Where is the science to back all of these claims of yours???? Grabbing a bass by the lower jaw will eventually kill it???? 30 seconds out of the water and it dies???? I'm not a professional tournament fisherman, but you are basically saying every single bass weighed into a tourney dies. Also a a majority of your largest bass are completely uncatchable fish so no way are u going to wipe them all out by taking a few photos that time over 30 seconds out of the water. I've caught the same 6 1/2 lb bass multiple times over multiple years based on distinct marks the fish has, that fish has been photographed, probably hit the dock and is still alive. Come on now.
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The bigger that fish gets the more likely it can die when mishandled by you or someone else. People and most all anglers do not realize what all it takes in time, money and daily effort and management to grow trophy fish (bass) unless they have grown trophy class fish in a pond. Truly big trophy fish just don’t happen easily by stocking small fish.
Some of my posted comments were “pond rules” used by a Texas pond owner who is actually spending lots of time and big money to grow some valuable trophy bass 10 - 13lb. Those are his rules as noted by "esshup" to protect his fish and not just my rules; although those are very good rules. Some of your Spicelane comments lead me to believe you would not be welcome to fish in his trophy bass lake.
Firstly you “twisted” and exaggerated my words to make your points. Go back and carefully reread my wording in my post above. I use words of "likely", "minimize" "reduce" and NOT the definitive words of "always", “definitely” and "will kill", and "30 sec out and it dies". I am not basically saying EVERY weighed bass dies as you accuse. FYI - there are published studies of tournament caught bass and the survival percentages that are available. One just has to know how and where to find that published information. Tournament LMB survival percentages were studied and the results showed it does depend a lot on the techniques of each angler after hooking the bass.
If someone does not believe me and does not like my bass handling suggestions then see and learn from the other “experts”.
Where is the science to back all of these claims of yours???? Grabbing a bass by the lower jaw will eventually kill it???? 30 seconds out of the water and it dies???? I'm not a professional tournament fisherman, but you are basically saying every single bass weighed into a tourney dies. Also a a majority of your largest bass are completely uncatchable fish so no way are u going to wipe them all out by taking a few photos that time over 30 seconds out of the water. I've caught the same 6 1/2 lb bass multiple times over multiple years based on distinct marks the fish has, that fish has been photographed, probably hit the dock and is still alive. Come on now.
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You are correct that largest bass are often LESS likely to bite and IMO this is because a big percentage of their siblings have been harvested or killed thus the “hook smart” ones are still alive with good survival experiences.
Initially and through the years the weaker ones were maybe not so fortunate as you may have hopefully learned from your current angler experiences. If one actually owns a pond where it took numerous years to grow big fish, and use daily fish watching activity at their pond, the angling experiences do teach some good useful information about latent fish deaths after the fish being mishandled. Experience is a good teacher. My suggestions were mainly for new or inexperienced pond owners with goals to grow some trophy fish.
Grow some big trophy class or state record fish and you will realize what I am talking about regarding the importance of handling of really big angler hooked valuable time involved fish. They just don't happen automatically. Try it and learn.
Science to back the claims. Spicelane says - “I've caught the same 6 1/2 lb bass multiple times over multiple years based on distinct marks the fish has, that fish has been photographed, probably hit the dock and is still alive.”
Readers should remember that you are an ‘experienced’ angler. SOME of your lucky fish could have “hit the dock and still be alive”. Initially, the unlucky and weaker bass may not have been so fortunate as you were learning on your journey of angler behavior; be it what it seems to be.
However some of your past angled bass may have died and you never realized it because you did not actually own each bass and watchfully and monitor each of those fish’s activities for 2 -3 weeks or longer period after released. One fish example does not make the all inclusive rule. For fish, especially big fish with even mild hidden damage, it sometimes reduces or eventually reduces their ability to eat properly, maintain a healthy slime coat, they then lose weight, become weak and other resultant health problems can easily lead to an early death.
Remember the pond owner’s goal for my post was for growing and maintaining trophy bass in 3 acres where the trophy sizes will eventually amount to just a couple fish 7 lb to 8 lb; maybe one of 10 lbs. Make an unwise handling mistake and all the valuable time and cost for that time invested trophy is lost. Consider all and what have been lost. If you don't actually grow those trophies one does not realize the rarity and value involved. The lucky most durable fish will likely survive some mishandling. Remember smaller fish better tolerate mishandling compared to the oldest mommy bass.
NOTE - Not all fish float when they die. I have had a cage full of fish die and all laid on the bottom with only a few to eventually float.
Spicelane - you are obviously not like the teenage angler who I saw last week drag a 1 lb bass a hundred feet on the GROUND back to the tackle box for someone to help take it off the hook. This type of behavior is something I was trying to prevent for a new pond owner who is wanting to try and grow BIG bass that will take 7 to 10 years of time and effort to produce. That is a lot of time and big expense to lose for a simple careless mistake that could have been prevented with a little education or some basic angler rules or caution. Much better healthy and alive than sick or dead.
Peer reviewed published science says some bass are uncatchable and this trait or tendency has been proven to be passed on to the next 2 tested generations. If you carefully read a past Science & Cutting edge article by ewest in PBoss magazine you would know or have read about this science based article that had a literature reference. Individuals in that population of bass in that research were found to have different amounts of "intelligence" or willingness to bite lures. Some bass as your example mentioned will repetitively bite lures. Those fish I interpret as dumb and possibly most aggressive ones will repeatedly accept angler lures, while some on the other extreme of the spectrum never bite a lure and were considered smartest or most cautious bass. Some uncaught bass of the original population was allowed to spawn. Next subsequent generations produced larger percentages of no bite bass. I can look that reference up if you need to have it.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 07/15/2309:33 AM.
aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine - America's Journal of Pond Management
