Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Sunfish-Including Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass Hook-shy fish?

I see discussion about "hook-shy" fish and I'm curious about what causes that condition in a pond. The discussions are usually associated with catch and release. Here's my question: When you establish length limits or slot limits on bass in an effort to manage fish populations, does that make those "caught and released" fish harder to catch next time around? Also, when catching bluegill in an established bluegill/bass pond, is is best to remove all bluegill caught?

If you don't need them there - take them. If you need bluegills in your pond then you have no other way than releasing them (don't say you are going to buy new ones instead of these).
Fish may learn a bit but I don't think that it would make catching it impossible. For example one of the greatest carps in United Kingdom was caught at least 40 (!!!) times before it died. The same happens with many trophy fish in commercial lakes/ponds.

Fish will learn after being caught and can become more jaded in their desire to take some baits. But, with a large enough population, you should experience too much trouble, I would think. Plus, after some time, that hook sensitivity may tend to relax a bit. I know we always enjoy a good bite in our small pond during the early season and most of summer, but it can sometimes slow a bit later into the year. That, of course, could be for a variety of reasons unrelated to hook shyness. However, we do not fish our ponds at all during the winter, so they fish have many months of absolutely no fishing pressure at all to forget about that chartreuse buzzbait that stung them the year before and they tend to rebound pretty well after some time off. At least that's been my experience in almost two years now of owning our farm.

As for keeping BG, it all depends on what you're trying to achieve, I would say. If you want big BG, you may want to keep all fish under a certain size, say 6 inches (just throwing that our by way of example and not suggesting that's your magic number). Again, though, it depends on what you're trying to do in terms of management goals.

All there are an articles in PB mag wrt the issue on catchability and how to manage.

Several threads here as well.

Try these.

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=58265&fpart=1 Fla LMB catchability


Re: Hook Shy Fish
http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthread...true#Post150533

Re: Largemouth 'catchability' may be inherited
http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthread...true#Post159224


Re: How much fishing is too much?
http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=181009&fpart=1