Fishing Features: Tompkins: For <b>bass fisheries</b>, Mother Nature knows best

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Thursday, June 21, 2012

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Tompkins: For bass fisheries, Mother Nature knows best Shannon Tompkin, Houston ChronicleCopyright 2012 Houston Chronicle. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.By Shannon Tompkins Updated 10:51 p.m., Sunday, June 17, 2012

Often best accessed using a kayak or canoe, Texas' rivers can produce bass fishing equaling or exceeding that found in reservoirs, and in a much more scenic setting.Photo: Shannon Tompkins/ Houston ChronicleOften best accessed using a kayak or canoe, Texas' rivers can...

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Top 10

Bassmaster magazine rated the top 100 black-bass fisheries in the United States earlier this year. Texas has eight fisheries in the top 100, more than any other state. Here are the nation's top 10:

1. Falcon Lake, Texas

2. Lake Okeechobee, Florida

3. Lake Guntersville, Alabama

4. Lake Erie, New York/Michigan/Pennsylvania/Ohio

5. Lake Champlain, New York/Vermont

6. Lake Amistad, Texas

7. Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota

8. San Joaquin Delta, California

9. Lake Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

10. Clear Lake, California

Page 1 of 1

Two things jumped off the list accompanying a "100 Best Bass Lakes" article which ran in Bassmaster magazine earlier this year.

One of them was quickly obvious, and a source of pride for any Texas freshwater angler; Texas, the piece asserts, has more top-quality bass fisheries than any state.

The other insight probably wasn't as conspicuous but was, personally, even more gratifying. The rankings highlighted something most Texas bass anglers, the overwhelming majority of whom equate quality bass fishing with man-made reservoirs, seem to ignore: rivers and natural lakes are just as great, and often better, bass fisheries. And these "natural" fisheries are much more dependable and stable than those in reservoirs.

The Bassmaster piece ranked black-bass (largemouth, smallmouth) fisheries using a combination of hard science mixed with anecdotal insights and opinions from dozens of some of the most widely experienced and skilled bass anglers in the nation.

Falcon Lake tops list

Magazine staff pored over data on fisheries populations and angler catch rates collected by state fisheries scientists, looked at bass tournament results, surveyed Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.) officials in all states and sought input from professional anglers and other bass fishing experts.

The resulting rankings put Texas' Falcon Lake at the top of the list. And it belongs there. The largemouth bass fishery in the 78,000-acre reservoir on the Rio Grande has been on fire for the past four or so years, and there is no better public-water bass fishery in this country.

The explosion of that fishery is the result of a super-charge of nutrients and an surfeit of habitat triggered when Falcon refilled after years of drought.

Such booms - and, inevitably, busts - are common in reservoirs. That's largely because, when you get right down to it, reservoirs are artificial fisheries.

Native fish such as largemouth bass can and do thrive in reservoirs. But they live and die, thrive and struggle, based on the ups and downs of water and habitat quality and quantity in these giant wholly man-made and manipulated aquariums.

Falcon Lake is on top of the bass fishing world right now. But it won't last. Eventually, the tap will pinch off and water level will drop, taking with it habitat and the fishery.

That's what happens with fisheries in reservoirs; they boom and bust, depending on the vagaries of weather and human manipulation.

Knowing that, it should come as no surprise that some of the best, highest quality, most consistent bass fishing is found in "natural" waters - rivers and natural lakes.

Bass evolved to thrive in these natural waters, and they seem to do best in them. The Bassmaster ranking of the nation's best bass fisheries underscores this point.

Seven of the top 10 and 12 of the top 20 bass fisheries on the list are rivers or natural lakes. They include waters such as Florida's Lake Okeechobee, Lake Erie, the San Joaquin Delta in California and Lake Champlain in New York/Vermont.

Well over a dozen other "natural" fisheries are sprinkled in the "Top 100 Bass Lakes" list - places such as the Mississippi River Delta in Louisiana, Florida's Everglades, the Saint Lawrence River, the Potomac River.

Texas bass anglers can be excused if they don't give rivers and other natural waterways much consideration. After all, Texas' bass fishery has for more than half a century been dominated by reservoirs.

Rivers overlooked

We have 500 or so reservoirs, almost all of them constructed over the past 50 years. The fisheries that bloomed in those reservoirs were what triggered the explosion of interest in bass fishing in Texas and led to the fish being the most popular game fish in the state and gave us more high-quality bass fisheries than any state.

But Texas bass anglers are missing something if they ignore the opportunities available in our state's river systems. While they may not produce the huge individual fish found in some reservoirs, our rivers and bayous and streams and other Mother Nature-made bass fisheries can hold their own with any man-made lake.

Central Texas rivers such as the Llano, South Llano, Guadalupe, Medina, San Marcos, Blanco and San Saba hold incredible numbers of bass, including largemouths and Guadalupe bass.

Portions of the Brazos and Colorado rivers have largemouth fisheries of quality and quantity that outshine those found in most Texas reservoirs. On both, it's possible on some days to catch 50 to 100 bass and have a legitimate chance of hooking fish weighing 5 pounds or more.

East Texas' slow-moving rivers, bayous and backwater sloughs are green gems for bass anglers, filled with fish and, perhaps even more important, are stunningly beautiful, natural places.

Rivers invariably are less crowded and always more visually and sensually engaging. And the fishing can be outstanding.

That's something a lot of Texas anglers don't seem to know.

And that's fine with the rest of us.

shannon.tompkins@chron.com

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