ARGILLITE, Ky. — Personnel from the Kentucky Dept. of Fish & Wildlife Resources Northeastern Fishery District sampled the largemouth bass population at Greenbo Lake located at Greenbo Lake State Park on April 30.

An electrofishing boat was used for 1.5 hours to sample only a quarter of the lake’s shoreline. Sampling in the spring and fall for largemouth bass has been conducted at Greenbo Lake for the past 31 years.

The results of this spring’s sampling indicated that the bass population at Greenbo Lake is in good shape and fishing for bass should be just as good as it has been in the past. Of the total numbers and sizes of bass collected, our sample showed good numbers of bass ranging from 7 to 18 inches long.

The number of bass captured from 19 to 24 inches pretty much has remained relatively the same over the years.

What one does not see when looking at the data is the number of fish and in particular those larger fish that we observed but did not capture. Greenbo Lake is an extremely hard lake to collect fish from because the lake is very clear and often times the fish we shock are too deep for us to net.

When conducting sampling in the spring, another aspect of our findings we look at is called Proportional Stock Density (PSD) which is expressed as the ratio of quality size bass to stock size bass.

Quality size bass are those bass collected which are equal to or greater than 12 inches long and stock size are those bass collected that are equal to or greater than 8 inches long.

For a population to be considered in balance, the PSD number should be between 40 and 70 for largemouth. Greenbo Lake’s bass population had a PSD of 53.

Sampling is also conducted in the fall to take a look at the largemouth bass relative weight conditions (Wr) along with assessing the survival/success of that particular year’s spawn. In the last two years it has been determined that the spawns were somewhat poor so supplemental fingerling bass have been stocked to hopefully off set the results of the poor spawns.

A Wr value gives us some indication of the existing forage base and will not be determined until the fall.

What is really remarkable about Greenbo Lake is the number of fish continually found over 12 inches long. Usually in a lake where a 12 inch minimum size limit is imposed on largemouth bass, there are relatively few fish above 12 inches long.

Greenbo Lake is considered to be one of the Northeastern Fisheries District’s better public fisheries when it comes to the size of this lake for the chance of catching larger bass. There is a reason there are larger bass present and once an angler figures that out, she or he is bound to have some great fun.