I see a lot of tourny fishermen on lakes catch and hold large females for weigh in and release them miles from where they are caught. Some are Caught Photographed Released, but most stay in the 'live well' for hours.
Does catching fish off of beds hurt the chances of successful reproduction in big lakes or smaller ponds?

If I remember correctly, a study in Fl said it didn't. The females would eventually spawn somewhere. I done it, but always had a bad feeling doing it.

I never do it and after watching Pond Boss video on how rare large bass are, I most definitely wouldn't do it.
It's like fishing in a barrel. What's the sport in it?
If you can get one of the rare giants when they're not sitting there protecting their beds, then you've done something.

I specifically do it in my pond in a (largely futile) attempt to intentionally reduce LMB reproductive success. I don't do it on public lakes.

Did I miss the memo? Large LMB aren't rare. I don't understand.

I'm all about helping mother nature, but I can also appreciate Bocomo's point of view when it comes to using the culling method when population controls are warranted. It's not always black and white. Sometimes what appears to be unfair or uncaring is quite the opposite. For example, I would never condone using dynamite for sport fishing, but if the pond was going to be drained, dynamite would be a useful tool to harvest the fish so that they do not go to waste, OR if I was starving and just happened to have a stick of dynamite in my pocket...I would be eating later that day!

This is an it depends situation. Bed fishing can be used as a population control method. See article several issues back in PB mag. Or in a few situations it can be a not so good idea. It is more of a problem , if at all in northern areas due to limited breeding time periods.

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