VegaX1 and Dusty,

Just a few points. Over harvest of large fish doesn't stunt a population. In theory if you harvested large fish to the point that they couldn't replenish the system then you would have recruitment overfishing, which I still believe is not documented for any black bass fishery. Stunting of populations is usually due to limited resources, not removing large fish. Think about it in simple terms. If your lake can support 20 bass over the 7 lb mark and you remove 12 of those bass, you won't stunt the rest of the fish. More fish will fill that niche.

Also, it's tough to compare fish and deer when it comes to reproduction. Granted a 7lb bass has already passed on her good genes, but it's the fecundity of the fish that make them so beneficial to the population. A doe usually has 2 fawns, but can range from what?...1-3. A 7lb female bass may produce 2 million eggs (this is just a hypothetical number, I'm not familiar with their SPR/fecundity stuff). It's the sheer number of eggs produced that is important.

And lastly, something that has already been brought up, and you can argue it all you want but you would be wrong. The mortality in relation to tournaments and catch and release is much greater than harvest in most black bass fisheries...period.