Black Bass Fishing Regulations in Wisconsin: Evaluating Past Efforts and Looking Forward

Wisconsin is dotted with an impressive array of lakes; diverse in terms of the natural variation in physical and fish community attributes as well as fishery stakeholders. Most of these lakes contain black bass which provide a vital component of the fishery. Managing black bass fisheries in this diverse landscape is a difficult endeavor which involves balancing stakeholder desires with environmental capability and variability. The principal tool in our managers’ toolbox is the use of fishing regulations designed to change angler behavior to meet management objectives. With such a diverse resource to manage, fishing regulations have become increasingly complex over the last 20 years. Over the same time period Wisconsin black bass fisheries have substantially changed, generally increasing in abundance and often size structure. There are many instances where regulations seemed to play a critical role in this process however an increasingly embraced catch and release ethic has also contributed. For various reasons evaluating the efficacy of the increasing number of regulations has proven difficult. Preliminary analyses suggest that changing patterns in angler behavior via an increased catch and release ethic have resulted in many bass regulations being ineffectual. We highlight what we have learned over the past 20 years regarding black bass fishing regulation effectiveness and where we hope to go.