catch and realease

[Nick_Barr]

i was reading a story in a magazine and bioligists say that we have gone overboard on catch and release and say we should do selected harvest which we take home dinks and help the bigger fish grow bigger. what is thought on this subject

[Raul]

They are absolutely right, the only way to keep a healthy population of fish in a body of water is trough selective harvesting, the best example of what is going to happen can be seen in smaller bodies of water like ponds, the pond is populated by big bream in limited numbers, a few huge bass and an enormous population of under sized stunted bass, the difference between a lake and a pond is only size and the fact that you don 't see it. If you take a quick look in bass management and ponds right here in Bassresource you will see what I 'm talking about. I grow bass in several ponds, my goal is not to produce a WR, my goal is to produce bass for stocking the lakes where I live, opposed to what happens in the US people here harvest any fish regardless of it 's size, if I can give the lakes a helping hand why shouldn 't I do it ? after all I fish those lakes, but in those ponds the breeding stock is huge in size, 10 pound females and 6 pound males are the norm and not the exception but the reason is because I remove all the smaller fish.

[Tom]

I agree completely. I'm a steady cath and release angler, but if the fish dies or is bleeding real bad than I take it and eat it if it is healthy. But if the fish is a very small bass, I take it to a farm pond around my house where we feed them and let them live safely. One they grow up, we either release them into the body of water they came from, or keep them in the pond where only we fish and it is ALL catch and realease with barbless hooks. We haven't had a fish die yet. We once released a 9 pound bass into Wilhelm Lake, PA, that started out as a little handlength fish when we got it. In a local lake called Indian lake, there are a ridiculous amount of bluegill. Many anglers just kill them or cut them in 2 and let them rot on a rock in the sun, but me and a few of my friend have went down to the lake and caught sometimes 100 at a time and brought them to a small seperate pond to grow and reduce the bluegill population in there. Although it may not seem like much, if we keep doing it in the longrun it will have a night and day affect on fishing in my opinion.

[bassinjack]

i do selctive harvest 3 are 4 times a year i take bass home from the lake that are between 14 and 17 inches. you all might want to check with your local game wardens also before releasing bass from a pond into a lake in some states it's illgal

also thats a good way to spread diease from fish to fish is transfering them. most states have stocking programs that stock lakes and privet ponds just a heads up.

tight lines

Jack

[Stickling]

i read a simular story.. sounds like selective harvest needs to be done alot more than we have been doing it.

[Tom]

i do selctive harvest 3 are 4 times a year i take bass home from the lake that are between 14 and 17 inches. you all might want to check with your local game wardens also before releasing bass from a pond into a lake in some states it's illgal

also thats a good way to spread diease from fish to fish is transfering them. most states have stocking programs that stock lakes and privet ponds just a heads up.

Thanks for the heads up Jack. Maybe I should check directly with the game commission.

tight lines

Jack

A man lives 2 houses down from me, and he is the town commissioner. He knows the local game commission.

[Aaron_S]

I know there are a TON of people on this site that are strictly catch and release and I am glad that an article like this has come up because selective harvest is a good thing.  I fish a lake that used to produce 5 and 6 pounders frequently however people stopped taking fish out of the lake and within a few years all you would catch are 12 inchers.  Now that I have been selectively taking some fish out every year the fish are gradually getting bigger.  This just goes to show how selective harvest is a good thing and that limits are put up for a reason and selective harvest should be practiced more often.

[chad km5qf]

What used to be my favorite little lake is now full of babies, with the occasional hog. Nothing in between. Last we ran yoyo's out there not a single bass over one pound. If not for the black crappie i'da gone hungry that night.

[Stickling]

My couisins pond is over run by bass, and there has been a 12, 10 and a 9 cought out of there, i will start harvesting from there evry once in a while.

[squid]

We have a lake around my town that needs to lower the size down so we can harvest them out.  Had a tournament 2 years ago and only ONE(1) boat caught a 14" bass, the legal size.  Everyone complained that the biggest one they caught was around 13".

So YES TAKE ALL YOU WANT from this lake...lol.  DNR rep. said they are trying to lower it to 12" and let more people keep them to eat.  Just for that lake only, they would have to post it.   SOON I HOPE...lol.

[Tom]

Lol. I'd have liked to watch that tourny on TV! The pond I've caught the weird catfish and the grass carp in (posted pictures), there are bass. The biggest one I've caught there was a 15 inch bass, again a mutant. It had an eye about the size of a golfball. The eye looked like a normal eye, no discoloration, but it was gigantic. That is the biggest bass in there because I've caught  and tagged over 200 bass in there (it seems a small amount but the pond isn't even 100 yards in diameter). I've harvested a couple bass out of there (healthy ones), and let them free once they grew up a little bit. Most of the bass there are about 13 inches, but they fight like a 10 pounder and are really fun to catch! We would harvest more fish and have other people, but it is a private pond.

[Glenn]

Boy oh boy, we've been preaching this one for years.  There's a ton of misconceptions and misinformation out there on the Web.  Plus, there's a lot of misunderstandings and confusion on how selective harvest works.

We've partnered up with the best in the industry on lake and pond management - Pond Boss.  The largest issue for fishermen by far is the proper use of selective harvest.  Consequently, we have a ton of articles on the subject.

Start here:

http://bassresource.com/fish_biology/about.html#fish

and take in the information.  It's really opened my eyes through the years, and given me a new respect for fishery biologists.

Enjoy!

Glenn

[Tom]

Wow! Thanks for the input, Glenn.

[Nick_Barr]

thanks Glenn!

[Gatorbassman]

I regularly fish a popular Public Fishing Area here in Georgia. In fact my picture is of a fish caught there last year. Several years ago the biologist noticed a increase in small fish and a drastic decline in larger fish. The implemented a slot limit encouraging us to keep everything under 14 inches and over 21 inches. It has worked wonders for this 90+ acre lake. I have caught six there in the last week and all of them were 3-4lb males. The also shocked up an 18.4lb bass last winter during a shock survey. I have seen the pictures and the data on this fish. She was awesome. Selective harvest is a great solution if you suspect you have a problem in the particular lake you fish.

[dodgeguy]

we have a couple of lakes here in new york that are dinkfests.you catch many 12-14 inch bass.evey once in a while you hook a 3-5 lber.i keep some of the dinks to eat and throw back the big ones.