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#1765902 - 05/24/19 11:45 AM The life of a Largemouth Bass (Underwater Footage)
Handberrydea Offline

Member

Registered: 04/25/14
Posts: 244
As a club tournament angler I've targeted beds in the past to stay competitive. If you have ever fished in 10ft of water or less in the spring for bass, the odds are that you have pulled a bass or two off of a bed yourself. I decided to change things up and film one full video underwater to get a better idea of bass behavior and how we impact them during the spring. After filming this video, I've gained a lot more respect for the largemouth bass. I almost deleted this footage because I figured it will upset some people (especially Peta). I decided to upload it because I think as bass anglers we need to see the impact that we have on the fish that we all love. My question to you: Is bed fishing ethical? Watch my video and then let me know what you think.
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#1765912 - 05/24/19 03:27 PM Re: The life of a Largemouth Bass (Underwater Footage) [Re: Handberrydea]
deep callin Offline

Member

Registered: 06/18/05
Posts: 2689
Thanks for sharing that. I see many states now have seasons closed during the spawn.. wondering how much it actually helps with successful spawning.

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#1765915 - 05/24/19 04:18 PM Re: The life of a Largemouth Bass (Underwater Footage) [Re: Handberrydea]
Tall 1 Offline

Member

Registered: 05/02/03
Posts: 17855
Kill more bluegills! Aggressive bed robbers.
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#1765916 - 05/24/19 05:31 PM Re: The life of a Largemouth Bass (Underwater Footage) [Re: Handberrydea]
CWood Man Offline

Stop Bitchin' And Get Fishin'!

Registered: 02/13/04
Posts: 22620
Loc: Villas NJ
New York, PA and NJ have always been closed. I know NY has always been closed until June 1st. This is what kills me when I see so many out of state clubs from those states geeing more permits than CT residents. Why is it there Environmental Depts. close the season and CT says it's fine?

In saying that Candlewood sustains unreal bags and it is still insanely good! So the bed picking isn't really affecting this fishery.



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#1765931 - 05/24/19 09:41 PM Re: The life of a Largemouth Bass (Underwater Footage) [Re: Handberrydea]
O-BASS Offline

Member

Registered: 06/04/03
Posts: 20124
A largemouth can and will smack you in the leg if you walk too close to its nest occassionally. Daring and pugnatious fish doing whatever it takes short of suicide to defend its nest-same with a smallmouth.

I Love bass.
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#1765932 - 05/24/19 11:48 PM Re: The life of a Largemouth Bass (Underwater Footage) [Re: Handberrydea]
Don P Offline

Member

Registered: 05/03/07
Posts: 18941
Loc: CLINTON, CT
Interesting video, and yes it's time for a Sunfish fish fry!
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#1765949 - 05/25/19 02:04 PM Re: The life of a Largemouth Bass (Underwater Footage) [Re: Handberrydea]
Buck Offline

Member

Registered: 01/17/03
Posts: 11108
I am a co-owner of a four acre pond with five other landowners. I am the only one who fishes it excepting one high school kid who lives a couple of houses from me. The pond rules are C&R. I don't bother fishing it until summer so it has no pressure during the spawn. Some years there are as many as a dozen successful beds with resulting fry balls. Some other years only a few. It doesn't seem to matter though, by the Fall the number of one inch bass fry is always about the same. Same with the bluegill population. I used to have huge channel catfish which over the years have died off or been eaten by otters. Now there are a bit more bass and bluegill but not much more. My bass and bluegill are not stocked piled. Good distribution of year class fish.
So how many spawning beds and how successful they are doesn't seem to matter. Food is not an issue either since I have a healthy population of alewife herring. At this time of year they are everywhere on the surface jumping for flies and I see entire schools swim by the raft so the bass are very healthy eating bluegills and herring.
Our Inland Fisheries dept. feels that closing the season for the spawn does not increase year class recruitment so our lakes are open excepting the first two weeks of April for those trophy trout lakes and March for non-trophy trout lakes like Ball Pond. So far it is statistically true.
Where the balance is affected is the undue pressure we get from all of the other states running their bass tournaments over here while their seasons are closed. But Candlewood seems to still fish well especially for smallies. So I don't expect anything to change. We certainly don't have any more wiggle room to become more liberal with our regulations.
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#1765971 - 05/25/19 10:13 PM Re: The life of a Largemouth Bass (Underwater Footage) [Re: Handberrydea]
Don P Offline

Member

Registered: 05/03/07
Posts: 18941
Loc: CLINTON, CT
Interesting assessment George.

So fluctuations are just merely seasonal fluctuations!
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#1765985 - 05/26/19 11:17 AM Re: The life of a Largemouth Bass (Underwater Footage) [Re: Handberrydea]
Buck Offline

Member

Registered: 01/17/03
Posts: 11108
One other piece of info that affects recruitment. Though it is a small pond it has lots of structure. We reclaimed the pond in the late 80s dredging it down to 20' deep and taking tens of thousands of cubic yards of material out and selling it. First it was top soil, then common fill, then a layer of clay, then bank run sand and gravel. We went through some ledge material too and those "boulders" and rock were laid along the 45 degree shoreline slope for structure and to hold up the bank. So basically the entire pond is lined with an underwater stone wall. Plenty of places for fry and juvenile fingerlings to hide plus there is a good crawfish population. With new water coming in from three small brooks and the bank run springs there is plenty of new "food" for supporting zoo plankton and the herring fry during the summer is measured in the tens of thousands so if a fish can keep from being eaten then there is plenty for the fish to eat. Yet the pond fisheries bio-mass never seems to change much. It is much denser than Ball Pond or Candlewood on a cubic yard of water basis but at some point the pond has its limits no matter the circumstances. And I have otters, mink, cormorants, mergansers, other divers, great blue herons, small herons, ospreys, bald eagles, water snakes, king fishers, etc. all eating at the pond's expense. Did I miss any predators?
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#1766364 - 06/01/19 04:38 PM Re: The life of a Largemouth Bass (Underwater Footage) [Re: Handberrydea]
Jarhead Offline

Member

Registered: 05/01/07
Posts: 1878
Loc: Southwestern CT
#*&! PETA. That shouldn’t even be in the discussion. Damn radicals. Just makes sense to not catch spawning fish. And eat more panfish.

Lee

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