I do believe the bass are a problem. Last year very few of the bass I caught appeared well fed and I did not find a single preyfish in the stomach of a bass. This tells me they are not getting enough to eat (possibly because there are too many). The bigger problem, I think, is that the bass have expanded their year-round and spawning range. Originally, bass did not spend the winter in river systems this far north, so they would not have been present when the herring migration (and salmon smolt outmigration, etc.) occured, they would arrive after it. Now they are here waiting when the herring enter the rivers. I also think that they have begun spawning in many more locations than they did historically, which may have allowed for the production of increased numbers of bass.