Smallies on Leech

[JakeJ_Mn]

Maybe - the tournament sanctioning bodies should alternate years with all these tourneys. Most of the bass caught in Leech don't travel very far after release and surely not the distance they were brought in from.

[Cecil]

So

I thought about this a little more last night. And in the past 10 years, Leech has been one of the best bass lakes in the state. Well, in order to be that, the fish have to be pretty easy to catch and pattern. I think bringing these fish back to the marinas and such isn't realy hurting the lake or the bass population. It's taking them from the "easy" bays and spots and moving them around a bit. The fish don't die when released into the main lake. I just think there will be a little transition period while the fishermen figure out where these fish are now living. Kudo's to the first person to find the new pattern for 4 pound largemouth out there.

As for the smallies, removing them right now will hurt it for sure. Just not enough to sustain yet.

[thatoneguy]

Maybe Leech will finally develop a deep weedline bite

[TonkaBass]

The smallies are for sure delicate out there. I know if I ever pulled some out during a tournament I would at least put them back in the same area. And wind or not, Im sure there are ways to catch the bedders.

[NoWiser]

So

I thought about this a little more last night. And in the past 10 years, Leech has been one of the best bass lakes in the state. Well, in order to be that, the fish have to be pretty easy to catch and pattern. I think bringing these fish back to the marinas and such isn't realy hurting the lake or the bass population. It's taking them from the "easy" bays and spots and moving them around a bit. The fish don't die when released into the main lake. I just think there will be a little transition period while the fishermen figure out where these fish are now living. Kudo's to the first person to find the new pattern for 4 pound largemouth out there.

As for the smallies, removing them right now will hurt it for sure. Just not enough to sustain yet.

I spent some time thinking about this too, but I don't necessarily agree with you. Bass have been in Leech Lake forever, and there is a reason that they evolved to live in the shallow northern bays of the lake (for the most part). The bays have the right combination of spawning areas, cover to congregate baitfish and protect them from predators, and good habitat in general. They've been in the lake long enough that they are utilizing the good habitat, and there is a reason you don't find them in certain parts of the lake. Taking large numbers of them from where they've evolved to live, and putting them into areas of the lake where they are not meant to live is certainly not going to help the population, and is hurting it in my opinion. How do we know these bass being released into other parts of the lake aren't dying over a period of several weeks or months?? Are they all finding successful places to spawn the following spring??

As for the smallies in the lake, I don't know how anybody can be taking these fish off of their beds and releasing them many miles away with a clean conscience when the population is so small, and presumably fragile right now. All so they can have bragging rights and take home a little money. They should just consider themselves lucky to have caught them.

I could be completely off base here, but I think what is going on is just plain wrong. These tournaments are taking advantage of a public resource, and should take a little reponsiblity and help protect it.

Just my 2 cents coming from a guy who has never, and never will fish tournaments, and with no schooling whatsoever in fish biology

[bassinator]

I agree that tournament fishing has actually been a big influence on the spread of largemouth throughout Leech. 20 years ago there were tournements being won out there with 3 fish and everyone was fishing boy bay. I am sure natural reproduction and so forth have alot to do with it also but now there are alot of different areas holding fish, and lots of them too. If you dont have a 30 fish day on Leech its a tough day..

On the other hand I have talked to people staying at Horseshoe resort that say they try to be up there the week after a tournament becuase they can slay the bass of the dock with a leech... and I dont think many of those are making it back to the water... Defianitly see both sides of it.

[TonkaBass]

I have to agree with no wiser. Catching smallies on that lake and not putting them back where they were is NOT a good idea, and just wrong as a sportsman. It's my understanding that smallies don't protect fry???

(Someone in the know can correct if I'm wrong) If they don't, then any previous hatches don't need the male around to protect them, so a guy pulling them off the bed for a day and putting them back wouldn't be the end of the world, especially if they went back on their bed. Its a touchy subject and maybe we will see the spring tournaments next year make it "no smallmouth" for a few years.

[hockeybc69]

Quote:

It's my understanding that smallies don't protect fry???

100% incorrect TB.

Once in the nest, both fish lay beside each other and release their eggs and sperm. This spawning act can be repeated every 30 seconds or so for up to 2 hours. When the female is done laying the eggs, she leaves the nest and the male stays behind to protect the eggs from predators. Both males and females usually spawn with more than one partner. A single female may lay 2,000-14,000 eggs, depending on her size.

The eggs (embryos actually) hatch in about one week and the free-living embryos continue to develop in the nest for about one more week. After that, they swim up into the water column and begin to feed. In lakes, the male smallmouth may continue to protect the larvae for a short time even after they swim up.

http://hatch.cehd.umn.edu/research/fish/fishes/smallmouth_bass.html

[TonkaBass]

Thanks Hockey, I just heard that from a guy and then the smallies that hatched in the cabelas tank weren't being protected by the male. That was probably because it was in a tank and not a lake. I do know they don't protect them like largemouths do though. Much shorter period of time from hatching to being on their own.

[TonkaBass]

I just did a little research and I found that only a few articles suggest that smallies don't guard the fry. I know one thing, I've never caught a smallie on a fry ball. I know we have an expert here, maybe he'll chime in

[RK]

Returning fish caught off their beds to the area after a tournament weigh-in is a nice gesture, but frankly, it's also probably an empty one. Based on the research done on nesting behavior, brood abandonment as a response to predation, responses to catch and release angling while guarding a nest, etc., removing a fish from their nest for any extended period of time pretty dramatically reduces successful nest guarding.

From one of several relevant papers:

During competitive angling events, in addition to the stressors indicated above, fish can be further stressed during livewell confinement, transport and weigh-in procedures (Cooke et al. 2002c; Suski et al. 2003b). Removal of a nest-guarding male bass for as little as 1 min or release far from the nest (thereby increasing the time a brood is unguarded) have been shown to increase the likelihood of nest abandonment as a result of nest predators in the area consuming some portion of the unguarded broods (Philipp et al. 1997). Exercise due to angling has also been shown to increase heart rate (Cooke, Bunt, Ostrand, Philipp & Wahl 2004) and impair locomotory activity (Cooke et al. 2000). It has been proposed that energy lost through exercise due to

angling increases the potential for the reduction in parental care and, hence, nest abandonment (Cooke et al. 2000). It has also been shown that males with the largest broods and most developed offspring are the

most aggressive brood defenders (Sargent & Gross 1986; Ridgway 1988, 1989; ) and, therefore, the most vulnerable to angling (Suski & Philipp 2004). Nest abandonment by these males has been postulated to

promote population-scale alterations in reproductive success that translate into reduced year class strength (Suski & Philipp 2004).

- Hanson, Cook et. al; Fisheries Management and Ecology, 2007, 14, 141–148

[smallie_hawgin]

I just did a little research and I found that only a few articles suggest that smallies don't guard the fry. I know one thing, I've never caught a smallie on a fry ball. I know we have an expert here, maybe he'll chime in

[thatoneguy]

Thanks for the insight, hawgin. Hopefully that bodes well for the Leech bass fishery (or at least that the impact of tournaments won't be as bad as feared).

[TonkaBass]

Thanks Hawgin. Cleared up some issues pretty quickly there.

[thatoneguy]

Talk about disheartening...just had a phone conversation with a fellow FM member. A good friend of his had his whole family staying at Horseshoe Bay Lodge last week, and he was raving about how they killed the bass fishing in the harbor. And by killed I mean killed - eaten.

It's legal and it's their right, I don't fault them for that, but it's also not good for the bass fishery on Leech, and highlights the need to at least think about adjusting how tournaments are run.

Research may show that fish return to their old stompin' grounds, but not if they're being yanked out of harbors en masse after tournaments.

I guess maybe it's a good thing that big fish were hard to come by that weekend as they would have just ended up taking a hot oil bath

[corncob]

Eating smaller bass is one thing, but why would snyone want to eat a bigger bass?....Especially with walleye,perch and northern readily available.

[NTW]

I heard that from a family friend down here in Mankato... Last weekend other resort visitors at H-Bay were catching "nice" bass and frying them up like nobody's business. He was having too much sucess with walleyes to consider partaking but it appears many others were more than willing to take the easy pickins. I sure hope the right people are reading this or hearing the same complaints. I love bass tournaments but not when they're wrecklessly damaging the natural resource we all share.