First Open Water Trip of the Year

[timeflies]

One of my favorite ponds finally thawed out and I was able to get at it for a couple hours, was a warm day but that wind was awful! Managed a decent little bass, this time of year i’m glad to be catching anything. Fish were wayyyy more aggressive than i expected with one chasing a fluke clean out of the water.
 

[taxid]

One of my favorite ponds finally thawed out and I was able to get at it for a couple hours, was a warm day but that wind was awful! Managed a decent little bass, this time of year i’m glad to be catching anything. Fish were wayyyy more aggressive than i expected with one chasing a fluke clean out of the water.
 

Thanks for sharing! Nice clear water!

You won't like this but here goes: As someone that raises fish for a living, including bass, if possible you should make as little contact with bass as possible in water under 50 degrees. If possible don't even touch them at all, but if you have to just use a lip hold to remove the lure. Why? They are prone to develop fungal issues where you make contact with your hands as their immune system is not working optimally in that cold of water. We fish farmers won't even seine our bass up in the ponds until the water is above 50 F., they are on feed, and the water is on a warming trend.

Please don't shoot the messenger. Just trying to help insure that fish goes back unharmed to catch again.

Cheers and keep the great videos coming! 

[lowaccord66]

We must hurt a ton of bass ice fishing then.... 

[taxid]

We must hurt a ton of bass ice fishing then.... 

I don't ice fish for bass for that reason.

[SHaRPS]

I must say I have never seen a bass with any fungal issues in the lakes and ponds I fish. On great days we get 50 bass between the 2 of us in 1 single cove. We handle them as little as possible but we still take pictures of bass over 4lbs holding them with 2 hands and they seem just fine throughout the spring, summer, and fall. I think freezing eyes and fins are the bigger issue in colder temps. This is not to say that they do not get fungal issues, just that I have not witnessed it myself around here at all in all the years I have fished.

On a side note, is it really necessary to poke a 1/4" hole in any fishes mouth to weigh it if the intention is to release it? The gentleman at a recent ice tourney was doing this to all of the fish that were being brought in to be weighed and it made no sense to me at all (he was the official weigh guy), then plop down a hole. The scales hook fits perfectly under the gill plate and does no damage as long as you are careful with the gills. Maybe its just me.

[timeflies]

Thanks for sharing! Nice clear water!

You won't like this but here goes: As someone that raises fish for a living, including bass, if possible you should make as little contact with bass as possible in water under 50 degrees. If possible don't even touch them at all, but if you have to just use a lip hold to remove the lure. Why? They are prone to develop fungal issues where you make contact with your hands as their immune system is not working optimally in that cold of water. We fish farmers won't even seine our bass up in the ponds until the water is above 50 F., they are on feed, and the water is on a warming trend.

Please don't shoot the messenger. Just trying to help insure that fish goes back unharmed to catch again.

Cheers and keep the great videos coming! 

No offense taken at all! This is honestly something that i’ve never really thought about in terms of bass, how would you weigh the damage of touching the fish vs hanging them by the lip, would it be more damaging to them to hang them by the lip vs touching their belly for a proper hold? -Gator

[lowaccord66]

I don't ice fish for bass for that reason.

It is unbelievably contradictory for anyone to suggest concern about fungal infections in a sport where the objective is to jam a hook or multiple hooks in a fish only to release them. If you want to avoid bass for that reason, ice or not, then perhaps you ignore the fact that some bass die just being caught and released.  I'm all for respecting the catch but come on taxid thats over the top.

What's worse, in my opinion, is telling other sportsmen like Mr. Gator how or why he should handle his fish.  Society is soft enough we need not take fishing down that rabbit hole.

Sharps my man...is it nessecary to take 30lbs of largemouth to a weigh in going 60 as they get slammed around in a livewell?  No but people do it and thats fine with me.  Minding ones business and enjoying fishing is where its at if you ask me!

[SHaRPS]

lowaccord,

I completely agree with you man. I tourney fish and the livewell definitely bruises those fish up. I also keep my lips closed and do my own thing but what erked me most in this case was that it was not an angler at all, it was some random drunk dude weighing fish in and he had NO idea how to even properly measure a fish. This was not a major durby where the fish was no longer  in my possesion once weighed in, you had an option to keep it or release it. We witnessed a guy in front of us weighing a bass in asking the guy not poke a hole in the basses mouth with the scale and he gave him the shoulder and did it anyways, the guy was upset. Its this specific situation that ticked me off.

[lowaccord66]

That's a shame.  Don't get me wrong I like doing what I can to avoid injuring fish...but the chance of some fungus isn't going to prevent me from chasing a species.

[SHaRPS]

Same here. If it can survive with a hook in its belly or rubber worms in its digestive track, I am pretty sure just handling it wont do much harm. If your in the business of raising and mounting fish, I could see where this would be a topic of discussion but it would not stop me from fishing for the species.

Taxid - you mentioned this specifically for Bass, how about trout and any other species?

[taxid]

Same here. If it can survive with a hook in its belly or rubber worms in its digestive track, I am pretty sure just handling it wont do much harm. If your in the business of raising and mounting fish, I could see where this would be a topic of discussion but it would not stop me from fishing for the species.

Taxid - you mentioned this specifically for Bass, how about trout and any other species?

The coldwater fungal problems seem mainly endemic to species in the sunfish family LMB, BC, BG, PS, SMB, etc. in water below 50 F., since it's not their optimum temp for their immune systems, and they aren't feeding that much yet. Coldwater fish would be prone to bacterial issues if water temps are marginally high. Think cold water - fungal, warm water -- bacterial.

But all fish species can have issues if stressed enough. The main issue is compromising the mucal  layer whether it be by seines or your hands. I'd say you may be OK. if you either remove the fish from your hooks in the water, or only a lip hold. Not like in the film clip in the first post where he's grabbing the fish around the body. Sorry!

Salmonids are a coldwater fish so their immune systems are more up to par in coldwater. It takes quite a beating for salmonids too have issues as later in spawning season or Pacific salmon that have pretty much shut down and stopped eating and are going to die anyway.  There is one exception for me as far as salmonids and I am not alone. Brook trout seem to be very delicate and no matter how careful I am and even using salt in the hauling water to eliminate osmotic stress, I always have some that develop bacterial and fungal issues. My thinking is the smaller scales and thinner skin.

We also observe fungal issues in bluegills that are held in too cold of water for an extended period of time in tanks.

[taxid]

That's a shame.  Don't get me wrong I like doing what I can to avoid injuring fish...but the chance of some fungus isn't going to prevent me from chasing a species.

And you shouldn't stop fishing, but if you are doing everything you can, that's all you can do. I think removing the hooks in the water with a pair of pliers or similar tool or just a lip hold wold make a world of difference.

[taxid]

No offense taken at all! This is honestly something that i’ve never really thought about in terms of bass, how would you weigh the damage of touching the fish vs hanging them by the lip, would it be more damaging to them to hang them by the lip vs touching their belly for a proper hold? -Gator

Depends on the size and if the fish is carrying a heavy load of eggs. That said by the time most fish in the sunfish family are carrying eggs the water is above 50
F. Personally prefer to keep the fish in the water if I'm going to release it. Or a rubber mesh landing net. Big mesh landing nets are murder on fish fins!

Regardless of the time of year if I have to touch the fish on the body I make sure my hands are wet. I had a friend tell me he caught a fish in his pond that had a bacterial attack on it's skin the perfect imprint of a hand. Most likely due to a dry hand removing mucous in that area. 

[taxid]

We must hurt a ton of bass ice fishing then.... 

How would you know if you don't know if you caught the same bass over and over again? I once had a guy tell me he figured the trout in a local lake were growing 0.24 inches a month because he measured them every month, which actually wasn't that many. I asked him how he knew he was catching the same exact fish over and over again... 

I used to live on a lake that has bass tournaments every weekend. Come Monday or Tuesday I would always see a few dead bass floating or laying on the bottom. I have nothing against bass tournaments although they are not my thing. And of course for all I know those particular tournaments weren't as conscientious as others are.

One interesting thing I have learned about raising fish in ponds including bass It seems no matter how careful I was if I practiced catch and release I always killed a small percentage due to the fact the ponds are small enough to notice any morts and I can remove them before the scavengers do. I now only fish when it's time to harvest fish.

Another fascinating thing I learned was how quickly fish learn to avoid certain baits. E.G. after catching bass on spinner baits a couple of times they would learn to avoid spinner baits. Same went for other baits. It got to the point with the bass where one had to use life bait to catch them.

[lowaccord66]

You are missing my point sir or avoiding it. Point being is how could one gripe about causing a fungus infection in a sport where just the act of catching involves ramming hooks through a fishes face.  Again I'd argue that if you care that much about the well being of a bass, you would likely not participate in a sport that involved hooking them in the face.