Bass Relocation

[jessejames556]

As a preface: I came across this study yesterday and thought it was a pretty interesting read- http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Fishing/fisheries_management/Winnipesaukee_bass_movement_study_2007-08.pdf

My home lake is a 2,000 acre lake with two main boat ramps. There is a fishing tournament there almost every weekend in spring and fall. Most tournaments at my lake launch and weigh in out of the two main boat ramps. The "catch and eat" fishermen (who more often than not happen to be bank fishermen) know this and heavily target these skinny coves and seem to do quite well for themselves on making dinner out of the released tournament fish.. As the study linked above states, the ones that are not eaten may still be adversely affected by the relocation that the tournaments cause.

 

I wanted to see what some the opinions are on here about the effect tournaments can have on smaller lakes. I for one am often concerned that they are negatively effecting my local fishery. I wouldn't mind seeing a few boats volunteer to take some of the bagged fish back out onto the main lake for random relocation.

Of course, on the opposite side of the coin, relocating larger bass during tournaments could be removing pressure on bait fish and allowing room for the smaller bass to feed and grow.

[WRB]

The problem I see with this report is no baseline, we don't know where the bass that were tagged came from initially. The % of bass re caught by non- tournament anglers doesn't indicate if the bass were caught by tournament anglers fun fishing or pre fishing.

The assumption made is the bass were initailly caught outside of 1 kilometer of the marina area, if the bass were caught inside the 1 killiometer area, then those bass were not relocated.

Marinas are built in bass magnet areas due to the prefered terrain a sheltered launch ramp area provides the same terrain that bass prefer to reside in. Most marinas were fish camps prior to becoming public luanch ramps or marinas. When bass are cuaght outside the release area, then transplanted inside the marina and that area provides food and shelter, why would a bass leave?

I have always fished marina areas when fishing a new lake or a local lake long before tournaments became popular and still do.

Today the weekend angler or local bass angler more than likely owns a bass boat with a livewell and releases the bass they catch at the launch ramp.

The bottom line is; fish the marina area!

Tom

PS; re reading the report there was an attemp to record initial catch

locations, no tabulated data that identifies the catch sites verses the released sites.

All the bass were released 300 ft from shore, New Hampshire law.

[Oregon Native]

When I lived in Oregon we had to take our fish back out away from the launch and release them...believe was a state law

[RoLo]

The problem I see with this report is no baseline, we don't know where the bass that were tagged came from initially. The % of bass re caught by non- tournament anglers doesn't indicate if the bass were caught by tournament anglers fun fishing or pre fishing.

The assumption made is the bass were initailly caught outside of 1 kilometer of the marina area, if the bass were caught inside the 1 killiometer area, then those bass were not relocated.

Marinas are built in bass magnet areas due to the prefered terrain a sheltered launch ramp area provides the same terrain that bass prefer to reside in. Most marinas were fish camps prior to becoming public luanch ramps or marinas. When bass are cuaght outside the release area, then transplanted inside the marina and that area provides food and shelter, why would a bass leave?

I have always fished marina areas when fishing a new lake or a local lake long before tournaments became popular and still do.

Today the weekend angler or local bass angler more than likely owns a bass boat with a livewell and releases the bass they catch at the launch ramp.

The bottom line is; fish the marina area!

Tom

PS; re reading the report there was an attemp to record initial catch

locations, no tabulated data that identifies the catch sites verses the released sites.

All the bass were released 300 ft from shore, New Hampshire law.

 

Good point.

That takes me back to the 1950s and one of the first bass books I read: "Jason Lucas On Bass". It was back in the day of the red-head plug

(white wooden plug with red head) but Jason was way ahead of his time. I don't recall his words, but he suggested that instead of blasting off to Eden,

begin and end the day by fishing around the dock site.  Though Lucas attributed his success to low fishing pressure, I believe

it has more to do with 'wind shelter', which benefits both human activity and bass activity.

 

Roger

[Catt]

If one could have "home field" advantage it would be me on Toledo Bend & Fin-n-Feather marina. Won several tournaments where I launched their, fished their all day or night within the seawalls, picked up the boat, & weighed in.

Never told anyone this for the last 30+ yrs, don't worry they rebuilt all the docks, launches, covered slips, & even moved the location. They also sprayed all the grass at both sights & replaced all wood with aluminum.

[KyakR]

 Really enjoyed reading this fascinating study.....thanks! I've known that it's easy to catch tournament fish near their release point (especially a large lake, Thompson Lake in Maine) for years, as many anglers near this lake do. After a while it felt unfair, like fishing the spawn. As for smaller lakes, don't know, though the conclusions in the study seem to indicate that because fish have likely a smaller distance to go to get to their capture location, tournaments might affect them less overall. 

I thought it was interesting when they made a distinction between the way SMB and LMB navigate! "This is consistent 

with other studies and it has been suggested that largemouth bass navigate using visual 

landmarks (Wilde 2003).  Gilliland (1999) reported 84% of tagged largemouth bass were 

recaptured at sites connected to a release site by a continuous shoreline while only 16% were 

recaptured in areas where they had to cross deep, open water." !

I remember the red-head plug! 

Don't know if Maine has a law about how far out to release tourney bass, but sure seems like a great idea to get them away from the same point every time.

[lanzbass]

Good read !

 

I think I have one of those red and white plugs its made of wood ..

 

Maybe they still make them that way ?

[WRB]

Good read !

I think I have one of those red and white plugs its made of wood ..

Maybe they still make them that way ?

Off topic; today they are called "clown", little different but still a red head with silver-white body.

Red head Pikie minnow, wooden Bomber, Lucky 13 come to mind.

In deep canyon lakes like Colorado river chain; Powell, Mead, Mojave, Havasu, LMB often cross deep open water and found far off shore feeding on Threadfin shad, bass are adaptable to the environment they live in.

If close to shore areas provide all the basses needs, food and shelter, no reason to migrate long distances.

Seeding a good area with transplanted bass isn't anything new to tournament bass fishing.

Western Bass and a few other organizations use a release boat with large livewells that open at the bottom to spread out tournament caught bass around the lake, to reduce the impact of seeding the Mariana's.

Tom

[Dave P]

In all honesty, I feel that smaller lakes have less of a problem than the bigger ones. Just my opinion, but I seldom feel like the released fish don't move out on the smaller lakes I fish, but on the big ones I have the sense of going "out there" and fishing in a desert. Maybe it's just all in my head.

[jessejames556]

KyakR I found that part to be really interesting too

[Bassintheweeds]

 

Don't know if Maine has a law about how far out to release tourney bass, but sure seems like a great idea to get them away from the same point every time.

 

To answer your question no Maine does not have any requirements on the release of fish after tournaments.

 

Very interesting study for sure! Good food for thought.