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Friday, April 4, 2008
What’s your take on fishing for bedding bass?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
AJC outdoors columnist O’Neill Williams writes this week that he does not fish for bedding bass; his part in keeping natural reproduction undisturbed.
It’s an interesting topic for bass fishermen every spring, when largemouths congregate in the shallows to spawn.
On one hand, especially for those who may struggle to catch bass at other times, the spring offers up the most exciting fishing of the year. The fish are shallow, presumably easier to catch and big. The spring may provide the best opportunities for catching big bass.
Seventeen of the bass on the all-time top 25 list compiled by Bassmaster magazine (all 19 pounds and heavier) were caught in March, April and May. It’s very likely that many of those fish were caught during the spawn, and perhaps were females full of eggs.
On the other hand, there’s angler impact on the bass’ mating cycle. Leaving a bedding fish alone is in line with the spirit of catch-and-release fishing, a conservation-minded effort to preserve the species.
It’s not clear what kind of impact the stress of being caught may have on female bass loaded with eggs, nor on males which protect the nest after the female has laid her eggs (however, one Texas Fish and Game study indicated that caught-and-released females will still try to spawn). But we do know that the stress of being hooked and mishandled by an angler can be fatal any time of year.
I don’t have a hard-and-fast stand on this. I don’t sight fish, but I will make blind casts in and around areas I know have spawning beds. I have to admit, however, that I have fished for bass locked on bed in the past, and it is exciting to watch a male protecting the bed by picking up a plastic worm and removing it. Eventually, you can catch that fish.
Largemouth bass are in spawning mode right now in north Georgia. So, what are you going to do?
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