Mike,

I understand where you are coming from. The opponents of a closed season on bass will point to Candlewood and the incredible fishing pressure it receives in May and early June with no apparent ill effects on the bass population. Gardner gets a ton of fishing pressure every year during the spawn and its still the bestlake for smallies east of the river.

In my opinion, the harvest of many bass through the ice is alot more harmful to the bass population than catch and release fishing in May and June.

In Maine, the creel limit is reduced to 1 from early May through mid June, which basically eliminates all tournaments during that 5 or 6 week window. I could live with that.
In Michigan, there is a closed season on bass. Guys go "pike fishing" and "accidentally" catch and release loads of bass.

From a selfish standpoint, I love bass fishing when the fish are all up shallow, but I would be in favor of a "no bed fishing" regulation, although it would be very difficult to enforce.

Huskybass