A Touchy Subject -- Plastic Bucket

[chestnut]

The ponds I fish are so small (some are less than 1/3 acre) that I am concerned about the fish I catch and release making the other fish "lure shy" for the rest of my fishing session. Yesterday, I caught a 2 lber after 3 minutes of fishing and got no bites at all for the next 2 hours after that. So, I've been thinking about taking a plastic bucket with me and putting all fish I keep in there until I leave and then releasing them. But, I've heard some people talk against this practice.

Questions:

1) Is it reasonable to believe that catching and releasing a fish will make the remaining fish less likely to bite?

2) Will putting fish in a bucket for a couple of hours harm them?

[flechero]

Fish don't "tell" other fish about hooks.  ...lol  

And yes, the bucket is bad for them, unless you are catching real small fish, have an aerator and the bucket is insulated.

[njoynlfe]

Actually....Studies show that in fact yes fish can and will draw other fish in a school away from where they were caught..They perceive that area as a dangerous area...Think of it like this...If a bass moves into an area where say a Gar or other predatory fish are feeding they move away from the danger..This is why when I fish I don't release them right where I caught them...Do some research on it and I am sure that you will find the same...That's not a dumb question at all...Now as for your second question...Yes it is very unhealthy to keep fish in a bucket for the exact same reasons stated in the previous post... Keep the questions coming and happy fishing

[senile1]

I've heard and read similar information to what njoynlfe stated.  As for the bucket, the fish will run out of oxygen quickly.  As Flechero stated, if you have a really big bucket or container that is aerated and insulated, you could do this, but what a pain to be dragging that with you.  

[chestnut]

So, then, what's the answer? And when you say they won't live long in the bucket, like how long are we talking? (Maybe I'll just have to experiment to find out. BTW, all the fish I've caught so far have been below 2 lbs. -- and often are 1/2 pound or below.)

I guess I could take 2 buckets, and switch the fish back and forth every X minutes. LOL

[Raul]

DO NOT USE A BUCKET to keep the fish, imagine yourself being grabbed by the neck and slowly being choked and suffocated to death, not pretty huh ?, well if you place the fish in a bucket that 's exactly what you are doing to those bass, suffocating them to death.

If you want to keep the fish before releasing them get a fishing BASKET made out of wire mesh, you can put the fish in, tie the basket with a rope to a tree or something like that and keep the fish in the pond, that way they won 't suffocate.

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

Use a styrofoam chest with a few pieces of ice and a battery operated aerator. All of that is CHEAP. Add a little Rejuvenade.

Bass in ponds definitely do become artificial bait savvy and will learn to distinguish between those and live bait much earlier than bass in lakes. They easily turn off heavily used baits like spinnerbaits by the second day of a tournament or weekend. Friday they might always love them, but come Saturday afternoon the "word is out" not to bite those, and they remain useless until Monday afternoon. In addition, whenever a bass is caught from a school it releases urine along with pheromones (like hormones, only they are odors used to communicate emotions) that alert the other fish to trauma. When fishing I put every legal fish in the livewell until I've caught the ones I want then release the unwanted ones just before leaving a spot. I don't release immediately since doing that puts a traumatized bass right back in squirting pheromones which can ruin a feeding frenzy.

Jim

[njoynlfe]

Use a styrofoam chest with a few pieces of ice and a battery operated aerator. All of that is CHEAP. Add a little Rejuvenade.

Bass in ponds definitely do become artificial bait savvy and will learn to distinguish between those and live bait much earlier than bass in lakes. They easily turn off heavily used baits like spinnerbaits by the second day of a tournament or weekend. Friday they might always love them, but come Saturday afternoon the "word is out" not to bite those, and they remain useless until Monday afternoon. In addition, whenever a bass is caught from a school it releases urine along with pheromones (like hormones, only they are odors used to communicate emotions) that alert the other fish to trauma. When fishing I put every legal fish in the livewell until I've caught the ones I want then release the unwanted ones just before leaving a spot. I don't release immediately since doing that puts a traumatized bass right back in squirting pheromones which can ruin a feeding frenzy.

Jim

Great post!!!

[chestnut]

Thanks, I'll check out the fish basket AND a battery-operated aerator.  The former sounds like a lot less trouble but probably has the disadvantage of still allowing the fish to dump pheromones into the water (although they might not in a basket).  Still, they would only be in one part of the pond, away from their buddies.

One thing I've noticed about these ponds is that spinner-baits don't seem very effective.  I'm wondering if they see too many of these.  They see a lot of worms, though, and still go for those, so, dunno.

[Shad_Master]

One other thought about the bucket -- if this is public water and you are keeping fish that are below legal size you can be ticketed by the Game Warden -- this happened to a bunch of people at a local lake here over the Memorial Day Weekend -- one dude got a ticket for $750 for no license and bucket full of illegal fish.

[Matt Jungblut]

i wouldnt use a bucket, ice chest,

we have a new law in iowa

thats say there is a no crill [dont know if this is the right word]

any bass u catch and put in  stringer, livewell, fish basket ,icechest

must be kept and not released

i have ur problem many times catchin small mouth or strippers

they can be chasing bait fish u catch a couple and the school disapears

if u enjoy fishing there and catching fish why stress them any more then u have to

they have bass turneys all the time they are aloowed to get away with it i dont know if theres a permit u must obtain in order for u to keep and then release

[Troutfisher]

What I would suggest is keep the fish in a styrofoam bucket with cooler water.  I would also strongly suggest an aerator.  I got mine at Wally World for $6,  Can't beat the price.    

[Whopper-Stopper]

I also fish a lot of small ponds. When I've located a spot where I'm catching fish. Everytime I catch one I will release it farther on down the bank where I've already fished. Also this time of the year a lot of bass are lethargic so that is probably part of your problem.

[chestnut]

It's all private and C&R is only a request. I've got 2 votes now for the ice chest and aerator so I'll investigate that.

Whopper-Stopper, your post raises another question I've had. I too, have sometimes been releasing fish a 100 or so feet from where I'm fishing -- if I'm concentrating on one spot and I've wondered how long it takes that fish to get back to where I caught him. Physically, he's able to do it in a few seconds, but I wonder if they do that.

[flechero]

There is a big difference in a fish becoming conditioned to a particular bait or even area than a fish "warning" others of the lures. Think about it... if a bass could do that, no lake that gets fished would be worth trying. Yet we have places like fork, rayburn, toledo bend, etc., etc., etc. that keep pumping out ridiculous numbers of good size fish... many of which have been caught before and will be caught again. Why? Because a fish is not "intelligent" in the ways we often think. Wary- yes; cautious- yes; instincts- yes; smart- not very.

Take this as an opportunity to learn. If you are having trouble catching fish in a small pond, after you catch a few... you are now fishing "pressured water." We all have to contend with that at some time or another... some of us only get to fish pressured water. Try changing your tactics a little... from a simple bait change to even how you approach the pond. Sometimes you need to be stealthy because if a bass sees you, he will normally swim off a ways- that's an instinctual move and most animals/fish won't eat when they are startled.

If they actually learned from you, they wouldn't bite the next time you fished the pond and you already said you catch them in the beginning of each trip... which leads me to believe that you are doing something to affect your own results.

I grew up on a small pond, and learned to pay close attention to what I was doing.... eventually I figured out that I was causing the problems, not that the fish learning to "look out" for lures. But if you throw the same bait all the time, you will likely see a decline in catch rates. But again, that's you conditioning the fish.

[Hamlet]

for the last year and a half i have been fishing small ponds almost exclusively and i have never moved up the bank to release a fish, and I have never seen anyone using a bucket or anything like that. i remember one day last winter when i caught probably 15 bass in this little tiny pond and i never moved more than 20 ft. it seems to me that it is very important to take care of pond bass, much more so than lake bass simply because theres not as many. if i would have put all the bass that i caught in a bucket and then dumped them out after i was finished fishing i would have ruined the 3 or 4 ponds where i fish.

[Needemp]

This is the area that I am familiar with. Its not so much the releasing of the fish that dooms you, all though that can have a negative effect too. What happens to me in small waters like that is the actual catching of a fish. That disturbance is what turns off the bite. The only real exception is dinks. 10 to 12 inch bass can be real dumb. You might catch a few of those in a row from the same spot, but not real often (atleast for me). What I do is as soon as I catch a decent bass from a spot, I move away from it. I believe a bass that is atleast 10 to 20 feet away from where I caught one, might have heard the disturbance, but is not necessarily spooked. Then I go back later to that spot. I disagree that quality bass dont have a memory. Go fishing on a heavily pressured pond on a Sunday and see how well you do. Then go back on Wednesday and you will catch more fish. Just my experience!

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

Bass in small waters are going to become experts on every cubic gallon there, every square inch of bottom, and where every cool shady spot is. They are far more wary than their large lake cousins. It's a matter of dilution. Bass in big lakes have much more territory to cover and lots of them have never seen a lure yet. In a pond they are more severely confined with few if any escape routes. Bass are not intelligent as we experience intellignece, but they learn. Any animal with a brain can learn. Mice can learn things that seem amazing, but are not intelligent. Animals, including fish can be trained to respond to a certain color light flashing to signal feeding time. They learn a set migration route and stick to it unless moved and released miles away. Bass don't emit pheromones for no reason. They communicate with those chemicals. But they can also, as mentioned above, respond to actions of other bass in a school. Once the school witnesses a few of their numbers violently shaking and darting then removed they can become unsettled enough to leave the scene. All the signs of trouble come together to assure self preservation and few bass will ignore the obvious, translated as a sudden end of a feeding freenzy even though the fish are still hungry.

Jim

[chestnut]

Thanks for all the responses!