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April 2008
Do fish feel pain?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I love this question.
It’s one of the most visible dividing lines between outdoors people and animal-rights activists because the only ones to know the true answer are the fish themselves. And they ain’t talking.
I figured that with the warm spring weather prompting anglers to flock to area lakes and rivers to go fishing, opening up this conversation would at least be provocative. We’ll see, I suppose.
Both sides say they have science on their side.
Dr. James Rose of the University of Wyoming, who has studied animals’ reactions to painful stimuli for three decades, has concluded that fish do not have the brain system necessary to feel pain. They react to being hooked but don’t have the ability in its brain to define it as pain. In “Do Fish Feel Pain?” Rose wrote, “The facts about the neurological processes that generate pain make it highly unlikely that fish experience the emotional distress and suffering of pain. Thus, the struggles of a fish don’t signify suffering when the fish is seized in the talons of an osprey, when it is devoured while still alive by a Kodiak bear, or when it is caught by an angler.”
In 2003, a study at Edinburgh University and the Roslin Institute in the United Kingdom — one that is used by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in its Fishing Hurts campaign — concluded that fish feel “emotional stress” in response to pain stimuli. The study was based on subjecting anethesized trout to damaging stimuli. The research team, according to PETA, concluded that fish clearly experience pain in the same way as mammals, both physically and psychologically.
That’s enough with the science.
My take on this has always been from a simple observation. If fish feel pain, why would they eat things that would cause them pain? Bass eat crawfish, which I’m sure probably uses its pinchers to defend itself. I’ve been pinched, and man it hurts. With so many things a bass can eat, why do they keep coming back for a meal of crawfish? Saltwater species eat urchins, spiney fish like pinfish and sting rays. They keep coming back for a meal, too.
So what’s your take? Do fish feel pain? Do you care?
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What’s your take on wildlife feeding charts?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My father always knew when the best fishing day was, and he never once used one of those moon phase charts to tell him so.
“Saturday,” the career factory worker would say, “because that’s when I can go.”
He was right. The wildlife activity charts that are based on moon and/or sun positioning might say next Wednesday is the best day to go fishing. But if you’ve got to work it really doesn’t matter, does it? Dad figured the best fishing day was one that was dry, not too cold or hot, and with little breeze. He knew he’d catch fish anyway, so why be uncomfortable doing it?
Dad didn’t pay attention to those wildlife activity forecasts, but many outdoors people do. Ever since Pennsylvania banker John Alden Knight published the first solunar table in 1936, hunters and anglers have used them to predict when wildlife is most active. The argument is that if you can pinpoint when game is most active, your chances of success are increased.
Such tables are found everywhere — in magazines, on the Web and even on the nightly news. WSB-TV Channel 2 shows a Datasport Fish and Game forecast graph to end each night’s 11 p.m. newscast that local anglers swear works. The AJC publishes a lunar chart every Sunday in the Sports section that suggests the top times for fishing. A variety of these are for sale, too.
There’s no question that celestial positioning has an affect on wildlife. Many fish species, for instance, spawn around the full moon. Saltwater fish are atune to the rising and falling tides caused by gravitational pull of the sun and moon in their search for food.
I keep an eye on the so-called “feeding charts,” but I’m not sure if my results have been anything more than anecdotal. I’ve been skunked on peak days, and had success during down cycles.
However, last week on a short fishing trip on vacation. I caught two bass in the morning and did not get another bite until mid-afternoon. After that, I caught three (one a 4-pounder) and had at least three other good bites (let’s not talk about why I missed them). The peak time for the day was 2:30 p.m.; it was after that time when the activity picked up.
The question is, do these wildlife activity charts work or are they just a bunch of stinkbait?
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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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Quest for the 10-pounder continues
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I have to admit it. There was a selfish reason for getting some time on the water with fishing guide Randall Kirkpatrick.
That it’s spring, and our thoughts turn to big largemouth bass, was a fitting setup for a morning trip to Lake Varner near Covington. Varner is your best chance on a public lake to catch a double digit-pound bass in metro Atlanta, and Kirkpatrick’s track record of boating dozens of lunkers there is proof of that.
Personally, I held out hope that my lifelong quest to catch a 10-pound largemouth bass might be fulfilled, but I knew that would be tough in a short trip that was more about Varner and Kirkpatrick’s expertise there than about my quest. A strong cold front had just passed through the day before and that didn’t help.
Still, a guy can hope.
Varner is a big-bass lake, and one of the reasons Kirkpatrick’s Fish Atlanta Guide Service (www.fishatl.com) is well-booked throughout the spring and early summer. While I’ve never caught one 10-pounder, he’s not sure how many he’s caught.
“I counted 80-something photos, but that was before I started carrying a camera, so I’m guessing over 100,” Kirkpatrick said. “Most of them have come out of Varner.”
Kirkpatrick’s biggest Varner bass was 15-12, but he weighed one over 16 pounds on a hand scale for a client, but it wasn’t a certified catch.
“We’re in a slump right now,” Kirkpatrick joked during a March 25 morning trip to Varnerk. “We’re only getting 8s and 9s.”
Kirkpatrick says while it’s harder to catch the big fish in Varner, which gets a lot of fishing pressure for an electric motor-only, the fish are still there.
Proof can be seen every week on the Bass Fishing Home Page, a Web site that includes fishing reports from all over the nation. Kirkpatrick’s reports often include pictures of big catches for him and his clients.
The key has been time on the lake. He found that Varner’s biggest fish are often suspended over deep water near drop-offs adjacent to spawning areas and flats. He said the big fish spend most of their time suspended, and will use the structure change to chase and trap baitfish.
Hard swimbaits are his go-to bait for big fish. The baits look realistic in the water and can be fished slowly, an important element in fishing the break lines of drop-offs.
While my quest for the 10-pounder continues, I will have more confidence the next time I visit Varner, and be assured that my gear will include swimbaits.
What’s your big fish lure?
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