FISHERMEN/Fridays Fishing Report.

You're correct. BSB are what's known as protogynous hermaphrodites, which means they start life as a female and then change sex to become males when they reach 2 - 5 years of age. All knuckleheads which are larger and older age class fish are dominant males.

If you fish for BSB in the spring early summer, check the fish you fillet. I have for some 30 or more years and a vast majority of them are egg laden females.

I'm familiar with some of Monty Hawkin's work and reputation and will look up his research on BSB and what you mentioned. But for now, my question would be based on the known that almost all younger age BSB are females, how would harvesting smaller fish at a higher rate maximize spawning? Wouldn't we in fact be killing more mature / immature females and killing more eggs?

[tautog]

Not enough fish are switching quickly enough. Females die of old age without making the necessary transition. The switch is primarily activated by population pressures. Until the size limits were raised, there were no such thing as 12 inch plus females. Virtually every fish over 10 inches was male and spawning started earlier.