Hatin' on smallmouth

[BassThumb]

I'm okay with the walleye anglers disliking bass. They can stay away, for all I care. I just hope they're releasing them respectfully.

 

There are rumors of people occasionally cutting the gills of some Mille Lacs giant brownies when they were taking off a decade ago, but I've never seen a suspicious floater or heard that someone credible has, and I've inspected a few. The bigger issue is that smallmouth actually taste good, so some walleye anglers fillet them up when they're coming up short on 'eyes.

 

These Minnesota walleye anglers outnumber the bass guys 5:1, maybe more. There's also probably 3 panfish anglers for every bass guy. We should thank them for all the revenue they put into the system that keeps our public accesses in relatively good shape. Minnesota anglers spend over 5 billion with a B every year from fishing alone, and much of that is from the walleye chasers.

[The Maestro]

This thread reminded me of this video. I'm a bass guy but I don't really "hate" any other species. And what kind of an angler hates smallmouth of all fish? They're freakin' awesome beautiful fish especially when they get big. 

 

 

[cyclops2]

 

  You do as a adult what you see as child.   How I turned out.

[billmac]

The only fish I've seen thrown up on the bank here in northern NY are bowfin, and there aren't many waters that contain them.  Perhaps some shiners too. We get some big shiners.

 

Walleye can be challenging to catch, but I wouldn't call them fun.  They are delicious and that's the draw.  Bass are fun, but they don't taste good and are wormy up here.  Pike are explosive and fun to catch, but they are a pain to clean. Good eating though.  The trouble with pike is the bite offs unless you are using leaders.  Musky are a once in a lifetime fish for most.

[gim]

That’s a really low and pathetic thing to do, killing that muskie. I woulda been ticked if I saw it too, Maestro. Good work on getting video evidence of it too.

 

As far as the walleye thing goes on Mille Lacs, you must realize that walleye anglers target their quarry for one reason only: to harvest them. If they can’t keep them, 90% of them aren’t interested in fishing for them. Uneducated people love to blame the walleye collapse there on the rise of smallmouth. Some people like blaming muskies too. Fact is, the real reason has a lot to do with mismanagement and overharvest. They should put up a smallmouth statue next to the walleye statue in Garrison if you ask me.

[The Maestro]

25 minutes ago, gimruis said:

That’s a really low and pathetic thing to do, killing that muskie. I woulda been ticked if I saw it too, Maestro. Good work on getting video evidence of it too.

 

As far as the walleye thing goes on Mille Lacs, you must realize that walleye anglers target their quarry for one reason only: to harvest them. If they can’t keep them, 90% of them aren’t interested in fishing for them. Uneducated people love to blame the walleye collapse there on the rise of smallmouth. Some people like blaming muskies too. Fact is, the real reason has a lot to do with mismanagement and overharvest. They should put up a smallmouth statue next to the walleye statue in Garrison if you ask me.

Thanks but that wasn't me that took the video. The video was making the rounds on social media a few years back and the thread reminded me of the ignoramuses that kill the musky in it.

[drscholl14]

On 7/16/2019 at 10:20 AM, FryDog62 said:

That was the big story for years on Mille Lacs (the “Original Walleye Factory”).  When the cyclical walleye population went down and the Smallmouth went up, the brownies got blamed.  There were rumors of walleye fishermen catching smallies, slitting their throats and releasing them to die.  Launch boats put a bounty on Smallmouth and would clean them for guests that wanted meat to take home.  

 

But it backfired when they opened up all the Smallmouth bellies while cleaning and didn’t find any walleye fry, it was 90% crayfish, 10% perch and other non walleye minnows.  

 

It was also also discovered later while cleaning other fish - the top 2 species that were eating walleye were crappie and you guessed it - other walleyes.  

Still is the big story.

 

On another board that's pretty much based out of MN there was a thread that had the estimated numbers of smallmouth in Mille Lacs that recently came out and the walleye guys were up in arms saying there's no way there's only 67,000 smallmouth in the lake.  There's literally millions they said.  We all know that smallmouth are a main predator of walleye......

 

Welcome to living in the walleye state......No other fish matters.

[JoeInCT]

I can’t comprehend hatin on smallies. Pound for pound they are up there in regards to fight. Acrobatics are also a plus. My buddy is a fly fisherman and he told me many fly fishermen hate on smallies. Makes no sense. To me, any fish I’m catching is a good fish. But smallies are one of my favorites.

[DogBone_384]

On 7/16/2019 at 8:57 AM, PAbasser927 said:

smallmouth was considered an invasive species that inhibited the native land locked salmon that most of the locals were after

Salmon tastes good, but smallies fight better .... to me, catching fish is catching fish.  I'll take pickerel if the bass aren't cooperating. 

My two cents.

 

[TnRiver46]

3 hours ago, JoeInCT said:

I can’t comprehend hatin on smallies. Pound for pound they are up there in regards to fight. Acrobatics are also a plus. My buddy is a fly fisherman and he told me many fly fishermen hate on smallies. Makes no sense. To me, any fish I’m catching is a good fish. But smallies are one of my favorites.

A lot of fly fishermen I know target Smallies. They seem to do pretty well especially when it gets really hot outside, almost like a finesse topwater bite 

 

3 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

Salmon tastes good, but smallies fight better .... to me, catching fish is catching fish.  I'll take pickerel if the bass aren't cooperating. 

My two cents.

 

I’ve only caught one salmon but I’ve heard they fight like crazy

[J Francho]

11 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I’ve only caught one salmon but I’ve heard they fight like crazy

That's an understatement.  Never caught a land locked, but I have caught many a king and coho...no smallie, no matter how big compares.

[TnRiver46]

58 minutes ago, J Francho said:

That's an understatement.  Never caught a land locked, but I have caught many a king and coho...no smallie, no matter how big compares.

I saw a guy in Alaska hook a red salmon that jumped out of the water and up in the woods. While hooked! 

[J Francho]

1 minute ago, TnRiver46 said:

I saw a guy in Alaska hook a red salmon that jumped out of the water and up in the woods. While hooked! 

I've had steelhead do that.  It's very disappointing.

[Dwight Hottle]

56 minutes ago, J Francho said:

That's an understatement.  Never caught a land locked, but I have caught many a king and coho...no smallie, no matter how big compares.

That's only because you have never caught a 25lb smallie J!

John's right about the salmon. The coho's & kings definitely have an unique fight profile with the jumps & long runs. But you could almost classify them as saltwater fish which all fight like crazy since they do spend some time in the salt. See anadromous. 

[J Francho]

1 minute ago, Dwight Hottle said:

See anadromous.

Not mine.  Though, the Great Lakes are kind of like an ocean.  But you could say the same about stripers as well.  Fun fact, back when they considered a solution for all the alewife in the GL, stripers were one of the species considered.  I almost wish they went that way.

[cyclops2]

Well the salmon & all the different trout  PLUS the Canadian commercial netters are doing a fantastic job with deep diving Cormorants on the bait fish.

[fishwizzard]

A few years ago I was in Pittsburgh for work and got caught in some hellish traffic on my way to the airport.  My cabby was a native Minnesotan and had an incredible example of the accent.   He and I spent about a 90 minute standstill arguing bass vs walleye.  He was very passionate about it and I have never spent a nicer time in traffic.  

[DogBone_384]

18 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I’ve heard they fight like crazy

I caught a good one with a hair jig at Quabbin reservoir, a great smallie water.  Smallies fight harder, but the salmon barrel rolled and made a heck of a mess in the net.

 

I caught another at Long Pond in Plymouth in cold water, but it was only a couple pounds and didn't have a lot of clout.

[cyclops2]

Well at least we do not have freshwater Blue Fish to pick up with a thumb in the mouth.

I can still recall the father reaching into the mouth for the kids hook. I am running over to him saying LET GO OF IT.  LET GO OF IT

He goes shocky at the rapid chatter of the 16 " ? blues teeth chomping away on his mutilated thumb. I wrap my handkerchief around the gushing mess. He says he can drive to the E R.

 

Off topic ?

 

 

[J Francho]

Not off topic. Dumb cocktail blues will get you every time!

[billmac]

I certainly don't hate smallmouth, that's crazy.  But after catching primarily smallmouth throughout my whole life, thousands of them, I don't get as much of a thrill out of it.

 

Having said that, now that I have a bass boat and access to bigger waters, the prospect of catching some 4lb+ smallmouth is pretty exciting.

[Dwight Hottle]

57 minutes ago, billmac said:

Having said that, now that I have a bass boat and access to bigger waters, the prospect of catching some 6lb+ smallmouth is pretty exciting.

I fixed it for you. 

[billmac]

Woo, a 6lb smallmouth is a tall order, even on the St. Lawrence, but I'll take it.

[J Francho]

3 hours ago, billmac said:

Woo, a 6lb smallmouth is a tall order, even on the St. Lawrence, but I'll take it.

I friend of mine has pulled sixers out the Larry fishing for northern pike.

[Oregon Native]

Northwest attitudes over trout,salmon and steelhead over bass....northern attitudes over walleye and bass ....republicans vs democrats....where's the "Love" and "respect" and lets get along boys and girls.