Lifting Bass With The Rod

[deep]

Great video of Paul Bailey fishing an Irod with a hudd on youtube swinging an 8is pound fish onto the boat. check it out! If it's bad technique I apologize.

This is the video I guess. Happens at 3 mins 40 secs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnRXW762YOc

[1234567]

That's it, blackdog baits lunker punker video is full of them swinging good fish in the boat too.

[WRB]

This is one topic that really ticks me off; bouncing bass into carpeted bass boats. If you have abosultley no regard for basses life after you catch it, then bounce on the carpet.

This all became popular when B.A.S.S. outlawed nets in some ill thoughtout practice that somehow bass being bounced would be less stressed than being netted or lipped.

Yes a heavy 8 power swimbait or flipping rod can easily bounce big bass with the proper technique, the qestion is why do it?

The Basses slime coat is it's protection agianst desease and boat carpets remove this protective coating, not to mention the fish flipping around on the carpet after being banged onto it.

Tom

[BigEbass]

"the question is why do it?"

For me, if its anything bigger than just dead lifting say a little 1 lbers and holding the line then lipping the fish (not hitting the carpet in this scenario) I use a net or lip the bass...the question above is a good question though I would think.

I suppose some will argue that launching the fish out of the water will not allow them to flap around like crazy at the surface and toss your lure? I however lip it or net it, and dinks I just lift them and hold the line and unhook the fish.....I probably from time to time end up with a fish on the carpet, but I suppose that I should avoid such as it would likely cause more disruption of their protective coating for sure...something for people to think about with the health of the fish, and thus the fishery?

[1234567]

I don't tournament fish, but I do agree with WRB, these fish provide us with alot of pleasure and should be cared for with the utmost respect. A buddy of mine would fling bass back into the water seeing how many "flips" he could make it do. I respectfully expressed my displeasure?? with this.

[BigEbass]

Is there data out there that would clearly show for all of us that a bass hitting the carpet would certainly increase its chances for death after release...the answer to this question for me seems intuitive, but it can be helpful to answer these questions with research to move some people off the fence or on the other side of the fence

Plus I am a science geek, and I just like to have data period

[Bassn Blvd]

I don't buy into the notion that bass landing on the deck of my boat is all that harmful to them. I'm someone who needs some type of factual data too. I'm not saying that I intentionaly throw my fish on the deck nor do I let them flop around while I scratch mr ars either.

[SirSnookalot]

I watched that video quite a few times.......impressed, honestly not in the least bit. A heavy rod was used was used to land a fish that was only 7 or8#, the fish was spent in a matter of seconds making the lift pretty easy. It's a great looking bass, however if that had been a fish of another species a 7 pounder wouldn't be so easy because there is still a lot of fight left. I'm more impressed with the anglers own personal strength than the technique employed. That fish was power lifted, not sprung up, and I probably would have moved my hand up on the shaft a bit to give it more support, his technique is a recipe for a broken rod...........a net should have been used, springing or lifting fish should be a last resort measure. On the positive side the bass landed very softly in the boat, I'm sure there was no internal damage.

I'm with Bassn on the slime issue and if I were overly concerned about the welfare of a fish, I wouldn't be fishing in the first place.

[tomustang]

these fish provide us with alot of pleasure and should be cared for with the utmost respect.

Lip piercings and dragging them through 'whatnot' isn't upmost respect

[BigEbass]

I don't buy into the notion that bass landing on the deck of my boat is all that harmful to them. I'm someone who needs some type of factual data too. I'm not saying that I intentionaly throw my fish on the deck nor do I let them flop around while I scratch mr ars either.

I did a bit of google searching...alot of the publications require some form of university access or journal access that I do not have....but after some bits of research into the whole "slime layer" discussion...it is seemingly clear that the importance of this protective layer is critical to fish health, morbidity, and mortality...there are a good number of studies that appear to support this, I read some of the abstracts, and the premise of things like "time out of the water", "handling", "dry surfaces in contact with the fish" all have been shown to in various manners in studies to have deleterious effects on fish health...the one study I found out of university of ontario (couldnt access it) suggested that the bass mortality could increase by a factor of 68% related to handling and time out of water....

My point is, I do not think it is much a stretch of the imagination to assume that a bass flapping on a dry carpet, then picking it up, then unhooking it, could be more deleterious to fish mortality than wetting our hands, lipping the bass, and quickly releasing it...and if you use a net, you can leave the fish in the water until you have your camera prepped...and an additional thought, I probably shouldnt net the fish, then lay it on the carpet in the net...sorta defeats the purpose in part, hadnt actually thought of that really.

Food for thought.....

And a final thought...if you are claiming that a bass flapping on the carpet or the deck is not significantly more harmful to fish health, then at this point (given the apparent consensus about the importance of the protective layer, which is based on a body of evidence), you would have the burden of proof to show that it is in fact NOT harmful, or not significantly harmful anyway...

Ok, geek time over.

PS - yes, catching a fish with a hook and dragging it through the water is harmful to the fish, or at least stressful...no one can argue that I think, but that doesnt mean that doing x, y, or z in addition to that baseline stress will not be significantly more stressful and evetually more harmful to the fish...

[1234567]

Haha. Good post bigebass, i like when people take time to research things. In my opinion the above as far as slimecoat it could present a potential health risk but IMO not of high risk. I think if it were that dangerous to the bass we would see more floating fish or unhealthy fish. These fish seem pretty resiliant to me.

[BigEbass]

Haha. Good post bigebass, i like when people take time to research things. In my opinion the above as far as slimecoat it could present a potential health risk but IMO not of high risk. I think if it were that dangerous to the bass we would see more floating fish or unhealthy fish. These fish seem pretty resiliant to me.

Yeah, that is my suspicion, but how much is "high risk"...I think you can agree that perhaps doing this practice could for some "X" number of bass incrementally cause fish deaths that otherwise would not have happened...but the question is, to what magnitude? Since I have not been able to read journal articles that state how they do this research and what the results of that research shows, I am unable to tell you at this point to what magnitude such a practice has an effect, and if in fact that effect is "significant" to a fishery.

Your point is that you do not see masses of fish killed floating to the surface...thus whatever effect there likely may be, it must not be significant. While that is seemingly logical and intuitive, its hardly scientifically rigorous...it leaves alot of guessing and assumptions...but it does show perhaps that such a practice to the extent that it is happening on your body of water is not causing mass severe fish kills...

If its one thing in science that we know will lead you to the wrong conclusions, it is un-tested anecdotes

But for a second, lets assume the practice does contribute to some very marginal fish kill, or fish illness...back to WRB's point, why even do it then if the fish could be adversly affected, which as we have discussed, is almost certain at some level? I am not saying that the fish kill is "insignificant" mind you, again, I am not sure of the details...just raising this minimal common denominator hypothetical (if that makes any sense whatsoever )

[J Francho]

I've handled my share of fish in a commercial setting. If the surface the fish touches is smooth, wet, and roughly the same temperature as the fish, then no big deal. A dry, hot, carpet increases the chances of infection from a parasite, bacteria, or virus. The slime coat is like a fish's skin.

One tip I learned: leave your rubber landing net on the front deck as a landing area for dinks, instead of launching them into your hands, like so many do. That way there is a smooth surface available all the time:

[senile1]

The only time a fish touches the carpet in my boat is when I accidentally drop them. Otherwise, it doesn't happen. I occasionally swing small fish up to my hand to lip them when the situation warrants it. Then I remove the hook, or hooks, and place them back in the water. As some have stated, it is a technique where you use the momentum of the fish moving towards you to swing it up to your hand to avoid stress on the rod as much as possible. With larger fish I avoid swinging them in with the rod and always lip them because I think the chances are greater that I will accidentally brush them against the carpet while trying to protect my rod. Usually though, I lip most of my bass while they are still in the water. I think there is enough evidence to justify protecting the slime coat of a bass, if possible, so that's what I do. As long as one is protecting the slime coat I see no problem with swinging a bass into your hand with the rod.

[1234567]

BigeBass,

I agree with the points you make. It's just like us, there are thousands of things that we deal with that make us more susceptible to illness, but does not kill us or even for the most part, is life threatening. I really don't know how important the slime coat is, but I do agree, it's probably the barrier of protection from illness. I never had a hot carpet for a bass to lay on, so I really don't know what that does to a fish.

[Colton Neal]

Yeah, i pretty much just swing every fish that's under 2 pounds up and into my hands with no problem as long as the line is a little on the heavier side. If i'm using light line (4-6 lb) i'll just lip most bass. But i'm careful not to let the fish flop all over the boat to ensure their slime doesn't rub off.

[bass or bass ?]

Nope. Never.

[Wade Babbitt]

First off, sorry to resurrect a dead thread but my son and I have recently been watching a lot of fishing shows. He is 9 years old now and really taking a liking to fishing. We really like "Fish My City" with Mike Icanella and I see him whizzing fish out of the water from bridges, boats and various other areas. I thought it was really cool how quickly and swiftly he does it but went to google to see if this was a normal thing people or Bass anglers did. He even did it with a decent size redfish(I think) and the guy on the boat made a comment that they don't normally do that with that type of fish. 

My son and I found a really nice fishing spot off a bridge that is anywhere from 6-8ft above the water depending on water level. We catch tons of large mouth, pike, perch, white bass, carp and catfish here. There is a little grass area with some reeds/cat tails at the end of it, when i get a fish on i set the hook and keep tension on the rod but i lift the rod over the bridge posts and run to the end of the bridge and real them in from there. If its a perch or smaller fish(under 2# or so) we real them in and then lift them up by the line far enough to get a net under them. 

Is there something different we should be doing as far as lifting them up? Outside of getting an 8foot net or something crazy. We obviously don't want to do something traumatizing or detrimental to the fish but I have definitely lost a couple nice ones taking the time to run 20 yards to the end of the bridge LOL!

Thanks for the advice, very interesting thread to read through. My real fishing experience is limited to this month, outside of a handful of pond fishing for bluegill with worms.