Author Topic: Unrulely bass  (Read 4513 times)

Offline ctom

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Unrulely bass
« on: 05/20/12 18:57 UTC »
Ma is in Boston for a week and I'm home alone so what I decide to do on a moments notice is entirely up to me. Love it. I woke up today to heavy air and after last night's thunder bumpers I decided to stay a bit closer to home and hit up a flood control reservoir south of the city. My intention was to snoop out some post-spawn crappies using a small safety-pin type spinner sporting a 1.5" twister tail on a 1/16 head. I ended up getting more than I wanted.

The crappies did a virtual disappearing act on me, but in the process of trying to track them down I landed in the middle of a pod of nice sunfish in the 8" to maybe 8 1/2" range that were suspended over deep water where the crappies should have been.

Now our inland bass season doesn't open yet for another couple weeks. The border waters found between Minnesota and Wisconsin [where Andrew Lamberson fishes] is open to taking bass but that's 40 miles east of where I had my feet planted. After finding sunfish hanging out on the deeper water just off the primary break I moved down the shore a ways to where a real sharp break is located thinking that the weather we had overnight may have shifted the crappies to that structure. Some serious drizzle started up just before I got to what I thought was going to be the golden spot so I made a hurried cast paralell to the break, let it sink a ten count and started the retrieve only to have the line take a sudden jump and then it was off to the races. I knew it wasn't a crappie and no way was it a sunnie. About a minute later a nice 3-3 1/2 pound bass came to shore. It went right back so I could continue on my quest before the air turned totally liquid. Next cast, appaerently Ma Bass sent out the first one's twin to check on him. The drizzle turned to rain and I was getting soaked so I made a few more casts, ok, four more, and every cast handed me a bass of at least two pounds.

Now this particular puddle is one I love to toss top-waters and frogs on once we get a developed weed line. That hasn't occured yet. I can only suppose that the fire-works during the night shuffled the bass towards deeper water and this steep break suited them once daylight came around and the heavy weather moved on. The drizzle I stood in was on the very leading edge of a cold front that flew in and when the drizzle stopped, the wind took a 180 so it was howling out of the NW and my fishing came to a solid standstill. Everything with this front happened in a matter of mere minutes. I can't imagine what the bite would have been with a top-water skipping along that breakline. After that first fish the hits were instant when the bait hit the water so they really weren't all that deep or followed the first fish up. Who knows, but in the end I had a riot on some pretty nice bass. I'm thinking a jig-plastic might be in order for another adventure, maybe Tuesday morning if the weather cooperates. I'd really like to see how that  Caney paddleshad affects a bass' attention. I know the crappies have a serious disdain for them and walleyes and sauger seem to think they make good vittles. Being a crappie bait I should be ok fishing them and really I can't help it if bass decide to like them too.
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Offline Jason

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Re: Unrulely bass
« Reply #1 on: 05/21/12 08:18 UTC »
Tom,

Sounds like a great problem to have!!!  Why do they restrict the fishing season up there?

Jason

Offline ctom

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Re: Unrulely bass
« Reply #2 on: 05/21/12 08:55 UTC »
All walleye. bass, northern and muskie fishing has inland season control with specific seasons to protect them during spawning. Panfish are not controlled nor are the catfishes of rough fish. We have boundary waters that remain open year round, such as the stretch of water between Minnesota and Wisconsin on the Mississippi River and this example of a border water does not have control imposed on any fishes except for perhaps trouts or muskie....don't fish those in this area so I haven't a clue as to the specific season.

The laws and regulations we have to endure up here are something else. Between the DNR and our state legislature we have more red tape just in the fishing side of the Department of Natural Resources than Washington puts on our shoulders.

I haven't got the regs book handy here but the inland bass season opens I think on June 3 or 10 this year. I don't know of anyone who keeps a bass for the table up here, most anglers are c/r. I haven't killed a bass since I started using plastics and artificials while fishing them over 30 years ago. The fish certainly can't read the regs and are common on the line during their closed periods while targeting other species that are allowed. My biggest smallies are seen in March, early April when I am weaseling a jig in open water between a couple sheets of ice. I don't use anything but small crappie baits and the smallies annialate them at that time of year. Its nuts, those closed seasons, but I guess they feel they need to protect those certain fish while spawning takes place. We have lakes up here that we cannot hardly fish while the season is closed, yet the indians can run seines and gill nets for the very species we cannot possess. Go figure that one.
There are good ships
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Offline weltonio

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Re: Unrulely bass
« Reply #3 on: 05/21/12 09:35 UTC »
That sounds tricky. Its seems like it is just the opposite here and there is a tournament every day during the spawn.
Concerning the law to protect the bass...Do you think it makes a big difference? On one hand, I think the bass learn to adapt. On the other, I am afraid if it was not for the TPWD or SAL Program, Lake Fork would be a joke. I can only imagine how awesome Lake Fork would be it it was given a couple of months to recover...heck a couple of weeks...maybe even a couple of days... I am not trying to steal your thread, I just got to thinking...
"Hello Invasive Species Goodbye Fishing Hole"
CLEAN YOUR BOAT!!!
http://www.texasinvasives.org/action/spreadword.php

Offline Jason

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Re: Unrulely bass
« Reply #4 on: 05/21/12 10:23 UTC »
I agree also.  I would love to see them put restrictions on part of the lake each year just to give it a break.

Jason

Offline ctom

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Re: Unrulely bass
« Reply #5 on: 05/21/12 12:10 UTC »
Up here I think the  closed season is focused on the smallies. Those in the northern portion of the state in particular can spawn late in the spring in "usual" years. This year everything went haywire.

Does it help? Who knows. Every entity that does a so-called study on this leans heavy on statistical information that they have gathered and we all know where statistics can go. Personally it doesn't interfer with my fishing at all so I don't give it much thought. When you grow up with seasons on your fishing it becomes a part of life. And for me personally I do not target bass except for a short period of time during and just after crappies get to the spawning beds. I chose not not fish crappies in beds but can tell you straight up that on some waters allowing crappie fishing during the spawn is having a real sour impact on the quality of those fisheries. I am currently working with the DNR to get special regulations affecting limit numbers on a local lake. I can say one thing ....when you get involved with change like this, you'll soon find out who your real friends are.

There are good ships
and wood ships
ships that sail the sea
but the best ships are friendships
and may they
always be ......An Irish Toast

Offline andrewlamberson

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Re: Unrulely bass
« Reply #6 on: 05/21/12 13:03 UTC »
At interesting note on the bass and walleye season in MN. The DNR recently proposed that the opening weekend be 1  to 2 weeks earlier to allow for more fishing. They felt the fish were done spawning by then.

The idea met with a resounding NO by virtually all of the angling groups, resorts etc. The really don't like you messing with tradition!!!!

Logic would tell you if you take a bass off the nest and put it in a live well for a few hours...the chances of fry survival have to be close to zero.

A good article on the subject for largemouth bass stocking:
https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/mattd/MattsWeb/Diana%20and%20Wahl%202009.pdf

In Minnesota and Wisconsin the culture has largely changed from stocking to habitat improvement and it's made a big difference!

For example:
"It's a matter of economics and good fishing," says Drewes. He cited the example of Lake Bemidji, a 6,420-acre lake with a naturally producing walleye population. Based on current stocking rates, the DNR would spend about $63,000 each time to stock Lake Bemidji with enough DNR-raised fingerlings to replace natural production.
Drewes says, "By protecting water quality coming into the lake, reducing impacts of shoreline development, purchasing critical shoreline areas, and protecting and restoring eroding banks, we can sustain the fisheries like Lake Bemidji without needing to stock."
" You can't buy happiness...But you can buy fishing gear...and that's kind of the same thing"

Offline ghostbaits

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Re: Unrulely bass
« Reply #7 on: 05/22/12 17:04 UTC »
Just bought my 15 day for Wisconsin... OUCH!!!!!!!!!

I do appreciate the care taken to keep the waters as they are. In GA, you see a lot of bank anglers harvesting bass during spawn. Coolers full! Makes a grown man want to cry or throw up!!!

Jim

Offline BareKnuckleJigs

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Re: Unrulely bass
« Reply #8 on: 05/22/12 18:10 UTC »
I've been doing ALOT of thinking along these same lines, the last few years.  I firmly believe that...ALL...HARVEST/TAKE...in Fresh and Salt, Recreational AND COMMERCIAL, should be either reduced or prohibited during the spawn. This would likely be 1-2 months per year, Region-Specific, and of course, be generally regulated by Water Temp.  Count me in on this Reg, but it needs to be on the Commercial Take also!  Protect the Spawn, Grow the Resource.
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Offline superharmonix

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Re: Unrulely bass
« Reply #9 on: 05/23/12 14:18 UTC »
I've been doing ALOT of thinking along these same lines, the last few years.  I firmly believe that...ALL...HARVEST/TAKE...in Fresh and Salt, Recreational AND COMMERCIAL, should be either reduced or prohibited during the spawn. This would likely be 1-2 months per year, Region-Specific, and of course, be generally regulated by Water Temp.  Count me in on this Reg, but it needs to be on the Commercial Take also!  Protect the Spawn, Grow the Resource.


Agreed 100%.