S-B / DJ Muller: Bass Class Contest - Win Free Ticket: Big Bass & Release, Why or How

[ecduzitgood]

Actually I just got thinking about how many fish I've brought home. That's where my dilema starts. I've only brought home three fish. And in all honesty I only caught/hooked two of the three. One of the fish was floating by when I was fishing capeside heading east. I continued fishing for about 45minutes and as I was getting ready to leave the fish came floating back within reach of my rod. I pulled it towards me and thought it was still saveable and I tried to revive it but it was dead. I took it home and found the reason appperently someone had released the fish and damaged its gills when dehooking which led to its death. It was during commercial season and the fish was only 32inches which leads me to believe it was a commercial fisherman who hastly yanked his hook from the fish before throwing it back. In all honesty I will be keeping at least one more fish because my cupboards are bare of strippers. I do totally agree as a whole we need to release more fish.
Actually most of my plugs have one of three hooks still attached. 98% haave only a tag for a tail hook since I feel they cause to much damage. When I fish bait for the most part I only use circle hooks. Once again I feel this prize would be better for a less experienced fisher person.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[DJ Muller]

This entire contest that John was willing to put up, doesn’t mean much really…it is just an easy way for someone that wants to attend Bass Class to do so.

More importantly this little contest is intended to make us all think twice about killing big bass, needlessly. Need one for the family BBQ or to stow for winter? That is fine. But guys end up killing just to put it in their bike basket and ride around for a while or to ‘drag and brag’ on the beach to show all onlookers that something nice has been caught.
These big bass we have now are the life-blood of our passion, they are our future. When they are gone, they are gone! I fished in a day when a 16 pound bass was a monster, there were no pigs around.
Below is a little excerpt from the BC notebook that you get when you attend the class, emphasizing the importance of the big spawners and their ability to produce young stripers…our future. No young bass…no tomorrow.
The amount of eggs that a female bass lays is equated with the size of the fish. A 12 pound striper will produce roughly 850,000 eggs; where as a 50 pound plus fish will produce upward of 5,000,000 eggs.
Female striped bass have the ability to spawn annually, however it is commonly believed that they do not. They may, for the first five years of their adult lives, spawn annually, but as they get older it is believed that they spawn maybe once every four or five years. (Karas)
There is not enough emphasis on catching and releasing your fish, and I am talking about big fish here. I see the needless killing of large breeders more than I care to admit, and a lot and the reasons are, at times, very questionable. I see guys killing large for some tournament, yeah its done for team, for spirit, for the camaraderie, yeah that’s good but a 35 pounder ends up meaning nothing when the top team averages 50 pound fish. If a 35 pound fish lays 4,000,000 eggs and let’s say 1% of them survive, that means 4,000 new juvenile (surviving) stripers enter the river next year. A dead 35 produces nothing. That 35 pounder, which means nothing in regards to the tournament, is wasted. Take a picture or ten, weigh it on a hand scale, if you really must know, shoot a photo or three, and set her free. This way you get all you want and need and you also put 4,000 little bass back into the rivers next spring.

In regards to the releasing, I always hear the same line, ‘I tried to revive it but she died.’ The fish John posted of me on the home page, was a mid-30 fish caught on Block in June. I had no reason to take it so I waded out to waist-deep water with the fish and started working her. One hand and thumb had her in her mouth, the other below her tail. I stayed with that fish for over 10 minutes, possibly the longest I ever stayed with a fish, I willed her back to the waters from whence she came.

Regulators won’t do anything until the bass are all gone, that is both sad and unfortunate, and nothing new, but for us, we can do something! We have the opportunity to make good decisions. Let the big ones go! Let’s educate the masses that our supply is not endless and there needs to be responsibility.
At BC we discuss issues such as these in depth, because they are responsible and relative.

[Fishoholic]

Class sounds pretty interesting and had pretty good reviews, why not! Last month was pretty rough on me too

I won't touch the "why" (I'm pretty sure we all know why it's important) but I'll go over the how (I do it at least). I'm not a big bass expert but this is the universal way I handle any big fish I want to return. The fish in the pics isn't a supa cow, but it's a good size for me.

1. Don't try to be all sporty and shoot a rhino with a .22! Sure it's fun catching a fish on light tackle but it really wears on the fish. Lactic acid builds up quick and when it does the fishes chance of survival decreases significantly. I'm not saying horse in a green fish when you are on a rock ... because if you do she will whoop yer arse ) Just make sure your drag is set in relation to the strength of your line, play the fish a little and get her in.

2. There is a lot of talk about using boga's and other lippers on big fish because the strain on her jaw. I'm not sure just how bad it really is, I just try to think about someone holding me up by my lower jaw. Depending on where the hooks are I will grab a fish I plan on releasing by the lip to take the plug out, but I try not to lift the fish all the way out of the water or off the rock by just the lip. If I'm gonna pose for a pic, I support the fish by it's belly. I also try to be as quick as possible.

sb1.jpg

3. Reviving the fish is probably the most important part of a successful release (aside from length of time out of the water). Nothing irritates me more than seeing someone take their sweet time, unhooking, parading around, then measuring and parading around a little more before literally throwing a fish back into the water. I try to say to myself "hey crabs gotta eat too", but it honestly really pisses me off... To the point of saying something on a few occasions actually.. but I digress! Rock the fish forward and backward for as long as it takes for the fish to swim out of your hands. That could be the second she touches the water or 15 minutes. Bottom line, she needs to swim out of your hands. Not moving her tail side to side, but actually swim.



And this is when the drag is set to the strength of the line.. but not the hook