Bass Fishing Article Suggestion

[Sam]

Jnatale3 has asked a question as to where do the bass go after being released in tournaments.

My answer included information about the "release boats" that are used by B.A.S.S. to warehouse the bass and then sail into the waters to release the bass from underwater trap doors so that no one knows when or where the bass are being relocated.

Maybe someone out there would like to research the "release boats" and fill us in on the details about the boats and how they operate.

BAM could do an article explaining how the "release boats" operate and give us the boats specifications, etc. along with pictures.

I am sure the Forum members would welcome anyone contacting B.A.S.S. to inquire about their bass tournament release program and then pen a response on the Forum including information on the "release boats."

This would be an interesting post about releasig the bass back into their home waters.

[merc1997]

here is just a view point from me about lakes that have tournaments from the same location all the time. i really think it hurts the bass population in other areas of the lake. bass are taken from all over the lake, but released in the general area of take off. the most used area for tournaments here on table rock is the kimberling city area. lots of bass are taken from the upper reaches of the lake, but are not returned there. these areas struggle to have thriving bass populations,because bass are taken but never returned. my opinion about where the bass go, is that they just find suitable areas near where they are released. many do not go far. areas where tournament bass are released are great places to fish. we call them recycle bass.

bo

[basslover12345]

I will do it!

[Nitrofreak]

here is just a view point from me about lakes that have tournaments from the same location all the time. i really think it hurts the bass population in other areas of the lake. bass are taken from all over the lake, but released in the general area of take off. the most used area for tournaments here on table rock is the kimberling city area. lots of bass are taken from the upper reaches of the lake, but are not returned there. these areas struggle to have thriving bass populations,because bass are taken but never returned. my opinion about where the bass go, is that they just find suitable areas near where they are released. many do not go far. areas where tournament bass are released are great places to fish. we call them recycle bass.

bo

Sam,

First of all thats an interesting topic of discussion, you gave us an interesting proposal, nice job buddy !

Something tells me you have already done some research lol !!

Merc1997,

While I agree with the release of the bass being in one general area as most of us do here in Va. as well, I do not agree with it seeming to hurt our bass populations in upper regions of such waters.

Out of the thousands of tournaments over the years, also thousands upon thousands of fish have been released in one general area here at my favorite lake, most are concentrated out of a place called Sturgeon Creek, but there are 3 major areas on this lake that have tournaments, so we can multiply that times 3, if the bass do not travel too far after a release then one would think that the areas where most of the fish are released would be packed with Anglers all the time and would not have to go very far at all to catch fish.

This lake has been having tournaments for 40 years or very close to it, if that were the case all the fish would or should be located in the mid lake region.

Fact is fish migrate to locations all the time, each body of water has it's own eco system, it's own structure, the fish simply do not stay in one place for an extended period of time especially if there is not an abundance of forage, think about something here, these fish that are caught and released also have a mortality rating, some survive some do not, but for every fish caught in a tournament and transported to a new location from a tournament angler, there are 10 others that are caught in the same locations from each of the weekend anglers and released in the same location from the catch, how many more weekend anglers do we have vs. tournament anglers?

It's not all the anglers that fish upper regions of the lake that makes the fishing tough, although I am not saying it does not impact the thriving population of the upper regions of your waters, it also means there is something else is going on as to why the population of fish do not thrive in one area vs. another.

In my home lake, the bass used to be abundant, 50 bass days were common way back when, but over 40 years of storms, boat traffic, etc... the lake has changed a lot, fishing holes get silted in, tree stumps rot away, just a couple of the many, many reasons why fish tend to populate in upper regions of older lakes, but not every lake is the same, it's up to all of us to understand these kind of changes and adjust our techniques accordingly.

[OkobojiEagle]

here is just a view point from me about lakes that have tournaments from the same location all the time. i really think it hurts the bass population in other areas of the lake. bass are taken from all over the lake, but released in the general area of take off. the most used area for tournaments here on table rock is the kimberling city area. lots of bass are taken from the upper reaches of the lake, but are not returned there. these areas struggle to have thriving bass populations,because bass are taken but never returned. my opinion about where the bass go, is that they just find suitable areas near where they are released. many do not go far. areas where tournament bass are released are great places to fish. we call them recycle bass.

bo

Then why do the upper regions of your lake continue to be productive year after year?

Tracking study reports I've read over the years (mostly from In-Fisherman and BassMaster magazine) have indicated many surviving bass track back in the general direction from which they were taken. Some settle in new areas before they reach "home", but a significant number do return to the lake (and river) areas from which they were taken.

oe

[Elegantly Wasted]

I researched this last year. The best study I found was a tracking study and it showed that, after a short period of up to about a week where the bass hunkered down close to where they were released, they moved back to the territory from which they were caught. If I recall correctly one bass travelled some ridiculous distance like 4 miles in a single day. I'll see if I can find the study and post it here.

[Elegantly Wasted]

Here you go. I've always found it odd that so many fisherman make the assumption that the bass stay close to where they are released when science pretty clearly shows this not to be the case. Of course, when they have a long distance to travel back to their territory some may not make it due to a multitude of reasons.

http://www.worldfish...ased-51469.aspx

[roadwarrior]

That's an impressive report.

What bothers me the most is post-release mortality. We were at Kentucky Lake a couple of years ago

on a BassResource Roadtrip. A major tournament was going on at the same time (FLW?). The weather

was brutal, but cold not hot. On the first or second day some of us were at the ramp in a small bay where

fish had been release the previous day. I have never seen so many big, dead bass. It was TOTALLY

disgusting.

With today's technology, immediate release is a possibility. Big O has some very specific thoughts on the

logistics. There would be costs involved, but the main argument has revolved around destroying the dynamics

at weigh-in. The answer in a nutshell is to put on a show like you would see at a rock concert, huge screens

and action packed video.

The point is, huge fish get that way because they find the perfect environment in which to grow. Releasing bass

immediately back to their "neighborhood" would be a huge step forward. Good for the fish and good for the future

of tournament fishing.

[merc1997]

Then why do the upper regions of your lake continue to be productive year after year?

Tracking study reports I've read over the years (mostly from In-Fisherman and BassMaster magazine) have indicated many surviving bass track back in the general direction from which they were taken. Some settle in new areas before they reach "home", but a significant number do return to the lake (and river) areas from which they were taken.

oe

steve, the upper reaches of table rock do not continue to thrive. you are not here fishing. if you were, you would realize too that the bass population contiues to go down each year. this past year was the absolute worst i have ever witnessed as far as fishing the upper end of table rock. i never caught one big bass all year from eagle rock, but yet i caught over 100 from the lower reaches of table rock. and anyone telling me that a bass is going to travel 40 to 50 miles to get back "home", phooey. in a river system, i will say there is a good chance bass would travel 5 miles or so to return home. actually bass in river systems travel several miles in the course of a year depending on if they have to migrate up and down the system with food. otherwise, bass are content to stay put. i do also know that bass will travel as much as a couple of miles in the course of the night to move from the home sanctuary to their feeding flats. but, in conclusion, bass that are moved as far as 50 miles from where they are caught just take up camp somewhere close where they find food.

bo

[merc1997]

nitro freak to answer a few of your observations, of course each lake or stream has a different set of circumstances. some sections of a lake can withstand the withdrawl of bass without replacement. this would be because those areas have great spawning years every year. in the case of the upper reaches of table rock, spawning success does not happen because of the continual release of cold water from beaver lake to keep trout alive that they stock in the white river below beaver dam. in the eagle rock area of table rock, and as far down as big m, the water during spawning season can fluctuate in one day from the low to mid 60's, and in a matter of hours be as cold as 50 degrees. if bass had laid eggs while it was warm enough, that 50 degree water hitting them kilss everyone. hence, the upper end of table rock can not sustain the continual taking of bass without them being returned. in the old days, bass catching was about equal over the entire lake. in fact the upper portions of table rock might have even been the best. once beaver lake was put in and they started stocking trout, the bass population has been on a continual decline on the upper end of table rock. the exceptional high water we had for a few years seemed to help spawn a little. it allowed bass to get far enough away from the cold water release to have some success at spawning. in any case, tournament anglers taking bass from the upper end of table rock continually and they are hauled 40 to 50 miles to be weighed in, and released right at the weigh-in site never make it back to the upper end. they are just gone for good.

bo

[slonezp]

My .02, On my home water, a 10,000 acre river system which includes 8 or so lakes, there can be up to 4 tournaments going on any given weelend from April to October. Fish are regularly removed from an area which must be locked thru to get to and from the launch. The area replenishes itself daily even with the fish being released north of the locks. The lake they are released is not really conducive to holding a fish population. It's a shallow muddy flat, and aside from a couple small channels the lake isn't fished. The lakes north, south, and east of the release area continue to replenish themselves. I think any study needs to be on a lake to lake basis to hold any merit.

[J Francho]

On lake Ontario, tournaments are held in the warmer bays. Often, anglers will make a run to another bay, where they are more familiar - weather permitting. The bass taken from say Port Bay, and weighed in on Irondequoit Bay are not going to leave I-bay, go into the main lake where it can be as much as 20° cooler, to get back to their home water. I've always felt fishing in Sodus Bay was so good because so many tournaments are based out of there. That's not to say that fishing has declined in the other, smaller bays - to the contrary - it's still very good. Sodus just seems to have numbers of large fish not seen elsewhere.

[Nitrofreak]

nitro freak to answer a few of your observations, of course each lake or stream has a different set of circumstances. some sections of a lake can withstand the withdrawl of bass without replacement. this would be because those areas have great spawning years every year. in the case of the upper reaches of table rock, spawning success does not happen because of the continual release of cold water from beaver lake to keep trout alive that they stock in the white river below beaver dam. in the eagle rock area of table rock, and as far down as big m, the water during spawning season can fluctuate in one day from the low to mid 60's, and in a matter of hours be as cold as 50 degrees. if bass had laid eggs while it was warm enough, that 50 degree water hitting them kilss everyone. hence, the upper end of table rock can not sustain the continual taking of bass without them being returned. in the old days, bass catching was about equal over the entire lake. in fact the upper portions of table rock might have even been the best. once beaver lake was put in and they started stocking trout, the bass population has been on a continual decline on the upper end of table rock. the exceptional high water we had for a few years seemed to help spawn a little. it allowed bass to get far enough away from the cold water release to have some success at spawning. in any case, tournament anglers taking bass from the upper end of table rock continually and they are hauled 40 to 50 miles to be weighed in, and released right at the weigh-in site never make it back to the upper end. they are just gone for good.

bo

There is a good point there, but I have a question, How long do you think the migration will stay there anyway? if the enviroment is not sustainable for life or spawning, the bass will not stay there, so even if an angler was to return the fish to its home area, this one in particular, they, the bass, know that if that area is not suitable enough to sustain life they will move out, no matter how many fish the angler catches from there, eventually the bass are going to move out on their own, they will look for areas that are better suited for raising fry and ones that have a higher chance of survival of their species.

[Traveler2586]

Jnatale3 has asked a question as to where do the bass go after being released in tournaments.

My answer included information about the "release boats" that are used by B.A.S.S. to warehouse the bass and then sail into the waters to release the bass from underwater trap doors so that no one knows when or where the bass are being relocated.

Maybe someone out there would like to research the "release boats" and fill us in on the details about the boats and how they operate.

BAM could do an article explaining how the "release boats" operate and give us the boats specifications, etc. along with pictures.

I am sure the Forum members would welcome anyone contacting B.A.S.S. to inquire about their bass tournament release program and then pen a response on the Forum including information on the "release boats."

This would be an interesting post about releasing the bass back into their home waters.

Here ya go Sam http://www.agfc.com/fishing/Documents/BBP_SOP-LiveReleaseBarge.pdf

I don't have much time right now but I'll look further tomorrow. I have read that most of early designed release boats draw surface water through bulkhead connectors pulling the hotter surface water into the holding tanks; this is now under reconsideration opting for water to be drawn from a depth of three feet below the surface. Compressed O2 is also now seen as less affective than constant aeration.

Got to run....

Cheers,

[Silas]

I think if the future of bass fishing is to be preserved for our grandchildren, we are going to have to evolve from the "SPECTACLE" of the weigh in......with the technology that we have, it is certainly possible to RECORD the fish, and their statistics, ON BOARD, IMMEDIATELY, sent to a central place.....or have a "Black Box" if you will, in each boat, recording catches.....so that NO FISH have to travel ANYWHERE....they won't be stressed out in the boat all day, and during the trip home, then the wait for the weigh in.

I know this seems blasphemy to a lot of you.....but, it's just my opinion.

Then all of the questions about what will happen to the bass....do they return to where they were, do they die, do some of them die shortly, etc....will become non issues.

I really think the days of the "Super Rock Star" fishermen, is limited. We are watching a well oiled "machine" in action. I'm not at all sure if it's good for the resource.

[roadwarrior]

I made a similar post on another thread earlier today. There is a cost,

but it should not be prohibitive for the major tournaments.

[Nitrofreak]

As with any change to a major sporting venue, there is always a cost, no matter how you look at the picture it's always monitary, be it fan based or additional equipment or both.

The bright side would be that you can be right there in the boat with your favorite angler, just as in a Nascar venue if we went to something of that nature.

The culling aspect would bring new light, and drama if they were to show how much weight a particular angler is culling at the time as well

I think if they hide the total weights from all to see then we could still have a showcase at the end, kind of like a plug and play kind of thing.

If there is enough noise made about this how far off does anyone think something like this could actually happen, if at all?

[OkobojiEagle]

steve, the upper reaches of table rock do not continue to thrive. you are not here fishing. if you were, you would realize too that the bass population contiues to go down each year. this past year was the absolute worst i have ever witnessed as far as fishing the upper end of table rock. i never caught one big bass all year from eagle rock, but yet i caught over 100 from the lower reaches of table rock. and anyone telling me that a bass is going to travel 40 to 50 miles to get back "home", phooey. in a river system, i will say there is a good chance bass would travel 5 miles or so to return home. actually bass in river systems travel several miles in the course of a year depending on if they have to migrate up and down the system with food. otherwise, bass are content to stay put. i do also know that bass will travel as much as a couple of miles in the course of the night to move from the home sanctuary to their feeding flats. but, in conclusion, bass that are moved as far as 50 miles from where they are caught just take up camp somewhere close where they find food.

bo

Bo... I concede the optimum distance a bass will travel "home" is most likely somewhere between weigh-in site and 50 miles.

oe

[merc1997]

nitro, the sad part about the upper end of table rock is that is has decent shad populations. the fish including crappie are just not there anymore. you can graph all day in the summer when you used to be able to see fish all over the place, and now it is very hard to see a hook anywhere. i will agree that bass will leave an area where they have nothing to eat.

bo

[merc1997]

one other reason that i have that bass will remain in a not too far distance from where they are released is the upper end of table rock never did have any small mouths around to speak of. over a period of several years we would catch brownies from the dam area and haul them and release them in the upper end. the upper end of table rock now has a small mouth population. at least enough that they show up on a regular basis.

bo

[roadwarrior]

As with any change to a major sporting venue, there is always a cost, no matter how you look at the picture it's always monitary, be it fan based or additional equipment or both.

The bright side would be that you can be right there in the boat with your favorite angler, just as in a Nascar venue if we went to something of that nature.

The culling aspect would bring new light, and drama if they were to show how much weight a particular angler is culling at the time as well

I think if they hide the total weights from all to see then we could still have a showcase at the end, kind of like a plug and play kind of thing.

If there is enough noise made about this how far off does anyone think something like this could actually happen, if at all?

Big O is "In The Loop". I think he is working on this on at a serious level.

[Traveler2586]

The biologist seam to agree that the mortality rate at, and post, weigh-in's is low relative to the event size and the fisheries capacity; they also seam to agree that human error at the weigh-in's, or on the release boats, are the more significant factor in tournament mortality. They also believe that close management by the states and accountability of tournament directors is the way to go for now.

IMHO, I don't see the technology available that would eliminate the human factor of catch-and-release at the boat during tournaments; with just the angler and a Marshal on the boat, and with the money and rankings involved there are just no checks and balances available there and too much temptation.

Between state fisheries restocking programs, the advancements in boat live-wells, tournament weigh-ins, and release boats, I don't at this time worry about the future of the Black Bass. If you look at the history of fishing, and tournaments for that matter, one would think there should be no fish left to catch, but we know that's not true. I can show you old fishing books showing photos of large numbers of bass hung up for display on boards with the angler next to them with a big grin on their faces. And this holds true for other fish species as well. Also, there were no controls over commercial fishing years ago that had significant adverse impacts on many fisheries across the country. The saving grace here is we have learned from the past and are paying more attention to the future. I believe the Black Bass will be fine, it's nature we can't control that I'm concerned about.