It's official. Effective March 1, 2001 it will be illegal to keep a bass (largemouth, smallmouth or spotted) less than 14-inches long on Chickamauga Lake or Watts Bar. The same rule applies to Nickajack Lake except there is an even more stringent size limit on smallmouth. From Chickamauga dam south to the Alabama state line, it will be illegal to keep any smallmouth bass less than 18-inches long.
For years there have been mumblings and grumblings about the need for a bass size limit on Chickamauga Lake. The noises have come from fishermen, and biologists. The problem was the two could never agree on WHAT size limit.
The fishermen and the biologists still don't agree. But Wildlife Commissioners do, and they make the laws, not biologists.
Last summer, Bill Reeves, TWRA Chief of Fisheries, held public meetings to promote a 12-to-16 inch slot limit on Chickamauga bass. That means you could keep bass less than 12-inches long, or bigger than 16-inches, but nothing in-between. Biologist Anders Myhr said the 12-16 inch slot limit is needed to protect an important group of the most prolific spawning fish. In layman's terms that means biologists believe such a limit will insure that there will be more bass in Chickamauga Lake.
The 15 or 20 bass anglers at the summer meeting voiced absolutely no serious opposition to the plan. But apparently after having some time to think about, they changed their minds.
Tennessee Wildlife Commissioners said they heard from a number of bass anglers dismayed about the proposal. The primary concern was that the proposed slot limit would essentially eliminate any significant bass numbers being weighed in at tournaments. There was widespread discussion of the 14-inch size limit and the Commissioners went for it, passing the measure by a unanimous vote.
TWRA fisheries biologists were dismayed by the turn of events. They have maintained all along that a 14-inch size limit will do almost nothing to protect the critical spawning year classes of bass.
In this case, Commissioners didn't buy it and passed the regulation the bass anglers wanted. Tournament organizer Preacher Reeves told Commissioners, "we appreciate you listening to us and passing this regulation to help bass fishing in our lakes."
A 5-year experimental 15-inch size limit on Nickajack Lake failed and was abandoned several years ago. Only time will tell if this one makes a difference. And even if there are changes, many biologists agree that with environmental variables, it will be tough to give the credit, or the blame, to any one factor.
But for now, the hardcore bass masters should be pleased.