I've found that lakes that have a steady drop off into about 20-30 feet, water that is clear for the first 4 feet or so, but after that- your lure disappears into the abyss, no weeds or noticeable rocks-just some tiny little pad like plants on the edges and under 30 acres-are often full of small bass and some bluegill, but nothing really else.
What are some characteristics you've noticed in lakes that have a lot of bass-but small?
The first characteristic is that people usually jump to the conclusion that the bass are stunted....which is rarely actually the case. Generally these lakes simply have healthy populations....lakes with super healthy populations always have tons of small fish this size because recruitment is often very high (ie excellent breeding success) and these abundant smaller fish are just the easiest ones to catch.
The second is that big fish on these types of lakes, rarely utilize the same areas that the smaller fish do....so if you are always catching small ones, keep trying new and different places using a wider variety of baits that can target larger fish...like jigs, big worms, or swimbaits. Fish deeper...or in heavier cover situations.
The third is related to the second....and that is that in these lakes, often, big fish do a lot of suspending over deeper water much of the year, these fish will always be very difficult to pinpoint and catch.
The rare lakes where populations are stunted will have very little cover and a poor panfish population and minimal baitfish. Often it can be obvious in a short time just looking around.
JME
There are multiple factors to size structure of any species in a particular body of water. If there is overpopulation they will be stunted. If the predation rate is low (from humans or other natural predators) then it will raise the population will grow to unhealthy levels. Also the forage base needs to be abundant enough to create bigger fish. If they are competing with other species for a food base they will stunt out as well. Water temps,genetics,and other environmental factors also matter. The Florida comment below is also a little wrong in that they are a different strain of bass. They grow larger because of their genetics mostly. Florida strain bass don’t survive if the water gets to cold. The size of the water system also matters.
Great point about the northerns. The bass lakes that I find with stunted bass have no northerns that I've encountered.
Here's the thing...when I moved up north I thought some of the best bass lakes would be the ones way out in the woods. Hard to get to and little pressure.
In my experience, if these lakes have bass (and no pike), the bass are numerous, yet mostly 10-12 inches. So, I agree, some predator fish is probably a really good thing.
Or, harvest. I personally do not harvest any fish, but I see that lakes with light pressure, but some harvest usually are the best. In my experience.
A couple of lakes I fish in the southern part of the state have no size limit or have a 14-18 inch slot, or a 12-16 inch slot that you can't keep them. All of these lakes have one or two things in common: very clear water and lots of stunted bluegills in them as well. The lakes are also very weedy. I love eating bass out of these lakes. Bass that are 12 to 14 inches are my favorite eating. I fished a lake up north while on vacation this year that didn't have a size limit. We kept them between 12 and 14 inches and grilled them. They were as good as any other fish I had up there, if not better!
As I understand it bass grow ( on an average) of 1 inch per year up this way due to the extreme fluctuation of water temps (75-80 in summer.. 30's in winter under ice)..look at some of those beasts they catch in FLA with the year round water temps there..
I also have to at least consider the reason more and more lakes in the northwoods are stocked with bass is because of the depletion of the walleyes. This smallie measured just under 21 "...biggest one I ever caught I believe
NPike I frequent a lake exactly as you describe. 28 years ago the size limit on bass was 14 or 15 whatever but we caught 20 bass a day and all under the limit right around 13 inch. This went on for years then the dnr changed the ruleon this lake to no size limit. Big changes took place. Someone put some northern pike into the lake and soon we had trophy bass fishing ctching 18-20 inch bass. Based on that experience I would say you need possible need higherpredation rate
