I was told that the DNR did elctrofishing on Platte this Spring and that the numbers were good but I didn't know about the size structure. Well I found the webpage by the DNR with the results. It turns out they sampled Platte and Sullivan on May 19th.
Platte Lake Results: 100 bass per hour with an average length of 11.4 inches and a maximum size of 19.6 inches.
Sullivan Lake Results: 95.1 bass per hour with an average length of 11.1 inches and a maximum length of 17.6 inches.
I really wish they would mention if any smallmouth were sampled. Maybe they will say so when the lake report gets written up. It would also be nice to know how many hours they sampled.
Basically these results are pretty consistant with my catches this Spring though I think the average size fish I have been catching is around 13 inches. I really don't know what to make of the survey. Maybe the bass population is seriously on the up swing or maybe they hit things just right for the hourly total to be so high. It is a small surprise to me that the average size comes in where it did. It really hasn't been until the last couple of years where I have caught numbers of fish in the 10-13 inch range. It used to be a situation where most of the fish I caught were 14 inches or bigger. Hopefully these bass will grow fast and in 2 or three years the quality will be much better.
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