Population characteristics of historically unexploited largemouth bass in southern New England water supply reservoirs

Recreational fishing can alter the demography and life history characteristics of fish populations. Unexploited populations are useful references for fisheries managers to place into context the extent of changes in exploited populations and the outcomes of management actions. Our objective is to characterize the largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides populations in two unexploited reservoirs in Connecticut and compare them with an exploited reservoir. Unexploited Hemlock Reservoir was characterized by large proportions of large fish in good condition with relatively low population mortality rates. Unexploited Easton Reservoir's bass proportional size distributions were more similar to exploited Mansfield Hollow Reservoir bass population. However, both unexploited reservoirs had higher catch per effort of stock-size and greater fish than Mansfield Hollow Reservoir indicating greater overall density of large fish. The study of long-term unexploited populations may become more important in the future as managers consider the evolutionary consequences of recreational exploitation.