Effects of Increased Harvest of Small Black Bass on Population Size Structure, Growth, and Body Condition in Moss Reservoir, Texas

• Bruce T. Hysmith

  Author

Abundant small black bass can coexist with a limited supply of larger fish, presenting a management problem that cannot be resolved from catch rates alone. Moczygemba and Hysmith’s Moss Reservoir survey identified this pattern and proposed encouraging harvest of smaller bass to improve forage availability for larger fish. Building on their findings, I develop five testable predictions for how increased harvest could affect the bass population: a targeted harvest program will increase exploitation of small bass; their relative abundance will decline; condition of surviving larger bass will improve; growth of surviving Largemouth Bass will increase; and abundance of larger Largemouth Bass will subsequently increase. A before–after comparison with untreated reference reservoirs is proposed, combining standardized electrofishing, stratified creel surveys, tagging, age assessment, and forage monitoring. Each prediction has a defined endpoint, response window, and contrary outcome. Implementation, population response, and evidence for density-dependent competition are evaluated separately. Historical observations available through the 2022 – 2023 survey cycle are acknowledged as prior information, not counted as prospective successes.The proposed test would determine whether selective harvest can improve the Moss Reservoir fishery and identify where the expected response fails if it cannot.

1. Bruce T. Hysmith

   Bruce T. Hysmith, M.S. is an American fisheries biologist who earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry from the University of Central Oklahoma and a master’s degree in fisheries biology from Oklahoma State University. After early research involving shrimp aquaculture, Hysmith joined the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in 1974, beginning in Coastal Fisheries before moving into Inland Fisheries. During his 41-year career with TPWD, he became particularly associated with Lake Texoma and the fisheries of North Texas, conducting and contributing to research and management involving striped bass, largemouth bass, crappie, population structure, fishing mortality, genetics, harvest regulations, and reservoir management. He authored and co-authored numerous fisheries surveys and technical studies and became widely respected for his extensive institutional knowledge of Texas reservoirs. 

• FULL VERSION (PDF)

• Volume 1

Copyright (c) 2026 Bruce T. Hysmith (Author)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.