Photo by Ron Sinfelt

Wisconsin's bass regulations are complex enough to require anglers to carry a copy of the regulations booklet, yet simple enough to understand -- once you have picked a lake or river to fish. They have been developed over time through the painstaking work of biologists charged with managing bass in a way that sustains the resource and provides a variety of angling opportunities.

That charge is no small challenge, and because the state's bass fishery, like any natural resource, is a dynamic system, it changes with the fluctuations of the bass population in a given watershed. A Bass Management Plan (BMP) published in 2001 lays out a rational approach to managing bass, with regulations for different types of waters and dates for their periodic review.

Bass regulations have varied over time. The first Wisconsin bass regulations were instituted in 1881 when the Legislature established an open season from May 1 to March 31. Rules seesawed between more restrictive and more lenient until 1989 when size limits of 12 inches in the Northern Zone and 14 inches in the Southern Zone were set. A catch-and-release season was established in the Northern Zone in 1992, and the boundary between the Northern and Southern zones was moved north in 2000 to its current line formed by state highways 77, 27, 64 and 29. In 1998, a statewide 14-inch minimum size limit was established after studies showed no significant differences in growth between bass populations in the Northern and Southern zones. A 14-inch minimum size protects, on average, about 80 percent of spawning adult bass. Also in 1998, the bag limit was reduced from five of each species to the current five of both species combined.

Several additional regulation schemes are currently in use to meet certain needs not addressed by the statewide regulations. Some 68 lakes and a short stretch of the Wisconsin River have an 18-inch one-fish bag limit for bass. Several lakes have a 16-inch minimum length, and two have a 15-inch minimum. Other regulations in effect on several lakes include a no-kill slot size, catch-and-release-only and/or artificial lures-only. Lake Superior -- for all practical purposes, limited to Chequamegon Bay -- has a 22-inch one-fish limit in place to protect smallmouth bass of biblical proportions.

The vast majority of 18/1 lakes are less than 1,000 acres in size, and 60 percent of them are less than 200 acres. In many lakes in the north, the 18/1 rule was instituted in order to control overabundant populations of rusty crayfish or stunted bluegills. In the south, the rule was set to create a quality fishing opportunity. The 22/1 rule on Lake Superior was put in place to protect an already high-quality fishery. Slot size limits are used mainly on lakes with high bass numbers and low growth rates.

Let's sample waters around the state to see how the current bass rules are affecting the fishery.

STATEWIDE IMPACT
According to Department of Natural Resources lake survey coordinator Tim Simonson, who chaired the team that developed the BMP, bass fishing has improved statewide over the past 15 years.

"We definitely have more and bigger bass statewide since the new regulations went into effect," Simonson said. "There was a significant improvement in the numbers and average size of bass five or six years after the new regulations were put in place. We are just beginning to look at those waters again to see if the improvement has continued."

Simonson noted the regulations have also had a positive impact on panfish.

"Since there are more bass to eat the smaller panfish," he explained, "the remaining panfish have more food and better growth rates. We used to have problems with stunted panfish nearly everywhere, and especially in the north, but that's not the case anymore."

Simonson also said bass angler behavior has changed over time. More anglers are releasing most or all of the bass they catch now. He attributes this in part to the catch-and-release ethic promoted by tournaments and TV fishing shows.