And it s hard to restock enough bass to reestablish a predator-prey balance. The only fishing cure is often a total lake fish kill, and to start over with a new predator stockings. Another factor increasing carp numbers has been water pollution. Carp tolerate lower oxygen levels, warmer water, and some chemical pollutants better than bass . For years, anglers have resisted commercial fishing in sport angling waters, particularly the use of gill nets.
Some anglers fear the netters kill bass.
Studies show nets do kills some bass, but also show that bass are better than most fish at evading nets. The result has been that removal of rough fish has more than compensated for bass losses when commercial netting of rough fish was encouraged and continuous. If netters are properly monitored and encouraged by state agencies, netting programs can help bass populations by removing significant numbers of competitive rough fish like carp, gar, and buffalo. Unfortunately, anglers who don t understand these relationships have often advocated policies like liberal sportfishing limits and no-netting regulations that encouraged expansion of carp populations at the expense of bass populations. All rights reserved.