I'm looking to do some bass fishing this week. Can anyone tell me if they are still on their beds?
GoLions, I'm not trying to start an argument either and I am sure you do practice catch and release. But if you see the way Zib and Slimshady support the weight of their big fish with their other hand, that doesn't put so much weight/stress on the fish as when you hold a fish such that their jaw is supporting the fish's entire body weight. I'm not trying to act all high and mighty but it's a similar mentality with bass guys. Just because a bass swims away doesn't mean it's going to survive. These guys boat flip fish and think that's OK but what you're doing is removing their protective slime coat making them susceptible to bacterial and fungal infections. If you catch a trophy fish go ahead and take photos. I almost never bring fish into the boat unless they are PB-sized. I unhook and release them in the water. Unless they're eyes or perch, they go into the skillet.I'm not looking for an argument. I do care...especially since I do release almost all of my bass and almost all of my pike over 30". You ripped me for my "mishandling" of the pike in my picture. Since I do care, I am curious as to what you think I am doing wrong? My hand is firmly against the inside jaw bone and nothing ever made contact with her gills. My left hand is supporting much of the lower weight of the fish. Most every musky and pike picture I see has a hand under the mouth in almost the exact way I have in the picture. That fish was never netted, didn't thrash around in the boat, and was treated with the utmost care as i revived her at the edge of the boat until she swam away looking as healthy as can be. Please enlighten me with a better way to "handle" that fish that wouldn't allow it to thrash all around or rip my hands to shreds.
trust me al Linder could care less if the fish he cought were thrown in the propView attachment 256914 View attachment 256914 View attachment 256914
I think Al Linder knows what he's doing!
The whole slim coat thing doesn't really hold up in warm water species.
We assume it's not good to remove it but it hasn't really lived up to the hype in studies.
One of their main forage is perch. Plenty of them out there.There was a bass die-off a few years ago that had many canals loaded with dead bass. The DNR originally claimed that it was normal post-spawn die-off then later suspected VHS but I never heard anything further. Also after that die-off there were a lot of smallies being caught that had sunken in stomachs & DNR suspected a lack of available forage fish, mainly from the drop in the goby population.