Relationships between angler reported trophy bass catches and long-term submerged aquatic vegetation data in Florida lakes

Objective TrophyCatch, led by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, began in 2012 as a citizen-science program in which bass anglers are rewarded for catching, documenting, and releasing Florida Bass Micropterus salmoides and Largemouth Bass M. nigricans ≥3.63 kg. In 2015, standardized lake aquatic vegetation mapping began as part of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s freshwater fisheries long-term monitoring program to generate whole-lake submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) metrics for Florida lakes. Trophy bass and SAV data from both programs have proven invaluable in the management, research, and monitoring of Florida’s lentic freshwater fisheries. Our objective was to investigate the relationship between the number of angler reports of trophy-sized bass approved for TrophyCatch (i.e., TrophyCatch reports) and lake SAV metrics. Methods We used standardized methods to collect hydroacoustic data along predetermined equally spaced transect grids and the BioBase mapping system to generate estimates for whole-lake SAV percentage of area covered and percentage of volume infested (PVI). We also used vegetation point-intercept sampling along the lake transect grids to generate whole-lake SAV species frequency of occurrence (FO) estimates. Negative binomial regression models were used to identify which SAV metrics related to the number of TrophyCatch reports. Results Our data set included 121 Florida lakes that were sampled from 2015 to 2024. Over this time there were 1 to 1,070 TrophyCatch reports per lake, totaling 4,548 approved angler reports of trophy-sized bass. The SAV metrics (i.e., percentage of area covered, PVI, and FO of all SAV species; FO of native SAV species; and the FO of nonnative hydrilla Hydrilla verticillata) varied from ≤1% to 100%. The best fit model included overall PVI and the FO of native SAV species as significant predictor variables. At the mean of both predictor variables, TrophyCatch reports were approximately 9.75. As the FO of native SAV species increased, the number of TrophyCatch reports decreased. The number of predicted TrophyCatch reports increased as PVI increased; however, the negative effect of FO of native SAV species was larger than the positive effect of PVI. Conclusion This study improves our understanding of the relationship between trophy-sized Florida and Largemouth basses and measured SAV metrics in Florida lakes and highlights the importance of long-term fishery-dependent data collection from citizen-scientists and biologists alike. This knowledge will help fisheries scientists and managers make informed decisions when conducting trophy-bass and SAV management in Florida lakes and reservoirs and across the United States.