Home > Outdoors > Archives > 2008 > April > 04 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USWhat’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?
.JPG)
-1.JPG)
Services »
Comments
By Gene
April 4, 2008 12:04 PM | Link to this
One thing I believe about bass is, they are almost as tough as catfish. I have always followed the premise with trout that, if they bleed, they are going to die. I think the same is true with bass. Bass are clever little rascals when they are bedding in moving the bait without getting hooked. For the conservationists, males do guard the nest for a while, then they eat their own children, so we don’t need to be too considerate of them as long as we get them back in the water pretty quickly. We do need to pay attention to plastic worms and use baits like Gulp that won’t kill the fish if swallowed.
By Lonzo Smith
April 4, 2008 4:14 PM | Link to this
Us South Georgia countryfolk call bass, trout. Did you know that? Have for centuries. I hear some of the whipper snappers are starting to reject the traditional dialect. Too much TV, I reckon.
By RON PITTS
April 7, 2008 9:44 AM | Link to this
testing e mail for correction on this date
By RON PITTS
April 7, 2008 10:14 AM | Link to this
THANKS O,NEILL FOR STANDING UP FOR THE REAL BASS FISHERMAN WHO CARE ABOUT OUR SPORT AND NOT THE ONES WHO USE IT TO MAKE A BUCK,(TOURNAMENTS GUIDES, MAGAZINES, TACKLE DEALERS.TO THINK THESE PEOPLE ARE TEACHING THIS TACTIC TO CATCH A BASS TO OUR CHILDREN IS OUTRAGEIOUS.CATCH AND RELEASE ONLY WORKS IF THE FISH IS RELEASED IMMEDIATELY AND HANDLED VERY CAREFULLY NOT THROWN IN A LIVE WELL AND CARRIED AROUND ALL DAY UNTIL WEIGH IN.THIS IS NOT JUST MY OPINION BUT THE STUDIES OF THE CARING FISH BIOLOGIST IN OUR STATE HAVE SHOWN THIS TO BE A FACT.
By NRBQ
April 7, 2008 1:17 PM | Link to this
I don’t think you hurt spawning bass if you release them immediately. Take a picture, put her back, and she’ll go right back to the bed.
Most bass waters have a over-abundance of buck bass, so that’s a non-issue.
I have to take issue with some comments by Gene. I’ve seen catfish live overnight in a cooler - they’re extremely hardy fish. Bass are NOT. They die if handled excessively or improperly.
However, eating plastic worms is neither common, nor a real threat to bass. Seldom is a bass able to remove the worm from the hook (although samll ones may occasionally peck the tail off). The danger to fish lies in them swallowing the hook.
From experience, I can tell you when a bass takes a worm and speeds off with it, he is almost always a small fish. There’s great competition for forage among small bass, and they run with their prey to keep other small fish from taking it away from them. A big fish will almost always inhale the bait with a subtle motion, then move slowly towards deeper water.
Anglers can reduce the chance of gut-hooking bass by setting the hook at the first sign of a strike. Letting the fish “run” with the bait increases the risk of harming the bass, as well as giving it a chance to spit the bait.
By Eric Bruce
April 7, 2008 1:40 PM | Link to this
From a philosphical standpoint, catching or keeping spawning female bass may be detrimental. But so few are caught and even fewer are kept that its not a big problem.
Most lakes have lots of spawning bass putting out millions of eggs so that losing a few females won’t hurt the overall population, in my opinion.
If you don’t want to fish for spawning bass, then don’t. As infrequently as I catch big bass, which is almost never, I’ll try to catch any big bass I can in any legal way.
By Riverpirate
April 7, 2008 5:04 PM | Link to this
It’s a farse!! What I mean is, catching bass on the bed is not easy. Most can not do it successfully. What’s the difference in catching a bass right before she goes up to bed or on the bed. I have never read one scientific study indicating bass numbers have deminished from people catching bass on the bed. You might as well say you are agianst catching and keeping bass. I certainly am, especially when it comes to shoal bass. But the bottom line is if you catch a bass and keep her before she goes on the bed, she won’t have any fry. If you catch her on the bed and keep her she won’t have fry. If you catch her and release her, she will probably be OK either before she goes on the bed or on the bed. I should also add that if a fisherman spends his time trying to catch bedded bass, he might catch bigger bass but he will go home at the end of the day with less catches. It ain’t like catching fish in a barrel.
By Windknot
April 8, 2008 2:21 PM | Link to this
O’Neill took a bold step with his article, but I’m in the “go ahead and fish” camp, as long as the fish is released quickly. When I do manage to time a trip when the bass are actively bedding, I usually catch only the bucks. To “sport” that up a notch, I’ll use fly tackle. Good, clean fun and the bucks are none the worse for wear. Everybody needs an ego day like that once in awhile!
By Troy
April 10, 2008 10:15 AM | Link to this
The answer really depends on the body of water on which you are fishing. In many cases, catch and release is actually detrimental from a fisheries management point of view. Heresy, you say? Hardly.
In many smaller bodies of water, catch and release has resulted in an overabundance of 10-14” bass that quickly exhaust the available forage and, since they can’t eat what they can’t get their mouth around, are forced to eat even smaller forage. This causes two problems - the bass expend more energy chasing this too-small forage than they gain from eating it, and they further deplete the forage base for the next-smaller class of bass. This also tends to result in entire year’s hatch of forage being wiped out before it can reach reproductive size (~2.5” for most bream species) thus leading to even less forage available and making the cycle worse. Sounds extreme doesn’t it? It’s actually extremely common in bodies of water under 100 acres that aren’t professionally managed. The only way out of it is to harvest (catch and KEEP) every 10-14” bass you can get your hands on.
In large bodies of water, such as reservoirs and the like, this isn’t as big a problem, but some amount of harvest does still need to take place. Any body of water, no matter how large or small, has what is referred to as “carrying capacity,” simply put, the number of pounds of fish per acre it can support. That number doesn’t change based on the size of the fish, if the carrying capacity is 30 lbs per acre, that 30 lbs could be thirty 1 lb fish, three 10 lb fish, six 5 lb fish, or any combination. Too many smaller fish usually means no bigger fish, and vice versa. Some lakes have a higher carrying capacity than others, based on fertility of the water, seasonal variations, and many other factors, but the ceiling is always there regardless.
Finally, in large reservoirs, many bass spawn in 6-8 feet of water, including a good percentage of the biggest bass. So, in conclusion, unless you’re fishing on a small body of water or one being carefully managed, the chances of fishing bedded fish impacting the future of the fishery is negligible.
By Troy
April 10, 2008 10:16 AM | Link to this
The answer really depends on the body of water on which you are fishing. In many cases, catch and release is actually detrimental from a fisheries management point of view. Heresy, you say? Hardly.
In many smaller bodies of water, catch and release has resulted in an overabundance of 10-14” bass that quickly exhaust the available forage and, since they can’t eat what they can’t get their mouth around, are forced to eat even smaller forage. This causes two problems - the bass expend more energy chasing this too-small forage than they gain from eating it, and they further deplete the forage base for the next-smaller class of bass. This also tends to result in entire year’s hatch of forage being wiped out before it can reach reproductive size (~2.5” for most bream species) thus leading to even less forage available and making the cycle worse. Sounds extreme doesn’t it? It’s actually extremely common in bodies of water under 100 acres that aren’t professionally managed. The only way out of it is to harvest (catch and KEEP) every 10-14” bass you can get your hands on.
In large bodies of water, such as reservoirs and the like, this isn’t as big a problem, but some amount of harvest does still need to take place. Any body of water, no matter how large or small, has what is referred to as “carrying capacity,” simply put, the number of pounds of fish per acre it can support. That number doesn’t change based on the size of the fish, if the carrying capacity is 30 lbs per acre, that 30 lbs could be thirty 1 lb fish, three 10 lb fish, six 5 lb fish, or any combination. Too many smaller fish usually means no bigger fish, and vice versa. Some lakes have a higher carrying capacity than others, based on fertility of the water, seasonal variations, and many other factors, but the ceiling is always there regardless.
Finally, in large reservoirs, many bass spawn in 6-8 feet of water, including a good percentage of the biggest bass. So, in conclusion, unless you’re fishing on a small body of water or one being carefully managed, the chances of fishing bedded fish impacting the future of the fishery is negligible.
By wes
April 10, 2008 4:53 PM | Link to this
If you eat largemouth bass…you might be a redneck.
By baloney
April 14, 2008 12:26 PM | Link to this
The real question is….who thinks Dale Jr. is going to win Talledega?
By freexxxpron
June 5, 2008 6:54 AM | Link to this