At its October meeting, the Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission postponed decisions on the state’s 2015-16 sport fish proclamation until the commission’s Dec. 5, 2014 meeting in Nashville.
This TFWC action allows time for the public to comment on a recently proposed amendment to the proclamation. The amendment would change the harvest regulations for smallmouth bass on Douglas Lake.
Under the current regulations, anglers can harvest one smallmouth bass per day with a 20-inch minimum length limit.
The new proposal would impose a 16-inch minimum length limit on smallmouth bass and allow harvest of up to five smallmouth bass per day (in combination with largemouth and spotted bass). The current regulation is protecting larger fish in the population.
Smallmouth bass between 16 and 20 inches represented 23 percent of the fish collected in the last survey. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency would like to gauge the public interest in a lower length limit and an increased creel limit to allow more fish to be harvested.
The TWRA and the TFWC seek public comments on the proposed change by Dec. 1. Please send comments to TWRA.Comment@tn.gov, or Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, Fisheries Division, PO Box 40747, Nashville, TN 37204.