Bucket Fishermens Impact On Water ??

[tugsandpulls]

all my local ponds or lakes that have a lot of bucket fishermen are not producing crap this year idk if its me in a slump or if there are just too many fish taken out how much of an impact you think the bucket fishermen make??

[flyfisher]

There is no way to tell without scientific research and sampling studies done to determine impacts.  Anecdotally you will here people say it effects the fishery because last year it was awesome and this year it sucks.

 

I have fished many small ponds that do and don't have bucket fishermen and they seem to be more volatile in their production from year to year than a larger body of water.  My thought is that larger bodies of water have more capability to withstand changes in weather, temperature spawning time etc...where smaller lakes cannot rebound as quickly.

 

To say that they do not have any effect is probably not accurate and to tsay that they can decimate a population is probably a little extreme on the other side.  THere are so many factors involved in keeping a fishery healthy and pin pointing to one specific cause is probably difficult.

[RyneB]

We have a local catch and release pond that they use for kids fishing expos and rodeos. When I was growing up, you could catch a bluegill on a plane gold Aberdeen hook. It was a great place to take little kids to teach them how to fish and keep them interested. About 3 years ago, you were lucky to catch 2 fish in a day. My buddy went out there to night fish after work and saw the banks full of bucket fishermen, all with there buckets full of bass, catfish and bluegills. He called the local authorities and most were ticketed and some arrested because they had warrants or weren't a legal resident of the US. Once the arrests happened the lake started to come back slowly to its old form. Its a small pond, 5 acres. So it couldn't handle that kind of pressure like a big reservoir could.

[McAlpine]

Appropriate management of small water is extremely important. There just physically cannot be the carrying capacity to have limitless fish so if there is a finite number of resources and you either remove them all or severly reduce their numbers then you will absolutly affect the population. That's just common sense. I have seen this occur twice.

 

1.) My In-Laws had a great pond full of bass that they had trained to come up to the shore when you walked up and they threw bread to the them. There were a ton of fish in this pond and a few really big ones. They allowed their granddaughters boyfriend to fish the pond with the caveat that no fish could be removed. However; we found out later he was taking all the fish he caught home with him as we were trying to determine why there were less and less fish coming up to the shore when we took scraps to them. Eventually there were so few fish left that I think the opportunities for succesful spawning just became nill and the few fish left have either been removed or died. Nobody has caught a bass out of this pond for several years and we are now talking about stocking it.

 

2.) Greatest body of water I have ever fished is a pond in my neighborhood that the original developer has by his house that nobody was allowed to fish. When I moved in I became close with the owner and his wife and they allowed me and one other owner in our neighborhood to fish the pond. It was common to catch 50 bass with a few 3-4-5 lb's thrown in in a couple hours. Unfortunatly; the owners wife passed away and the stipulation of no fishing in the pond was lifted by the owner. There were a ton of people that didn't even live in our neighborhood that were allowed in and they were all taking fish out. Now, when I go to that pond I am lucky to catch one or two small ones. All the large fish that we caught on a regular basis just simply disapeared and we started to hear about some bragging size fish hanging on the walls of some of the guys allowed in.

 

Yes, small water can be absolutly ruined.....and quickly....by idiots.

[Ratherbfishing]

When I hear "bucket fishermen" I think not of those people who go out and now and again keep a few fish to eat for a meal.  In my eyes, that is perfectly fine.  Rather, bucket fisherman for me conjures up images of those yahoos who either fill a 5 gallon bucket with every fish they can catch (or can beg from others)-regardless of daily and possession limits.  Or I think of those who, while perhaps keeping within the daily or possession limits, will go out every chance they get and keep every fish they can legally retain.  While the former example is the most despicable, they both can have an impact on a small fishery.  And this impact is greater with every additional bucket fisherman who goes there.

 

One of my local haunts was nearly decimated of bass by some fools two years ago who didn't know (or care) when enough was enough.  I rarely catch any bass over 9 inches anymore and the now dominant bluegill keep the remaining bass skinny.  I've been keeping more of those bluegill until a better balance occurs.

[Marty]

Over many years I have experienced a decline in fishing at many small ponds. Large bodies of water are another story, but with these small ponds it's impossible for me to believe that people keeping fish hasn't been a significant contributing factor.

[Fish Chris]

Ya' know, I'm sure we had this exact same kind of thread a while back, and what's funny, if I remember correctly, it had the same kind of tone in the OP, and then had the same kinds of initial responses.... at which point, I said the same things I stand behind now....

 

First off, I think their might be more bucket fishermen and, more of them that actually catch fish, in the Southern US. I spent 3 years in Louisiana, and compared to Nor Cal, this is just what I saw, first hand.

That said, on the fairly rare occasion I see a "bucket fisherman" up here in Nor Cal, they have almost never caught squat, to begin with ! They'd have to fish for a 10 years, to fill that 5 gal bucket LOL

Oh sure, their will be exceptions.

 

Heck, I used to be a bucket fishermen > which is to say, I carried all my tackle, bait, etc, in a 5 gal bucket, while I walked "miles" of shoreline. Use to whack em' too. Released all of them.

 

However, you just will not catch any number of fish, in the lakes up here in Nor Cal, sitting on the shore, in any one spot.

 

Bottom line > Most of these so-called bucket fishermen have pretty much zero effect, on anything I am fishing for.

 

Peace,

Fish

 

PS, Reading back over the responses, Marty your right that "small ponds" could be effected.... but the question would be, how small ? I mean, obviously if you can cast all the way across it.... or your cane pole reaches to the center   LOL

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Edit: Around these parts, the people you have most to blame for hurting fish populations is not bucket fishermen.... It's the straight up, professional poachers ! These guys are high tech ! They don't sit in one spot, on the shore, like a goof ball.... they get out on boat, and use every technique, legal or otherwise, to catch as many fish > over the limit, as is humanly possible, and keep every last one of them !

 

I'm SURE these idiots hurt my fishing

[SirSnookalot]

Most freshwater "bucket fisherman" are stationary fishing in limited space. I do believe they can affect small bodies of water but not larger ones.  I may not put all the blame on them, I fish small bodies of water that no one fishes but me and I don't even fish them every day, my fish are released.  My catch rate is no where near what is was last year, different weather, changes in vegetation and water depth seem to have made an impact.  One of my ponds was quite hot last year and this year it's been terrible, another one about 300 yds away has the identical vegetation and bottom structure and it produces some decent size as well as numbers, still not quite as good as last year.

[tomustang]

Not as much as the birds of prey do

I've seen hawks outfish everyone on lakes sometimes

[Teal]

This topic again.....