bass fishing

[wildchild]

I have seen this myself, I don't know if it is the pressure that they are under or what. Knowing that they are under the scrutiny of a TV audience one would think that they would want to make a better impression. I doubt that the fish are harmed, but it just doesn't look good. I don't think that I have ever seen
Bill Dance do that. JMO

[MrSimon]

Just wanted to say that during my three day trip I only saw one person "pounding the shore for bass". And that guy wasn't targeting bedding fish, just moving methodically along casting in among the trees and weeds.

The bass population in this lake is doing just fine. I agree laws are laws and should be followed, but I don't think the small amount of people targeting bass out of season has had any impact on the fishery.

What I DID see were a bunch of guys keeping dozens of little crappies, perch, and sunnies. I don't know if there is a size limit on perch or sunnies, but I know there is on crappy. Why would anyone want to keep a five inch fish anyway? I don't get it. These guys were cleaning dozens and dozens of little fish .... getting fillets no bigger than a silver dollar.

[Glenp]

I think this issue is more emotion-based than anything else. To those of you who oppose targeting bass during the spawn I have a simple question. In the years at BL when the opener of bass season catches the end of the spawn, do you wait for a week or so to fish until you are sure the bass are done spawning?

[earl]

There is no doubt that early fishing hurts reproduction.Places like lake Erie can afford this fishing because of its size but BL could not stand this for long. I for one wish the law was changed to make it easier for the DEC to arrest some of the fakers.

[Glenp]

I am not sure why the size of lake erie would make a difference. Can someone explain the logic/facts behind the statements that erie is differant because of size.

[earl]

Why Erie can live with early bass fishing. After spawn the bass spread out over many miles of water and those large females are hard to find.But with modern electronics finding their hiding places are getting easy and if it wasn't for c&r i don't think Erie could hold up for ever.

[Niagara-eyes]

Lake Erie is a fertile body of water that can produce incredible numbers of fish. The eastern end of the lake where I fish has almost unlimited smallmouth bass habitat in fairly shallow 10-35 feet of water providing bass with food and almost infinite places to spawn. The bass fishery remains as good as ever because, in my opinion, C&R works. The eastern basin of Lake Erie is the premier smallmouth bass water in the world without challenge. There are lots of great bass waters in the northeast and midwest that would like to think they are special but there is nowhere else a 4lb smallmouth are abundant and an easy catch along with 4-7lb regular catches.The season is open well before the spawn. The bass in this part of the lake are usually on the spawn in mid/late June-early July after the season is open......but after talking with so many anglers at club meetings and boat launches for years I feel most of the bass are released. If more fisherman released the bass they caught in Black Lake I am fairly certain we would have numbers of larger fish in a short time. Release all those chunky 15-18" bass and give them a chance to grow to 19-22" and 4-6lbs.

[Glenp]

Erie is also full of panfish, especially perch. Earlier in this post it was stated that panfish raid the nest when a bass is removed. Do the panfish in Erie not do so?

[Niagara-eyes]

Hi Glenn. The panfish on Lake Erie are primarily found in the shallow harbors and bays. Although perch are very nomadic and out in the basin most of the year. Rock bass are plentiful in the same habitats as Smallmouth. I think the primary nest raiders would probably be the incredibly numerous round gobies.....a recent invader from Europe. They are most common in water down to about 30 feet where they live with the zebra mussel colonies.The clarity of the water lets the bass spawn deeper than in years past so they can avoid some of the egg thiefs. As the water has cleared weed growth has expanded a bit and largemouth bass are becoming more numerous.....even an 8lb fish caught a couple years ago. On the Ontario side of the lake there are several fish sanctuaries where you cannot fish until after July 15.....keeping the bass safe thru the spawn. These sanctuaries are in prime bass spawning grounds. I have boated around one of these sanctuaries and the numbers of bass you see are just incredible!

[Niagara-eyes]

By the way, my solution to stopping exotics from entering our waterways by way of the great lakes is to activate an old world war ll battleship and station it at the mouth of the St. Lawrence! Every cargo vessel being forced to flush their ballast tanks with seawater before entering the seaway. If they do not comply.......board them and make them do it! Zebra and quagga mussels, golden snails, round gobies, river ruffe, asian carp, asian milfoil, exotic plankton and shrimp.......we don't need any more invaders!

[GuidedBassTrips]

Comparing Lake Erie to Black Lake really isn't a fair comparison. I have a saying that the bass are bigger in the great lakes but so are the waves. Most readers of this forum come to Black Lake for its accessability day in and day out in a small boat. The rough water and size of the great lakes tends to protects them from overfishing. Thus a catch and release season probably isn't having a detrimental effect. But Black Lake is different. It is small, shallow, easily accessible, and has an even shorter season than Lake Erie. I commend the DEC for standing its ground on the old regulations.

The DEC has a hotline for reporting violations at 1-800-847-7332 (1-800-TIPP DEC). If you see a flagrant violation, get their boat registration, or even better yet, take a picture of their boat with your cell phone. Flagrant to me would be someone actually keeping bass preseason or purposely keeping undersized bass during the season. I wouldn't classify pre-season catch and release as flagrant unless the angler is treating the fish in such a manner that is harming them.

[MrSimon]

Flagrant to me would be someone actually keeping bass preseason or purposely keeping undersized bass during the season. I wouldn't classify pre-season catch and release as flagrant unless the angler is treating the fish in such a manner that is harming them.

From the mouth of an actual DEC officer .... this is exactly how the DEC interprets the law. They are looking for people targeting bedding bass. Someone moving steadily along the shoreline casting in and around weeds and cover, not keeping anything, will not be bothered by the DEC. If you are sitting on top of a big female trying to get her to hit your jig out of annoyance .... you will get a big fine ... as you should.

The truth is, there are too many other types of fish besides bass that can be caught in the same place and with the same lures as bass, that its impossible to distinguish between people "targeting bass" and people just fishing along.

In my opinion, the absolute best way to protect a fishery is to enforce C&R or at least lower creel limits and add in slot limits. Cracking down on pre-season bass fishing is nothing compared to implementing C&R rules year round.

Lets face it, we throw lures that look like fish covered in treble hooks into the water .... we would be hypocritical to go on and on about protecting fish and taking good care of them. If we REALLY cared about the fish, we would stop fishing. Period. Truthfully, we are pretty darn horrible to these creatures .... all for our own personal enjoyment. And I'm fine with that. Just throw them back!!!!

I wonder what would happen if, for bass, the creel limit was two per day and they had to be between 12 and 16 inches to keep. Anything smaller or bigger has to be put back. Two 14ish bass is more than enough for a meal. Just imagine how many big bass would be in the lake after a few years like that!!

[Bassbuster]

Unless i'm missing something in your post that statement you refered to at the top of your post is from a fishing "GUIDE" who makes his living taking people out fishing not an actual "DEC" offcer.
I asked a DEC officer from WATERTOWN about this law and he said they look for people targeting bass and are looking for the immediate ,or as close as reasonably possible to, an "immediate release" of the fish.
I think I agree with most of everything else you said though.

[sasnyder]

I have found thru the years of experience in many different countys and fishery as some people call them. Many of the DEC officers have a different opinion of what they are looking for. It is amazing what a difference of opinion you can get from from these officers in New york alone. I have seen officers issue tickets to people as soon as they land the fish. Then I have seen a officer walk away when they have checked a group of guys who had several bass on the ground laying when they seen the officer walking thier way kick them back in the water knowing most were already dead the rest not having a chance to make it. So I guess we have to rely on hoping there are more responsible people fishing than not. As the most From what I have seen at Black over the years I think most people respect the lake. ( of course there will always be a few that really make you wonder what the heck. )

[MrSimon]

Unless i'm missing something in your post that statement you refered to at the top of your post is from a fishing "GUIDE" who makes his living taking people out fishing not an actual "DEC" offcer.
I asked a DEC officer from WATERTOWN about this law and he said they look for people targeting bass and are looking for the immediate ,or as close as reasonably possible to, an "immediate release" of the fish.
I think I agree with most of everything else you said though.

I know who "GuidedBassTrips" is. It was an actual DEC officer who said that the vast majority of officers in NY enforce the law exactly as GuidedBassTrips stated. It was that same officer who said the law did have a little bit of merit, but that for the most part pre-season C&R bass fishing will not have a noticeable impact on the bass population.

Regardless, its still a law and should be followed. In my opinion, I interpret this law to mean "don't sit in close to shore and try to pick up bedding bass". I believe you can fish along weed lines, in lily pads, and even in and around cover with any type of lure/bait and still be fishing within the law. Sure, you catch a lot of bass that way, but you also catch perch, pike, bluegill, crappie, and even some catfish and walleye.

I'm sure this debate will go round and round for ever. My overall view on fishing is pretty simple. I fish purely for my own personal enjoyment. Having fun is the number one priority (fun does not always equal catching fish). However, I recognize that for my fun to continue, there needs to be lots of healthy fish in the lake. So, I throw almost all of them back, I handle them carefully, I follow the rules, I don't litter .... and most importantly, I relax, have a good time, and don't get all fishnazi on people who do it differently than me.

With all that said .... it drives me CRAZY when I go to a fishing lodge's website and see picture after picture of guys holding up stringers full of dead fish. We've all seen the pictures of three guys standing around a fish cleaning table with 40 dead fish laid out waiting for the knife. Really?!?!? You needed to kill all those fish? If you want some fresh fish once in a while, fine, keep a few. If you want to stock your freezer, go to the supermarket!