From Dr. Steven Cooke, Fish Ecology and Conservation Physiology Lab, Carleton University
One of the most common questions I get as a fisheries scientist is “How is our fishery doing?” When it comes to black bass populations in eastern Ontario, it is really difficult to know. Although the Ontario MNR does some sampling, the methods used are more appropriate for walleye and lakers. In fact, in some lakes where bass the most dominant sportfish, those surveys barely detect the presence of bass.
So his lab at Carleton designed a study to find out:
We used a recall survey of hundreds of anglers in eastern Ontario to tell us if and how fishing has changed over time for black bass. Are there more smallmouth and fewer largemouth today than 20 years ago or even 50 years ago? And what about their size – are they bigger or smaller?
And the results are in.
Check out our new paper (free to access) to find out what we learned. The take home message is that across types of anglers (tournament anglers and non-tournament anglers) and waterbodies, there is remarkable consistency in terms of reporting deterioration in bass fishing quality over the past few decades. This is particularly notable because we have had some profound changes in technology that are intended to improve our catches!
Now – the bigger question is what should we do about it?
Zhang, J., D. P. Philipp, J. E. Claussen, et al. 2026. “ Local Angler Knowledge Reveals Declines in Fishing Quality for Black Bass in Lakes of Eastern Ontario.” Fisheries Management and Ecology 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1111/fme.70043.