What would a spawner do if you caught it?

[jooleyen]

What if you catch a female on a bed with eggs in it and relocate it? Is its future generation destroyed? It's not like it's abandoning its eggs.

[nofearengineer]

This is the kind of dilemma which makes me not want to bed fish. Most fishing is fooling the fish into thinking your lure is food. Bed fishing is different. The fish doesn't think your lure is food....it just wants it, whatever it is, out of the nest.

I'm not saying bed fishing doesn't take skill. It just doesn't seem right to me.

[CamG]

http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/b...y_bed_fishingb

I love bed fishing. There isn't anything easy about it. The article above speaks of the effect on a fishery.

[3dkicker]

As long as the male is around to guard the nest it may be ok. The female does play a role in this too but isn't around as long. If the male can't do the job then most likely those eggs or fry will become lunch for one of the smaller species.

[jooleyen]

I understand that the male would guard eggs... but I'm saying what if there was nothing to guard? What if the female still had her eggs in her?

[bamabassman]

i may be wrong here, but i think there is an article that states that most bass will find their way BACK to their "home".

[3dkicker]

One of two things. She would find another nest close to where she is released or the eggs won't be layed. If it's the second then yes those young of the year would be missing from the group of fish hatched. Now will one fish make a huge impact on future fish populations? Probably not. If it happened to 40%, 50%, or 60% then I'd think you'd have an issue. You'd have to talk to a Fisheries Biologist to get more info.

[rrw4258]

If were out fun fishing, and I catch a fish full of eggs, she gets released immediately... if were fishing a club tourney or a bigger event, and the fish helps my limit, then you can bet that the fish is going in the well...

Ryan

[nofearengineer]

Originally Posted by CamG

http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/b...y_bed_fishingb

I love bed fishing. There isn't anything easy about it. The article above speaks of the effect on a fishery.

Cam, I hope you weren't directing that comment at me. I did say I know it takes skill. I'm not even that concerned about it from a fisheries standpoint. I just meant to me....it seemed kind of wrong...like unfair to the poor beast. Like hunting deer with a bazooka hehe.

[CamG]

Well, no hunting deer with a bazooka isn't a challenge!

Wasn't directed at you at all. Just my take.

[Jim80]

Originally Posted by CamG

Well, no hunting deer with a bazooka isn't a challenge!

Wasn't directed at you at all. Just my take.

I think it would challenging trying to find all the pieces after the shot . But that's just me


Jim

[geezer1]

I'm with nofear on this one. I don't bed fish. All tournaments I fish are post spawn. Any Bass I catch any other time are released immediately after being caught. Bass are too valuable to be caught just once, IMHO.

[PaulT]

In NH, May 15 through June 15 is strictly catch & release for bass

[screwballl]

The problem in my area is that so many local lakes are so over fished that the few bass left over are too small (which doesn't stop some from keeping them). Some of these people keep anything they catch regardless of the regulations, doesn't matter if it is spawn time or whatever. I watched one guy pull out 6 females full of eggs 2 months back... that was most likely the majority of females with eggs in this 65 acre lake. Since then I have only heard and seen a few bass caught from that lake, nothing over 14".
There is never any FWC officials around... the only lake where they actually keep a decent eye on is a 318 acre lake, and they make some pretty good money from fining people that try to keep undersized fish. One guy got nailed for almost $8000 last summer. He tried to fight it and doubled his fine plus had to pay the lawyer and court costs, plus had his license taken away for 5 years in FL. Of course knowing people like that they either sneak in and out, or they drive an hour north into Alabama with a non-resident license.

[nofearengineer]

Screwball, things like that are a real shame. Fishing licenses is one of the only areas where I approve of more than libertarian levels of governmental interference. (Though I think the system could be managed a LOT better than it is currently being managed.)

It's a real dilemma that we are surrounded by those that don't want to play by the rules. If everybody kept every fish they caught like that, we'd all be screwed.

[fish_hunter]

I'm with Ryan...
Usually we always catch and release here in CO! Specially if a mama has all her eggs in her!

[nofearengineer]

I found something on the web that I thought was a very good read.

http://fishing.about.com/od/bassfish...dding_bass.htm

[geezer1]

Originally Posted by nofearengineer

I found something on the web that I thought was a very good read.

http://fishing.about.com/od/bassfish...dding_bass.htm

There are several articles that say pretty much the same as the one cited. While there may be little to no damage done, I personally will not fish for bedding bass. It just doesn't go with my tenets. I do not have ill feelings towards those who do. In fact, pretty much all of my fishing friends do fish for them. All of them are gentlemen, & some are excellent fishermen. To each his own.

[screwballl]

I have a problem with stories like that.

But be aware it has not had any impact on our public waters in all the years we have been tracking bass populations.

Get a lake where fisherman keep anything and everything like many of these smaller southern lakes and yes it most certainly does have a major impact.

Karick Lake (65 acres) used to be easy to pull out a 6-10 lb bass... now you are lucky to even catch one bass of any size, even 8"
Bear Lake (107 acres) used to be easy to catch bass of all sizes including some in the double digits... before the dam broke, you could have a decent day with bass of all sizes, typically 3-8 lbs.
Hurricane Lake (318 acres) used to have a good population of double digit bass, then they jacked up the keeper limit to minimum 18" so most of the large bass were kept and left a lake full of 10-16 inch bass.
Lake Victor (130 acres) is pretty much the only decent bass lake left in the panhandle, mostly because the state and county helps maintain and stock a healthy level of shad and bass.
Lake Stone (100 acres) is a "small bass" lake since the FWC only maintains a healthy level of perch in this lake. due to the number of Perch and bluegill here, bass suffer and stay small.

Here in Florida I do believe they need to create and enforce (with FWC employees and volunteers with a ticket pad) a required spawn catch and release at most of the lakes in the Florida panhandle, where all freshwater bass caught in a static lake (not the rivers) during the 2-3 month period are required to be released, or face a $50 per fish fine.