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Post by illinivandy on Mar 21, 2006 11:04:30 GMT -5
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Post by Administrator on Mar 21, 2006 13:53:37 GMT -5
"caught"
snagging is shameful if that is how he truly caught it...
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Post by Rusty on Mar 21, 2006 16:05:11 GMT -5
It doesnt sound like he intended to snag it. In the article from the newspaper, it said that the fish flared on the bait but didnt eat it apparently, so he set the hook thinking the fish took the bait and foul hooked it. After pictures and weighing it, they released it where it was later spotted on its bed.
Sometimes when bed fishing, a snagged fish is somewhat unavoidable. I've had a lot of fish I thought tok the bait end up foul hooked.
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Post by Administrator on Mar 22, 2006 18:23:28 GMT -5
Right...whether or not he did it intentionally, he still snagged it and didn't catch it...and I still think there were suspicious occurances regarding the catch...
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Post by jwb on Mar 24, 2006 1:08:13 GMT -5
A bunch of naysayers! The fish was foul hooked above the dorsal fin on the left side according to one of the many articles I read on a homemade white snakie jig. Apparently the male on the bed was after the jig as well and at 6:40am the angler was not sure which fish bumped his jig when he set the hook. Personally, it doesn't matter how the fish was hooked, nor that it wasn't weighed on official scales; that is probably the biggest bass we will ever get to see for some time - how many pics of the 22-4 Perry bass have we ever seen? That fish was released by that angler because, like myself, possibly like many of you, after devoting so much time chasing bass, I respect the fish and the opportunities that it provides. California lunker chasers respect and honor big fish, he is not in it for the money or fame, just for the enjoyment of catching big fish - which explains why he is not pursuing record status. I could be wrong...in a few weeks we may see him trying to cash in, time will tell. But for now just let your imagination run wild and think about having the opportunity to go to Lake Dixon and have the opportunity to still catch that fish.
~jwb
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Post by Administrator on Mar 24, 2006 1:18:37 GMT -5
Yeah...ok I read his report on bassfan.com today and I've changed my opinion about him, but NOT about the fish. Mac seems like a cool guy and I guess we have to take his word that he snagged it accidentally, but the fish was snagged. He didn't catch it (which takes skill), but snagged it (which doesn't, or arguably takes even more skill to do it right!). It is awesome to see a fish that size though...in pictures and video I was pretty awed! Although it sadly does take away some of the mystique of such a giant fish...
Rob
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Post by jwb on Mar 24, 2006 1:23:41 GMT -5
what/where is the link for the video of this big'un? I am yet to find that nugget of information
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Post by Administrator on Mar 25, 2006 22:37:23 GMT -5
The only think I found so far was a brief clip from Sportscenter that is on the bassmaster.com main site...it isn't amazing but it still offers a great look at that fish!
Rob
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Post by illinivandy on Mar 27, 2006 0:41:35 GMT -5
I'd have to disagree to a certain extent about the point jwb brings up--respecting the fish. If the anglers out there TRULY repsected the fish, they wouldn't be bed fishing. Now I don't want to start a huge debate on bed fishing, but in my opinion, it has an overall negative impact on the fishery. Even if you catch and release bed fish, you still stress the fish basically at their most important time of the year. There's an ongoing study at the lab I'm working at about bed fishing and the percent abandonment of fish caught off of beds is very high (I forget the number). Many people complain about how bad Illinois fishing is and it may be due to the fact that there is no closed season on fish ie. during the spawn. There's another study at that same lab researching the Clinton Lake refuge area and it sounds like it's been pretty successful so far.
Don't bed fish unless you absolutely have to.
-Vandy
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Post by jwb on Mar 27, 2006 15:01:02 GMT -5
While I agree that bed fishing has negative impacts on fry survival and reproduction rates - but at what point does it stop? Should we just stop fishing all together because we admire and respect our quarry? - I know, it is a bit extreme for the argument. I believe it is Michigan that has(had?) closed seasons for bass in the Spring and that was a hotbed of debate for Michigan anglers and they were pushing for change. - It is bad enough we have to endure winter here, why endure closed seasons? Maybe push for angler awareness about the harmful effects of catching and releasing bedding bass? I am rather skeptical about bed fishing being "the cause" for the bad fishing in Illinois, I would look to the quality of the environment, management of waterways (i.e., Army Corp of Engineers fluctuating water levels in the Spring @ Shelbyville), pollution levels, and ethical harvesting awareness. Overall I would say that there is a minority of people (in comparison to all Illinois residents that fish) that target spawning bass that are successful. Additionally, since you are researching this topic...have you found any bass that have returned to their bed? Are bass caught early in the spawning stage more likely to return than a bass at the end of the spawning cycle? Possibly researching the spawning stage in a series of cycles may lead to better information? And if all this sounds ridiculous it is because I am a psychology/sociology major.
~jwb
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Post by illinivandy on Mar 27, 2006 17:29:05 GMT -5
I totally agree that quality of environment and management of waterways (especially ACOE and shelbyville) etc etc are more of the concern for fishing prospects in Illinois. I just wanted to make the point that bed fishing MIGHT be a part of the overall equation. I may be wrong. I would like to see more research in this area in order to answer some of our questions. I think this is a really interesting topic and there are a lot of questions out there especially from anglers.
As far as my research goes, I'm researching turbidity and its impacts on multiple predator systems (musky and bass). I don't have all of the info about the bed fishing experiment--it was just something covered in a lab meeting of ours a while back by somebody else working on the experiment.
-Vandy
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