COLUMN: CONSERVATION
Births
Increases
deaths
fish population
DEcreases
immigration
Emigration
population dynamics
and bass fishing
How to use the science of fisheries biology to catch bass
s anglers, we tend to
focus on the here and
now. What lure is
working best? How fast should
I be working my bait?
These are front-of-mind
questions in our direct control
while fishing, and properly
manipulating the variables defi-
nitely leads to better catch rates,
but only to a point. Inward-
looking questions are only part-
ly responsible for success.
The other (and often biggest)
factor in success on the water is
the quality of the fishery you’re
on. You can’t catch a fish if it
A
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
TJ Maglio is a tourna-
ment angler and
outdoor writer based in
Minnesota. He has a
degree in wildlife
ecology from the
University of Wisconsin-
Madison and has also
worked professionally
as a wildlife biologist
and environmental con-
sultant.
24
isn’t swimming in the lake. For
confirmation, just ask anyone
who’s tried to catch a 10-pound
largemouth in Wisconsin.
Sometimes big fish just don’t
live where you’re fishing.
What I’m referring to specif-
ically are the macro-level fac-
tors that determine why some
bodies of water consistently
kick out 20-pound stringers,
while other similar fisheries
might struggle to produce a 10-
to 12-pound bag. Which leads
to different questions: What is
the size structure of the popu-
lation? How fast do bass grow
in that region? What baitfish
live in that waterway?
Macro factors responsible
for answers to these questions
include abundance and quality
of habitat, available forage,
angling and harvest pressure,
geography, and many others.
We’ll dive deeper into each of
these in future conservation
articles. For this specific col-
umn, I want to address the way
these factors influence the pop-
ulation metrics of the bass in a
fishery.
Science-types call this “pop-
ulation dynamics” – or, the
study of a population of ani-
mals, its characteristics and
how it grows (or shrinks) over
time. Having a general under-
standing of the science behind
population dynamics will not
only help you appreciate why
some fisheries are better or
worse than others, but it will
also help you catch more bass.
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