Bass Retention

Comment

Comment by Ron Ryan on June 24, 2009 at 5:34pm

I was fishing on Spanaway lake a few years back got to the launch and Bud the boat house guy was really upset because a young Russian kid had a 4 pound smallie that was in the slot limit on his stringer and he would not release it evan though it was breaking the law by keeping the fish!! so my son Tyson asked me for my knife he was 12 at the time he ran down to the dock pulled the striger up and cut the fish free and it swam away mean while my son was running up to me and he had to russian men chasing him and shouting !!! my son was scared but when I got out of the car they all of a sudden stopped and ran the other way lol I talked to the peirce county department of wildlife and he said if anyone is keeping fish that are not legal to write down their licence plate # and call them they would go to their house and fine them we got to fight back and save our fishiers gosh let the people take the young fish that is why it is so important to keep hot spots hush hush or call them lake X Thanks for time
Big Ron

Comment by Mark Wells on April 24, 2009 at 7:52pm

Matt,
I feel very strongly the same way you do but you DID do the right thing. You made your point and walked away. Hopefully what you said will stick in his mind and maybe he'll think twice next time.
The guys that really piss me off are the ones with a stringer full of dead slot limit bass and tell ya to kiss off when you say something to them. I've called the police on folks in this situation more than a few times.
Like Eric said, they can buy fish at the store a lot cheaper than catching their own.
Mark

Comment by Chad Simon on April 15, 2009 at 6:28am

Nonetheless, it never hurts to talk like Matt did. I talked a guy out of letting a 6.5lb largemouth go he caught off the dock in Kenmore on Lake Washington. He was mainly going to keep it, so he could weigh it at home. Luckily I had a scale, and weighed it for him, and the fish was let free.

Comment by Kun on April 15, 2009 at 12:10am

I feel your pain. The problem is they need to be more educated. They don't spend the time and money like we do and are not as passionate about bass fishing like us. They don't know how long it take for that bass to grow that big, espeacially in the NW. I guess they don't feel the need to preseve the lake for the future. I've fished Terrell for years and I notice the bass are becoming less and less each year,espeacially the lunkers in that lake. The pressure is also increasing every year. I commend you for having the courage to educate them. That just something that is out of our hand to deal with becuase it is legal. Damm, that sucks.

Comment by P.J. Koshi on April 14, 2009 at 9:23pm

I agree with Ron here and am thankful for what Michael wrote because there are reasons that they make slot limits and increased the number Smallies you can keep in lakes like Banks and Potholes. There are lakes over run with dinks 1 pounders like Ron said that will suffer more if they are not thinned. The big Largies are also more seasoned and grew that old for a reason, so it's likely that these meat fisherman aren't harvesting a large percentage of the 5lbs+ fish in these good sized lakes being discussed.

Comment by Tag Watson on April 14, 2009 at 4:21pm

Great post, Michael. Thank you for the insight.

Comment by Michael Sauer on April 14, 2009 at 3:12pm

This seems to be a sore spot with bass anglers all acrossed the country. Unfortunately most anglers let their personal feelings on the issue cloud what the facts are. I have studied biology and icthyology (study of fish). The general consensus seems to be that keeping large fish is detrimental to the lake population, but keeping the small ones is acceptable. There are a few facts that not many anglers are aware of. One- largemouth bass live an average of only ten years(however have been some to live towards 15 yrs). Two- the growing period here in the cold waters of the NW is much shorter than southern states, therefore it takes much longer for the average bass to grow to 6 lbs. Keeping fish that are close to the end of their natural life span will not drastically effect lake populations. However keeping large numbers of small (large fish to be) will have long term effects. A myth to throw out is that the female has to be large in order for the fry to grow to be large. If the genes are there they will be passed on reguardless of the age. If we keep all of the small ones they can not grow to replace the large fish that are going to hit the end of their lifespan and die. The slot limits are one of the most effective tools of ensuring there is a good population of maturing fish. The heavy metal or contaminant argument typically fails due to the fact that most fish tested across the country have levels much lower than the FDA approved levels (1.0 mg- kg-1.0). However the EPA puts out recommended consumption levels of fish with any heavy metal levels to be kept at once per week. Bottom line is the few fish that we see being kept is probably not drastically changing population levels. When we see a drastic population change in fish it usually has more to do with many other factors changing such as foriage and vegetation. Both which are affected by overall weather and environmental changes.

Comment by Ronald Hobbs, Jr. on April 14, 2009 at 8:44am

I meant 20 one pounders LOL

Comment by Ronald Hobbs, Jr. on April 14, 2009 at 8:43am

I think that you guys give too much credit to the meat fishermen. You credit them as the best bass fishermen even out doing yourselves. Some of you credit them for catching all of the big ones in the lake. This is rediculous, I don't like seeing them catch and keep the big ones either, but they are not catching all of the big ones, just because they are using bait, the biggest fish in the lake isn't gonna fall for a nightcrawler under a bobber the size of your head, I wish there was more meat eaters at lakes such as Roosevelt and Banks they need to go there and catch about 20 pounders and fillet and eat them, there is too many, but leave the largies alone.

You guys make me mad quite giving these fish eaters so much credit for being such good fishermen to catch all of the bass out of a lake...........

Comment by Kevin Bye on April 13, 2009 at 11:32pm

I feel your pain. I don't ever like seeing bass kept,regardless of size and it ticks me
off to the extreme when its done in small lakes. Example- I have lake property
in Mason County,the lake is 55 acres and use to hold some good size bass. Now all I can get is dinks. We have to many catch and keep anglers stopping by,one clown
actually showed me his catch that had been in his freezer for a few months. Must have been around the 5lb mark...needless to say,I expressed myself and I now
refer to him as my stupid neighbor. Drives me crazy...

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