This is a story that ran in our local paper a couple of weeks ago. Sorry I didn't get around to posting it sooner.
Want to bug a bass fisherman? At the University of Illinois there has been a study about fish and vulnerability to being caught. It has been going on for over twenty years. It seems some individual fish are caught more often while others are never caught. It is a matter of genetics. How the trait develops has an explanation, but end recommendation might upset some bass fishermen. No bass fishing tournaments, even catch and release, during spawning season.
David Phillipp, an ecology and conservation researcher at the U of I, explained that the perception of anglers is catch and release has no negative impact on the population. During the spawning season, however, if bass are angled and held off their nest for more than just a few minutes, when they are returned to the lake, it's too late; other fish have found the nest and are quickly eating the babies.
Phillipp recommends that to preserve bass populations across North America, management agencies need to protect the nesting males during the spawning season. "There should be no harvesting bass during the reproductive, period. That makes sense for all wildlife populations. You don't remove the adults during reproduction."
"One of the big issues for concern is the explosion of tournaments. Lots of bass tournments are held in the springtime because there are lots of big fish available. In tournaments you put fish in livewells, and yes they are released, but they could be held up to eight hours first. They're brought back to the dock, miles away from their nests. So, basically, if a fish is caugh in a tournament and brought into the boat and put into a livewell, his nest is destroyed."
By the way, male bass take care of the nest after mama bass is done. :tbh:
Want to bug a bass fisherman? At the University of Illinois there has been a study about fish and vulnerability to being caught. It has been going on for over twenty years. It seems some individual fish are caught more often while others are never caught. It is a matter of genetics. How the trait develops has an explanation, but end recommendation might upset some bass fishermen. No bass fishing tournaments, even catch and release, during spawning season.
David Phillipp, an ecology and conservation researcher at the U of I, explained that the perception of anglers is catch and release has no negative impact on the population. During the spawning season, however, if bass are angled and held off their nest for more than just a few minutes, when they are returned to the lake, it's too late; other fish have found the nest and are quickly eating the babies.
Phillipp recommends that to preserve bass populations across North America, management agencies need to protect the nesting males during the spawning season. "There should be no harvesting bass during the reproductive, period. That makes sense for all wildlife populations. You don't remove the adults during reproduction."
"One of the big issues for concern is the explosion of tournaments. Lots of bass tournments are held in the springtime because there are lots of big fish available. In tournaments you put fish in livewells, and yes they are released, but they could be held up to eight hours first. They're brought back to the dock, miles away from their nests. So, basically, if a fish is caugh in a tournament and brought into the boat and put into a livewell, his nest is destroyed."
By the way, male bass take care of the nest after mama bass is done. :tbh: