Originally posted by Jeff F.:
...So where is the "mortality" line for HSB? Meaning, what is the water temp where say more than 10% of released fish will die?
There are factors beside temperature. Primarily how long you play the fish and how long you keep him out of the water.
If you use appropriately sized line--say 8 lb test for a 4 pound fish, you can haul him in a little quicker. If you are using 4 lb for the same fish you are much more likely to kill him.
HSB tend to get what appears to be "cramps" if you catch them in water that's upper 70's or low 80's and play them too long.
I'd suggest you don't fish for them at all with hooks when water temps are above 80 F. A great game to play in hot water is to fish for them in the morning with topwaters. They will absolutely EXPLODE on a topwater in the a.m. and sometimes you'll get to play the fish for a few seconds. Otherwise when the water is cooler conventional angling methods are acceptable if you get the fish in within reason.
One time I was fishing for big HSB with topwaters. The fish were averaging 5 lbs. After catching a bunch of fish this size I got another hit, set the hook, and proceeded to skim a 5 lb largemouth across the top of the water. I was so used to playing HSB that the poor LMB didn't stand a chance. Actually this has happened a couple of times.
I'll admit that LMB are a blast to catch. In some ways they are God's perfect fish. But in the age old "pound-for-pound" argument not many freshwater fish that I've caught compare to the HSB.
Now keep in mind, there's no reason you can't fish for HSB in the heat of the summer, you just may need to allow for mortalities in the 20% range on a hot summer evening with water temps in the upper 80's.
I feed Aquamax 600, but I think they'd readily take the newer largemouth bass size pellet. Here's a picture of a HSB that I raised in my 1.25 acre pond.
