Fishing805Fever | Sat Jul-02-05 08:08 AM |
Charter member
posts
| |
|
#15350, "Wouldnt it be nice.."
|
If we as fisherman could be in charge of our lakes in the sense ,that i would like to see our lakes have a catch and release only on small ,spotted and largemouth bass.I know there are skeptics who will say that the bas will overrun the lake and only stunt the populations growth/size ,but iknow from fishing for the last 30 years i cant swallow that pill,Lake Barrett in san diego being one of them a catch and release only fishery that still kicks out some large fish.I believe that a certain percent of bass in any lake including barrett will be poached,fry eaten by predators and so forth.Most lakes only have a minumum length and maybe 5 bass per day.but it makes me ill to go to my local lakes in the spring and find spawning bass dying/dead on someones stringer,and not just the 5 bass but they bring theyre whole family so theyre even keeping fish for the kids who arent even fishing.if we cant impose rstrictions as above how about seasons were you can keep bass ,maybe starting july 1st -janurary30 you can keep 5 bass.kindao flike they do back east for salmon etc. Just a thought thats been bugging me for a few months/years now. hope i made sense, Brian
|
|
|
Jeremyfisher | Sat Jul-02-05 02:30 PM |
Member since Jul 22nd 2009
1976 posts
| |
|
#15353, "RE: Wouldnt it be nice.."
In response to Reply # 1
|
I agree to a certain point as well. My thoughts are this: If you look back in the 70's 80's you will notice that ALOT more bigger fish were being caught, like bass in the teens, even on the east coast were not that uncommon. Today they are almost impossible to find except for small nitches around the country. It should be obvious that there should be a catch and release only on big bass. Especially with the growing popularity of replicas. Keeping small bass to eat is not gonna hurt anything. Another thing to consider is Stick Marsh Farm 13. That place has been catch and release only, and say what you want, it has it's ups and downs, but overall that lake never stops producing numbers and even large fish. I don't see why we can't just put a limit on keeping larger fish to keep the big fish gene pool alive in all these lakes, and keep the possiblity of growing teen sized bass more likely. Alot of these fisheries on the east coast have turned into dink lakes, but if you look back in the 80's these lakes were producing 15 lbers pretty frequently. Hmmm. Now all you can hope for is a great day catching 2 lb spots and maybe get a 12 lb sack if your really on fish. Too many lunkers were caught and kept.
Release the big girls, keep a couple small ones if you want something to eat...My 2 cents, Jeremy.
http://www.calfishing.com/gallery/v/members/bigreenjobass/
|
|
|
Urban | Mon Jul-04-05 08:13 PM |
Member since Sep 22nd 2004
402 posts
| |
|
#15358, "The answer is site specific"
In response to Reply # 0
|
Its impossible to put the same regulation on all lakes and expect to achieve the same results. Many, many variables play a role in determining whether or not catch and release is appropriate in a particular lake. However, the number one factor in determining if a slot (keeping smaller fish) is appropriate for increasing the "quality" of a fishery: recruitment. In general, if recruitment of the first few age classes is very high, keeping and eating those fish will increase the quality in that lake. However, if recruitment in the first few age classes is low, keeping those smaller fish will harm the fishery.
It gets alot more complicated than that but thats a start. For example, what if a lake is loaded with bass under 15 inches, the fish you catch are very fat (no problem with the prey/forage ratio), growth rates of those fish are on par with normal (no stunting), but you almost never see a fish over 15 inches? Hmmm, then whats the problem?
Without a doubt, the number one problem with bass fisheries today is overcrowding, and this is a result of the catch and release craze of the 70's. Most fisheries today can only benefit from keeping sub 12 inch fish. And thats a fact.
|
|
|
|
|
© Copyright Robert Belloni 1997-2012. All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without express written consent.
|