Public Meetings Coming On Michigan Bass Season Change In July

[somebassguy]

Four options to go to the public through meetings and surveys

 

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) is preparing public meeting schedules and locations for comment on proposed changes to the Michigan bass season. Michigan B.A.S.S. Nation (MBN) submitted a Michigan Bass Season Change Proposal (PDF of full document) to the MDNR Warmwater Resources Steering Committee (WRSC), a Fisheries Division citizens' advisory group, on June 17, 2013 to start this latest effort to provide more bass fishing opportunity in Michigan.

 

The original MBN proposal calls for the following changes to Michigan Fisheries Orders: "1 – Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass Catch-and-Immediate-release statewide on all waters including Great Lakes and Great Lakes Connecting Waters - January 1 through the Friday before Memorial Day. And 2 – Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass Catch-and-Keep (harvest option) statewide on all waters including Great Lakes and Great Lakes Connecting Waters - Saturday before Memorial Day through the December 31."

 

Exceptions are also spelled out for a few special regulations waters such as inland trout and salmon waters where fishing is closed to all species, Michigan-Wisconsin Boundary Waters, the Sylvania Wilderness area and those defined Exceptions to General Regulations by County in the Michigan fishing guide.

 

After more discussion on the Michigan bass season at various citizens' advisory groups, at the additional WRSC meetings, MUCC and with other major Michigan anglers groups we received a response from the internal MDNR bass season work group at the latest WRSC meeting on April 28, 2014. The MDNR proposed five (5) bass season options to the WRSC angler group representatives and each option was discussed. You can view the minutes of the April 28, 2014 WRSC meeting (PDF) online.

 

MDNR Fisheries Division Chief Jim Dexter took all of the WRSC discussion to MDNR Director Keith Creagh to make a final decision on which options they will take to the public through public meetings, an online survey and possibly a random mailed survey.

 

WRSC chair Patrick Hanchin and Fisheries Chief Jim Dexter have shared the outcome of their discussions with GreatLakesBass.com. The following are the four (4) options we expect to go to the public very soon at meetings scheduled at various locations around Michigan. Note the exact language will probably be different and the order the options are presented in may be different. Please make sure you check the actual information that comes out from the MDNR. We will share meetings times and locations, and actual bass season options languages as soon as they are released.

 

Michigan Bass Season Change Options

 

1. No change. Leave the bass seasons as they are now.
2. Michigan Bass Nation Proposal: Year-round catch-and-immediate-release statewide; move Lake St. Clair system (LSC) harvest opener (from third Saturday in June) to statewide bass opener Saturday before Memorial Day when all other waters open for catch-and-keep choice (harvest).
3. Year-round catch-and-immediate-release statewide with the same harvest seasons currently in place – Saturday before Memorial Day for all waters except third Saturday in June for LSC system.
4. Year-round catch-and-immediate-release statewide. Change Lower Peninsula (LP) inland and LP Great Lakes (including LSC system) opening harvest (catch-and-keep choice) dates to last Saturday in April; Upper Peninsula (UP) inland and UP Great Lakes to May 15 to align with pike and walleye openers.

Options 1 and 4 (as ordered here) had the most group representative support during the April 28 WRSC meeting. Recently, MUCC members also voted to make the MBN bass season change resolution (PDF) matching option 1 above their official MUCC organizational policy along with a call to the MDNR and Natural Resources Commission (NRC) to consider Adaptive Management when needed to manage our bass populations.

 

Option 4 (as ordered above) has good support from state government leaders who have repeatedly stated they like the idea of allowing anglers a longer bass season and the opportunity to attract more bass tournaments because this can increase interest in bass fishing and boost our very important Michigan Natural Resources economy. The MDNR has gone on record at two hearings in the Senate Outdoor and Recreation Tourism and House Natural Resources Committees on SB 869 (PDF) – now state law as Public Act 145 of 2014 – also saying more bass fishing and the opportunity to attract more bass tournaments will be good for Michigan.

[Cgrinder]

I think I like choice number 3. I feel like 4 will just result in people keeping spawning fish.

[A-Jay]

I'm going to try to let my voice be here both in person and through any & all other means possible.  There may not be another chance like this for a while.  Look how long it took for this most recent movement.

 

As for which one is best - everyone will have their opinion here, I'm just hoping the top vote getter includes a year round state wide season. 

 

Also, I'm still trying to figure out how an extended season of catch & immediate release helps attract more tournaments ?

They do not practice "immediate release"  more like catch, hold in live well & then release . . . .

 

A-Jay

[nascar2428]

#2 is a solid choice in my opinion, opens up the catch and release season, and moves up the harvest opener for the Lake St. Clair area, which will allow more tournaments on LSC. 

[somebassguy]

Option 2 (order and exact language may change on all of them) would provide a few more weeks to have catch-and-delayed-release bass tournaments on Lake St. Clair - our best and most popular bass lake. Lake St. Clair has our largest bass population but is limited the most. When the rest of our lakes moved earlier to a Memorial weekend bass opener in 1970, Lake St. Clair stayed at the later 3rd Friday in June date because some local anglers didn't want it to change.

 

Option 4 would provide more catch-and-delayed-release bass tournaments statewide from the last Saturday in April for all Lower Peninsula waters - about an extra month except and extra ~7 weeks for St. Clair, and a couple weeks for all Upper Peninsula waters opening May 15.

 

The primary gain overall to options 2-4 would be simplifying anglers opportunity to target all panfish including largemouth and smallmouth bass - the largest members of the panfish family - on most waters so someone who catches a bluegill, crappie and bass from the same lake on the same day is no longer breaking the law as long as they don't keep a fish that is out of harvest season. 80 to 93% of Michigan bass anglers voluntarily release most of their keepers anyway so talk about restrictions, and worrying about to many people keeping bass of beds doesn't accomplish very much except talk and restriction.

[Cgrinder]

 

The primary gain overall to options 2-4 would be simplifying anglers opportunity to target all panfish including largemouth and smallmouth bass - the largest members of the panfish family - on most waters so someone who catches a bluegill, crappie and bass from the same lake on the same day is no longer breaking the law as long as they don't keep a fish that is out of harvest season. 80 to 93% of Michigan bass anglers voluntarily release most of their keepers anyway so talk about restrictions, and worrying about to many people keeping bass of beds doesn't accomplish very much except talk and restriction.

 

Do you happen to have a source for that? My experience has been very different.

[somebassguy]

The source is from various Michigan DNR surveys and studies of bass anglers throughout Michigan over a number of years. Those are averages that started at about 60% back in 1988 when we created the first test catch-and-release season, and have risen to a statewide average of 80%. The highest rate is 93% on Lake St. Clair from annual surveys, questioning anglers public access sites and from the fishing results reports guides and charters are required to keep and turn in.

 

I never make up numbers - I get them from published sources. I never share what someone else told me unless that someone is a research or  fisheries biologist who is quoting from data available to them from their own work or other biologists' work. You can find a lot of this information published on the MDNR Fishing website at michigan.gov/fishing - use the link on the left menu: Managing Michigan's Fisheries.

 

You may see people catching and keeping fish more on this lake or that lake, maybe at specific times of the year. It is okay for people to keep legally caught bass of legal size. There's nothing wrong with that. Our 14 inch size limits gives any bass the chance to spawn once or twice before it could be kept. People can only keep 5 per day, and on average, most anglers rarely catch a limit of bass.

 

When looking at population level effects you need to look at lots of anglers over time, not just a day or two here or there during a few hours we may be on the water. We are not able to manage every lake individually due to the wide range of waters bass successfully inhabit. Luckily, bass are very, very good at making more bass. It takes very few bass to hatch enough new bass to keep population numbers up, and bass generally produce an excess of fry. Anglers are generally not able to catch every bass. That is also from studies done in Michigan on Michigan bass.

[Justin Clark]

Dan,

 

You and I have spoken on this topic more then a few times. Personally and professional I am for a year round catch and release fishing for bass. Opening up  St. Clair sooner will not hurt the lake one bit, one of the major factors is because Canadian waters are still closed to targeting bass period and is currently still a week behind us right now. That alone offers plenty of protection to the Smallies. Another benefit I see for anglers is that they will discovery an under used largemouth fishery in Lake St. Clair. 

 

On the professional side of things having a earlier bass season where tournaments can happen could be major. I have talked to many elite and FLW Tour pro's that said they would love to have a major tourney up here in the spring they think it would be a hoot. 

Lake St. Clair is one of the most unqine fishery in the country because it has such strong fisheries for so many diffract species. Its the top Muskie lake in the country, it has a strong walleye and perch fishery and a untapped bluegill, sunfish and crappie segment that anglers are just now learning about.

[J BASS]

I am in favor of catch and release year round and keeping harvest as is but to move LSC to same as rest of state.

Dan do you know if we had a year round season if the state of Michigan would plant bass like the other states in the union that have a year round season?