THE
FRONT PAGE By Steven Bardin and Gary Klein
basing bass size standards on science
How MLF FMD research guides Bass Pro Tour ’ s scorable bass minimums
PHOTO BY GARRICK DIXON
Skeet Reese
Long before the schedule is announced for each Bass Pro Tour stage , the Major League Fishing Fisheries Management Division ( FMD ) in partnership with Berkley Labs has already analyzed data sets that contain hundreds of bass for each fishery the tour will visit . Our process starts by contacting the state fisheries biologist who manages each individual fishery and obtaining a raw data set from each fishery that contains the past several years of sampling data .
What we get back leads us down a unique road that ends with a recommendation to a committee that determines Minimum Scorable Bass weights for each Bass Pro Tour event .
the baseline for data collection
It may surprise you to find out that there ’ s no real national standard for how often a fishery is sampled or what types of data are collected . Instead , every state has individual plans and procedures statewide ( or in a few cases , a plan for each individual fishery ).
The primary sampling method state agencies use to collect black bass species is electrofishing . This is usually done using random plot generation on a map to select sites . Each site is then electrofished for a specific amount of time , collecting all fish species observed . In some fisheries , we also receive data that targets black bass over other species , or in locations that are determined in a non-random fashion .
The frequency of electrofishing for each fishery could be anything from twice a year to once every other year or longer . This is highly dependent on the management plan in place for the fishery and its popularity among anglers . For example , popular reservoirs like Lake Fork will be sampled more often than a lesser-known fishery . Regardless of random or non-random electrofishing , once a fish is caught by a sampling crew , data is collected for that fish . But , once again , what ’ s collected varies from state to state . Lengths may be collected in millimeters , centimeters or inches , and weights may be in kilograms , grams , pounds or not collected at all .
12 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | JUNE-JULY 2022