Foul Weather

[Branta Bros.]

Despite the weather this weekend, Tonkabass and I managed to throw together a pretty good bag for the day....

[TR21]

Nice bag of fish!

The bassmasters Elite boys would have loved to have those this weekend. We had real good luck on Saturday as well but had to stick around the house on Sunday. Found that the fish were'nt

schooled up though, had to run and gun quite a bit. Did you experience the same?

[msfc]

Nice Fish, Saw that one on a crank, can't beat the crank bite.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Tonka, what the heck kind of hat is that?>

Nice fish boyz!!!!

[kt]

very nice fish fellas, any specs on sizes of those pigs and techniques. Or were they all on the crank.

[Muddog]

I see you have 4 fish in one pic. Are you keeping them? I never have more then one fish in the boat at a time unless it's a double or a tournament.

[bronzeback]

I've got to assume tourney or league night. He said "pretty good bag"

[Aaron Carrell]

I see you have 4 fish in one pic. Are you keeping them? I never have more then one fish in the boat at a time unless it's a double or a tournament.

I'm sorry, but what should it matter to you? They aren't breaking any rules. Maybe they realized they were catching a few big fish and wanted a fun picture? Maybe it was a league night/tourney... or maybe they were taking them home *GASP!* (since apparently thats the cardinal sin in bass fishing...). No one has to follow YOUR rules when it comes to bass fishing, so why judge them by the picture?

[Cecil]

Odds are just keeping in well for a pic. It's been done b4 Mud, settle

[Craigums]

what kind of structure did the fish come off of? Those are some chunks!

[half-dutch]

Nice, nice bass. Fish to brag about.

Just a word of caution here, it is specifically illegal in Minnesota to reduce fish to possession and then release them later in most sport fishing. Release is supposed to happen at the time of catch, specifically allowing for pictures to be taken then, with possession considered permanent. Culling is not legal in Minnesota, and that is likely the main focus of the rule.

The fact is that large fish released after being held even in good livewells do have a chance for recovery, but not nearly as good a one as if immediately released.

It is certainly legal to keep a legal possession limit. No one can be faulted for doing just that either. Those in the pictures are a real nice set of fish, a set to be proud of, a very impressive group of bass for this far north.

[Aaron Carrell]

Half-dutch: Your response regarding the MN rules for holding fish in a live well is actually a bit twisted from the actual rule.

Copied directly from the fishing regulation book for 2009-

"Possessing Fish

• Daily and possession

limits are the same unless otherwise noted. Fish are

in an angler’s possession whether on hand, in cold storage, in transport, or elsewhere.

• Once a daily or possession limit of fish has been reached, no culling or live well sorting is allowed.

• While on or fishing waters with size restrictions it is illegal to possess any fish outside legal length limits."

Notice that it is legal to cull or release fish so long as you have not reached your legal limit. Since the legal limit is 6 bass per person (assuming you don't have the conservation license) then you can have 5 fish in your live well and release any of those at any point all you want.

I won't argue that a fish in the live well isn't more stressed, because I wholeheartedly believe that they are better off being released immediately, but just make sure you don't misinterpret the rules and hold other accountable to something they haven't done.

[Deitz Dittrich]

AC has the rule correct and has explained it correctly.

[river rat316]

With todays livewells, water treatments and an oxygenator the fish can actually recover quicker in a livewell, as long as the water temps aren't high on the surface, which they are not this year

[NTW]

What river rat says seems to be the popular opinion among many professionals...I just finished a book from a MN pro who promotes allowing a fish to calm and recover in the livewell (treated water) for 5-10 mins prior to releasing. There is no doubt that livewell treatment is the key to that statement!

[PerchJerker]

About the original post, those are some dandy bass!

About the livewell and later-release slant this thread is taking, I agree with AC and Deitz on the culling / no-culling rule. And if you're keeping fish in a livewell for later release, you are much better off filling the livewell and then recircing it (no more fresh water from the lake) than you are pumping in warm surface water at this time of the year. Recircing the water keeps it moving and that cools the water, plus it adds oxygen and helps displace carbon dioxide and ammonia.

[Reid G]

But where did the water in your livewell originally come from? I'm confused. Either way, i think the fish will be just fine in the livewell for a couple hours for pics later on. I do the same thing sometimes, except when bed fishin.

[Aaron Carrell]

I love the looks of that lake that you caught these fish on. Wish we had more undeveloped lakes like that super close to the metro. I know of a few, but only because they are in Park Reserve. What area were you fishing? Looks fun either way!

[TonkaBass]

Most fish came from pitching tubes and jigs with a few on some deep cranks.

As for not releasing the fish right away... it is perfectly legal to do so, and releasing fish back onto a hot school can shut the whole school off like a light switch. I appreciate the concern from fellow anglers, but anyone who knows me knows that I would never jeopardize a fish for a picture, they were all way more lively when released and in the livewell for a very short period of time...

Dietz, That hat is the BOMB! Its from Watermelon days, a small town festival held in Vining, MN.

[Deitz Dittrich]

We will have to agree to disagree on that hat being "The Bomb".. LOL

[Craigums]

We will have to agree to disagree on that hat being "The Bomb".. LOL

Id be careful now, I think most of us have seen your hot pants from your lake Toho picture

[Reid G]

As for not releasing the fish right away... it is perfectly legal to do so, and releasing fish back onto a hot school can shut the whole school off like a light switch.

Like Zona says, you gotta take some hostage for a while.

[PerchJerker]

But where did the water in your livewell originally come from? I'm confused.

Fill the livewell from the lake like you always do. But after it's full, instead of continuing to pump in more warm surface water, just recirculate the water that's in your livewell. The recircing will cool the water, so it will be cooler than the warm surface water you'd be pumping in. I think it's a noticable difference.

[NTW]

adding some water treatment makes a huge difference.

FLK may be able to chime in on the brand but he has some stuff that took two of our fish from belly up to fired up in less than 10 mins.

[Cecil]

Yeah, easy D. Do the words red shorts mean anything to you? I know they do to us!