George Welcome

"Do fish feel pain when we hook them? I would like to think that they don't. What is your opinion? ??? " The above is the original question. No is the right answer: everything else is wrong.

Fishing shows, publicity trips, or otherwise: Just go fishing - All the camera and interview stuff will become natural in a hurry if you just concentrate on, and relate what you know.

"I think your reasoning is a bit off George. A bass doesn't need "reasoning ability" to associate pain with its cause. It's a conditioned response. By applying positive or negetive stimulus we can "train" anything to do certain simple things. It's common knowledge that bass get "wise" to popular baits. they are hot for awhile then become just another lure. Through the pain and shock of being hooked they associate that specific lure with danger. This has been demonstrated by tom mann and others. Bass will learn by conditioning to avoid most lures they have been hooked on." It's common knowledege that bass get "wise" to certain lures, is common sale propaganda only. You have bought the sales speech of lure companines, hook, line, and sinker. Baits get improved on for certain applications, but the only reason they disappear is people like new and different. Bass do not feed through selective processing. Think about that for a moment. I've said this before but it bears repeating. When an autopsy is performed, "the only method we have of determining what bass eat", there is found sticks, stones, bottle caps, tabs for soda and beer cans, and all sorts of misc. stuff. I did not make my studies in my pursuit of education icthyology, however I have spent countless hours with those that did. Some of this countries top fishery biologists have spent time on my boat, and I have spent thousands of hours observing and fishing for bass. This in and of itself does not make me correct, however I can find nothing in what I have seen and heard over the years that would lead me to believe that bass, (and it is important to note that I am only talking about Largemouth Bass), experience pain of the nature of what we humans do. In addition, I have never seen Largemouth Bass ignore a bait because of some perceived learning curve. As an example: Bill Lewis developed the Rat-L-Trap in the early 60's. Since its invention millions have been sold, and countless of millions of Largemouth Bass have succumbed to its rattle and wiggle. I doubt that there is a bass alive that hasn't seen one of these baits yet millions of fishermen continue to throw this bait, and millions of fishermen continue to rake in bass with them. Baits go by the wayside because the bait monkey says it is time to do so, not because they have stopped working. The fight: As noted by KU and others - they fight to avoid capture not to avoid pain.

Yep, she had a name, but for some odd reason, (of which I have no idea), I called her Jose. I am looking for the picture. I must apologize for overstating the size - she was only 11.5 pounds. Me memory caused an error.

I have caught the same fish off the same stump, just about every other day for almost 2 months before she moved. She hit a chug bug every time - small fish tipping the scale at 12.5 pounds.

Yep - what's humane in killing anything? However, be that as it may: In most states it is illegal to clean controlled game fish until you have gotten ashore. Mass.Wildlife@state.ma.us You could get your answer there. Don't worry about the how - you are talking about a fish. Most of the fish that you will find in the waters of Mass. are going to taste better than bass, however if it's bass you are going to eat: if the fish is out of clear water take off the head, gut it, a light dusting of flour seasoned to taste and fry it up. If the water isn't clear, skin the bass before cooking.

Now that's a major oxymoron.

Overview of the lake: I think I would be looking at some of those incoming creeks - especially where two converge.

Just an observation: The common thread with clients through all our trips - were looking for the big one! The common response after a short while - where's the fish? The reality - If you are on fish you have a good shot at a big one as they all hang together. The more casts that you make in that group of fish, the more likely you are to catch a big one.

About 320-340 of the calendar days - daylight til 2-3 PM. Most often that is with customers onboard, however when not booked we fish to stay current with locations and conditions. That equates to 8000+ hours for me, and an equal number for my Son and partner Scott. Can you imagine, 16,000+ hours of observable bass fishing per year?

Distinguishing between male and female bass based on external characteristics is very difficult, except with mature fishes during spawning season. At that time, a milky substance (milt) can be extruded from the vent of males and a few greenish colored eggs may appear at the vent of females. Females, however, grow significantly larger than males. Virtually all bass over eight pounds are female. The above is taken directly from: http://myfwc.com/fishing/Fishes/bass.html As Raul said, visual inspection is not 100% accurate - to be 100% requires that dreaded autopsy, which by the way, most fisheries have no qualms about doing. (just for accuracy of course)

Without watching you it is very difficult to say if you have a problem with your hookset. There is only one ingredient needed for a good hookset and that is rod speed. It doesn't take muscle or long distance rod movement, just speed. If you feel a bite pick that rod up and back with as much speed as you can muster. It takes practice, but if you think about it you will increase your speed in little time. Just remember: speed, not physical strength. Next time you are watching one of these fishing shows, pay attention - it goes something like this: "there's one", and then the hookset is fast and you will note that there isn't any great rod movement. Some years back the Air Force was doing a study with moving an object through solid material. With speed they were able to put a paper straw through a telephone pole with no damage to the straw.

RW, Interesting thing about size of fish in a school: Some of you may recognize the angler. Without dropping names he came to the Marsh to get his biggest fish of his career. He caught the big one and the little one out of the same school within minutes of each other. Did I mention: the bait was as you can see a Senko.

Once a cannibal, it seems always a cannibal. We stalk these fish when we can. I had one that was always just outside of casting distance and after dropping off the customers I would head back out to try and catch her. It took three weeks to be in the right position, but at 15+ pounds it was well worth the effort. That one sticks in my mind because she would charge through the school we were working every time they would come up on shad. Another, this one not caught, ripped a 2-pound bass off a customers hook. I think if she, (the customer), had not reared back on the hook she might have got this monster. My guess, (it's only a guess), is that fish was in that 14-15 pound range also. What is most interesting is how the other fish know. I have watched a school turn and attack when one of these rogues get anywhere near them. Somehow they know. I don't think all loners are cannibals, but I do know that all cannibals are loners.

I watch these terms bandied about quite loosely: Sponsorship - Pro Staff: are these terms synonymous or are there marked differences between the two? Yes, the differences are day and night. To be a Pro Staff member in most cases simply means that you received product at a discounted price that is usually in and around the wholesale price level. The company you are a member of the Pro Staff with is still making money out of your pocket, just less than they do with the retail customer. In the process they anticipate that word-of-mouth advertisement will be of more benefit than some other form of media. In some instances there are some companies that look for the Pro Staff to attend events and act as spokesmen, but in most the Pro Staffer is just another avenue of sales with the potential of gaining some advertising benefit. You are not going to pay your way through the fishing industry with this position. The industry plays upon a part of the human psyche with these positions - the desire to be recognized. Sponsorship: This is the money end of the fishing industry. This is that segment where no money leaves your pocket. This is that segment where the money comes from the sponsor. It may come in the form of free product which will require active participation in various forums by you. It may come in actual cash to cover such things as entry fees into tournaments, or cost of equipment and gear, and again will require active participation in various forums. Of course, the best type is the paid salary whereby you are an active employee/spokesperson for the represented company. Also note that sponsorships come with hardline/lawyer produced contracts that can be taken to the bank. Pro-staff comes with a handshake and a wink of the eye. An example: When one of the boat companies gives you a boat or gives you such a discount that you can actually make money in the sale of that boat, then you are being sponsored by that company. When the boat company/dealer sells you the boat at wholesale or above, they or you may claim sponsorship, but the reality is that this transaction was just another sale. It's nice to get a discount, but learn to recognize the difference, or admit the difference and you will be on a better track to sponsorship in the fishing industry.

I think one can safely say that the perceived color of the water where they fish is generally dark. Hence, dark water, dark baits. As for working the Senko: it can be worked very successfully in any manner that you would fish another bait. However, the most common method is weightless, Texas rigged. Cast it out as you would and work it slowly back to the boat. One of the most common errors I observe on the lake is "water wasting". When you pick an area to fish be systematic in your approach and work the entire area. Bass as a rule are not bait chasers, but rather "opportunity knocked, bait waiters". If you don't get in their face you aren't going to catch them. Slow down, cover the water completely, and watch your catch ration increase.

This is an interesting question in that the answer isn't black/white simple. Bass will eat bass fry, but it pretty much ends there with an exception. Bass belong to a family of fish that are for all intents and purposes are schoolers. If blatant cannibalism was allowed in this society you would have only a few large bass living in any body of water. In this respect, they are not cannibals. So: Fry eaters: yes Bigger than fry eaters: no Oops: bass don't live by rules! There is that guy/gal out there that is a full time cannibal given the opportunity. The illustrious loner, or rougue-bass. That's the fish that you note running about the lake in pursuit of its food. (see you ask a simple question and then it gets complicated) I must regress: Bass live in schools, but not for protection as is the case for most fish that we call schoolers, but rather for cooperative hunting. This is not the hunting school akin to the roving blue fish however. This is a school that lies in wait for opportunity using each other's eyes and senses. Some of the school will be looking up for the inevitable school of bait to come by and all the rest of the school will be looking at those that are watching. When one of those that is looking up spots opportunity, those that are watching will follow suit. If the activity and opportunity are large enough the whole school may join in: this being that shad bust that is so often mis-called schooling activity. I say mis-called, because the bass were already schooled. Once the shad pass through the area the bass regroup into their previous positions waiting for the next chance to come their way. Outside of these schools of bass lives that rogue or cannibal bass. Because of his unorthodox behavior of ingesting his own kind he isn't able to join in and use this societal activity for his hunting. You will see him out and about the lake as he smashes and chases food. If you are lucky enough to be near him/her on one those smashes you just might latch on, and the ensuing fight is going to be most interesting. You are going to think that this bass is on steroids. This bass, rather being the fatty occupant of the school that spends their time waiting for opportunity, must chase its food, and in the process becomes much more muscled than the rest. What happens when one of these eaters of their own, heads into the school looking for an easy meal from the masses? I have seen this happen over and over again where and when it was clear enough to observe. The entire school, or those that sense its presence will turn and attack the intruder. How this bass is marked to be different from the rest I don't know, but marked he/she is. Sometimes they are lucky and carry off a hapless unattentive bass, but most often they are chased off before they can accomplish their intentions. How much of it's life does the normal bass spend in a school? Basically most of it: the school may be loose, or it may be more compact when feeding, but this critter is a schooler. They are even in the school during the spawning activity. If they were all cannibals there would be but a few survivors with those being rather huge. Next time you are out there and you see that big splash, and by the time you get to the area of the splash it occurs just out of your reach in another spot, with this repeating itself again and again, you are probably looking at that cannibal. Concentrate on locating the school and tend to business, for that guy/gal will more than likely come to you as he makes his daring run, blasting through the ranks in search of an easy meal.

Again, we have the reasoning ability of a human being compared to an animal. A child assimilates information through reasoning ability. It's what sets us apart from the animal kingdom. If the bass had the reasoning ability to associate pain with its cause, and it had the tactile sense of pain, then you would never catch a bass that has been previously caught. We all know that that scenerio just doesn't hold up to the simplest of scrutiny. Bass swallow their swimming prey headfirst because it is the simplest method of entrapment for them. If they had to chase there prey their success ratio would be far less, than simply opening their mouth and letting the prey swim to them. Bass sense their prey coming to them, rather than running around willy nilly hoping to chase something down. Since the bait isn't swimming backwards, then it seems to me, using my human reasoning ability that headfirst, is the winning method.

Wildbill - is it a fight for freedom or a fight against pain - if it was to relieve pain, they would simply follow docily just as you would if I hooked you and the lip and started pulling. Another thing to remember: we are talking about bass, not trout, not northerns, or any other species of fish. What the trout's senses are in no way compare to the senses of a shark, etc. This is really a very complex subject that can be looked at from many an approach, but the simplest approach is to realize that if their mouth were like ours, with all it tactile discernment, they would be unable to eat most of what they do.

Dr. Lynne Sneddon, She's a great one to cite - A leader in the anti-fishing community in GB. One of her most famous posed question: is your angling desire greater than your sympathy for the pain that you cause? Her "quotes and findings" have been used by PETA as staunch proof of their philosophies. The trout study is quite interesting - applying bee venom to the mouth of a trout. Bee venom is both neurotoxic as well as cytotoxic. Irregardless of the level of pain receptors in the surface area of any organism, there will be a reaction at a deeper level. If and when I start fishing for bass with bee sting venom I might worry about whether I am applying damaging levels of pain.

Ever use one of the above? Imagine if you will, someone sticking the hook of the this scale through your lip, and then attempting to pick you up with it. Or something like the one below? Do you think that you could be picked up with this device? Do you think bass eat theses guys? Perhaps you have never handled one of these critters, but if you have you have learned to watch out for those dorsal fins. Try putting one in your mouth. Or perhaps one of these? Does the word spiked, mean much to you? Imagine if the guy below had our sense of taste or smell! Human senses are exactly as stated: Human. Animal senses can be perceptualized to be akin to human sense, but to do so is not correct. As for the mouth and throat areas of the bass: If they felt what we know as pain, much of what they eat would be eliminated, because in the process of eating they are poked, stabbed, and bitten by what they eat. There is not too many that would use either of the above weighing devices to weigh the family dog. We all know why. There isn't much of a correlation between bass and dogs. Have you ever caught a bass that has been mis-handled, and half their jaw bone is exposed and broken. Do you think if they felt pain akin to human pain that they would be right in the middle of the hunt? If you had a broken jaw would you be out there catching and munching on things using your mouth? Whether or not they feel pain is something that can only be guessed at. Again, as with so much in the animal kingdom, we aren't going to know for certain until we can communicate with them. However, from all indicators, bass feel no "pain" in the mouth or throat areas.

I fish on one of the best bass lakes in the world, and yes every once in a while a skunk befalls us. I don't see how anyone, no matter where, can say it hasn't happened to them. I doesn't happen often, (3-4 times over the last 10 years, but it can and does happen.

Avid you are certainly entitled to your opinion but what little reseach has been done, contradicts your opinion. The mouth, the cavity, and the throat cannot feel what we call pain or they wouldn't eat in many instances. In addition, pain is a human sense. We do not know what an animal senses. If I learned only a little of what my degree says I should know, I learned not to give human qualities, traits, and feelings to the animal kingdom.

No one, I repeat no one knows whether this thing we call pain in Humans, in any way relates to whatever bass feel when hooked. However, we do that anatomically their nerve structures are vastly different, and that the area that we deal with, (mouth and throat), has to be severely desensitized in order for them to eat what they do. If you are around long enough it might be possible for you to sit down and have a conversation with a bass as they become more educated, but until then it's up in the air.

I don't know who "they" is, but "they" is way off base. Hooks take a considerable period of time to be eliminated from a bass. Amazingly however, they are able to continue to eat in most cases. In the event where a lure breaks off: Seldom is the lure embedded in such a manner that the fish will not cast the bait, or rub the bait off.