March 26th-30th Electroshock Recap

This week the shock team was along I-20 in the Greensboro, GA area. Fish are spawning or a few days from spawning. The team is just riding the wave now and enjoying seeing some of the top fisheries in Georgia at peak times.They were sampling a mixture of ponds managed for trophy bass as well as quality bass. Many people think these are synonymous but there are slight differences. Trophy bass lakes will typically have lower bass numbers but have copious amounts of forage. A bass needs 8-10 lbs of forage to put on a single pound of body weight. A quality bass fishery is managed to produce numbers of healthy 2-5 lb bass with the chance of catching the occasional trophy. Both still need to be intensely managed to reach their goals. Bass harvest is the Achilles for most property owners. Harvesting 4oo lbs of bass is no small chore but that’s where the shock team comes in.

A few pounds makes a big difference in nature.
We are starting to do mouth swaps to test bass genetics. We use to take a small fin clip but swabbing is much quicker and does no harm to the fish.
This is a 12in bass with a 5in bluegill stuck in its throat. The bluegill was removed and swam away fine.
This is a prime example of what a quality bass fishery can produce. Not a wall hanger but you’d be hard pressed to find someone that wouldn’t want to catch this quality of bass.
Older brother can’t be out done. This bass was on its way to dropping eggs before we shocked her.
Reed giving her plenty of recovery time.
She started to move her tail fluidly which tells us she’s ready to go.
Striped bass don’t do well in ponds but hybrid striped bass do. They need threadfin shad and fish food to reach their full potential. They will test any anglers skill set along with their drag.
If quality bass fishing is a goal then make sure catfish don’t get to 12 lbs.
These one pound bluegill will keep the kids grinning for a while.
Feed trained bass (left) vs. native bass (right)

As you can see this was a great week for the team. Next week the boys will be shocking 100+ acre lakes with a few small boat shocks to keep things fresh. With the bulk of our spring clients shocked this is a great time to get in contact with the office if you’ve been putting off lake improvements. We will not be as busy so we can tackle projects quickly.

 

Photo Credit: Grant Bobo; [email protected]