Fishing Bass while on their beds....

[muskyhunter]

Ladies and Gents,
Explain this one for me please....Why? While they are spawning?...Let em' spawn.You all know they are spawning! Unless you are fishing in a tourney for big money then maybe...even then uhmmm! Come on! I personally do not see any reason to fish like this... Just my opinion. Risking injuring the fish..killing the fish or possibity of wiping out a gene pool of big fish...just stop with this act..okay/ Thanks for letting me vent..! :colors:

[gpc]

Im not a bass fisherman. Ill catch them from time to time and actually target the species only a handful of times a year. But I always wondered the same thing. Bass fisherman are very noble to bass, even compared to 20 years ago bass you see less and less bass being kept, more strict harvesting rules, ie the slot limit, and more bass being stocked actually not just bass but warm water species in general, but when you plant panfish it still heps out the bass population in one way or another and when you plant walleye or musky it helps the bass one way or another.
With all this being said why do bass fisherman target spawning bass? Im not saying its a bad thing because it seems like this is a favorite time to target bass for most bass fisherman. But would it hurt or help for the bass fisherman to not fish for bass this time of year?

And like I said its not like bass fisherman tend to keep thier catch, some do but most dont and even if they are getting returned to their nest, I heard that there are panfish that know how the system works and kind of " puppy guard" a nest (from a safe distance) and when the bass gets pulled off the nest from a fisherman they run through and have their way with the eggs

[CK14]

i personaly don't have a problem with fishing bed fish. why? i'll tell you a story about why....

last year i was fishing a small lake from the bank and i happened to stumble across a bed that had about a 2lb male on it, so i fished for him and eventually got him. i released him right away and moved on. and when i came back to that spot a little later, the fish was right back on his bed like nothing had happened.

this has pretty much convinced me that if you take good care of your fish they'll be fine. and there has been studies on this topic that say the same thing. which is why they allow it to happen in tournies.

[mallard83]

The question I have is why don't you just stick to musky if you don't know enough about the bass. I don't mean to sound rude but you did with your uneducated comment. I have been fishing spawning bass for years on the same lakes an have seen the same bass get bigger and bigger year after year. I also see plenty of bass fry in the post spawn from the same bass that I was catching only weeks earlier. So before you go ranting about something that you have no idea about get your facts straight.

[fishnislife]

Oh boy Muskeyhunter, I think you started this with the intent of getting a rise out of people (specifically bass fisherman). Not a good way to make an impression on a board. I won't give you the satisfaction.

Bass are very resilient creatures and can withstand being caught and released at any given time during spawn. They're not like your basic stocker trout that goes belly up once you touch it. The reason us diehard bass hunters fish for spawning females on beds is an obvious thing. The size, shear girth, weight and of coarse the challenge. What more can I say. If you knew that a muskie was filled to the gills with an added 2lbs. of baggage I think you would trying to catch her if you knew doing this wouldn't hurt her. Take care bro. I aint mad at ya.


fishnislife

[YellowBear]

It seems funny that whenever this topic comes up its always the same.
The guys that fish for Bass say its okay to fish the beds.
I see no point or challenge in fishing bedding fish of any species.
I think fishing the beds should be outlawed especilly during tournaments.
Its true that Bass are a resilient critter and can survive being caught and released however,during the time that it takes to boat and release a fish nest robbers can wipe out the eggs or fry.Some of the studies that have been done over the years show that some females will absorb the eggs due to stress.Heat,water level fluctuation,fishing pressure,even boating activity has caused some fish to abandon a nest.20 to 30 years ago fishing the beds was not much of a big deal.Some guys knew where the beds where but most did not.Now days there are so many of us fisherman out there and we all are fishing the same fish.Its hard to find a honey hole that nobody else knows about.When the fish are on the beds they get hammerd hard.There easy to catch and yes they have more weight.During a tournament its worse,A fish is caught and put in a livewell it rides around for most of the day.Now its taken out and put in a bag and handled and looked at putting the fish in a state of stress. Then after all of this they are released back into the lake. I do not think that many if any of these fish will spawn after all of this.

[mallard83]

I am tired of people on this forum talking about studies that have been made over the years and all of that crap. If you say anything about studies you better back them up with sources of where this information came from or you sound just as ignorant as the next guy spouting off his mouth about things he has no clue about. So please back your "studies" up with sources or you should not be posting on the subject. And before you come back at me saying that I have no sources it is because I mentioned nothing about studies in my last post. Those were just my personal observations being out on the lakes day in and day out fishing for these fish. And that, I feel is better than the half a#$ studies that are made by the states, government, clubs, agencies, etc. which seem mostly flawed or bias any way.

[CK14]

here are some things i found on some other sites....

"catching and immediately releasing the male back near the nest can be inconsequential. Similarly, most females that are full of eggs and ready to spawn will resume spawning activities successfully if carefully and quickly released after they are caught." (this supported what i stated).

Cornell study

Another interesting article

good enough for you? :geek:

[A9]

Ladies and Gents,
Explain this one for me please....Why? While they are spawning?...Let em' spawn.You all know they are spawning! Unless you are fishing in a tourney for big money then maybe...even then uhmmm! Come on! I personally do not see any reason to fish like this... Just my opinion. Risking injuring the fish..killing the fish or possibity of wiping out a gene pool of big fish...just stop with this act..okay/ Thanks for letting me vent..! :colors:

If your going to worry about that in the first place then why fish in the first place if your that worried about them?

Like others have said, bass are among the toughest fish ever in terms of staying alive...They can be held out of water and yanked into a boat and sit in a livewell for a few hours and can still swim off fine when you put em back...trout, man you can't keep them alive on your stringer for more then an hour and a half cause they die of stress....

[kickerfish]

I see no point or challenge in fishing bedding fish of any species.

You obviously have not spend 30-60 minutes trying to get that 5 lb largemouth to take a bait. When she does take it, it is an unbelievable angling experience, a sense of accomplishment. Always catch and release a spawning bass immediately. You will see her back on the bed when you pass later.

[fish4brains]

Well heck, I better get in on this one. Bed fishing seems OK to me. I love doing it. With this being said I fish with heavy mono and stiff rod to get the fish in quickly and released quickly. Now here is where a become a democrat, woops excuse me, I mean a hyprocrite. I am strongly against tournament fishing during the spawn. I do not like the fact that big brood stock are taken off their beds,hauled around all day then weighed,showed off for minutes then released many miles from their nests. Go ahead tear my thread up but that is how I see things. Oh yeah, MuskyHunter, hows the weather up their on your pedestal? Just poking fun!

[Home Skillet 123]

I see no point or challenge in fishing bedding fish of any species.

You obviously have not spend 30-60 minutes trying to get that 5 lb largemouth to take a bait. When she does take it, it is an unbelievable angling experience, a sense of accomplishment. Always catch and release a spawning bass immediately. You will see her back on the bed when you pass later.

i totally agree with kickerfish i 2 had that gr8 feeling of accomplishment when i caught one on a bed and if u aint so stupid as to mess with em 4 sum long time after catching em theyll be fine i went and after i released her she went rite back down 2 her bed there is no prblm with bed fishing in my eyes

[kickerfish]

Well I agree with fish4brains about tournament fishing during the spawn. I was in a club in NC that staggered their tournaments around the major spawn period just for that purpose. We fished a tourney every month and would have one the first week of April and the last week of May to stay away from the heavy spawn period. I have to get adjusted out here. Spawn season is far later here than in NC.

[noclothes1]

I just got into bass fishing. Are they spawning now? I have caught 3 in the last 2 weeks. 2 were very nice. I haven't been able to catch anything lately. I want to vent about that. Oh, and car is leaking water, and Joe's doesn't have the kind of line I want, and I have to fish from shore.

Yeah I added nothing to the conversation but snivveling on a messge board rarely leads to anything constructive from either side. Maybe the proponents and nay-sayers can have a thum-war or rock-paper-scissors to see who the winner is. Or, better yet, we can get back to the business of helping people in WA catch WA fish. At least this ins't MI where certain groups of people are legally allowed to SPEAR or GILLNET Walleye when they come to shore or upstream to spawn. Not too much catch and release when 4 sharp metal prongs are involved.

sorry for greifing but I'm bored and this cold front is, well COLD!!!


Flame away,

g

[CK14]

i think you just did what you say you hate, thus adding to the "problem"....

[noclothes1]

Yep

[YellowBear]

Hello there Kickerfish,
I do know what you are saying.
In the past I have spent hours on one fish and it is a good feeling when they hit.
After 20 some years of tournaments a guy picks up a few tricks.
Drop me a PM and I will be happy to explain.