video .... I never realized they schooled like that!

anyone know how they were introduced to the lake?