A book called "Lunker!"

[BassProAddict]

Hmmm bass fisherman reviewing a book.But hey this book is actually pretty interesting.It was released in the mid 70's and authored by one Bob Underwood.

It's about himself spending 1700 HOURS UNDERWATER to study bass in its natural environment.This book has many useful and logical points but there are TONS of debatable stuff.

Have any of y'all read this already? If so, kindly follow this thread's pattern as I start it.

I'll post a topic or two and let's hear it from bass anglers here.

Here goes:

A wounded bass caught and released will send olfactory (scent) signals when its skin is broken and trigger nearby bass to be apprehensive.He suggests to release caught bass elsewhere rather than land it, unhook it and toss it back in right away.

A missed strike or a foul hooked bass means that MULTIPLE bass hit the lure and sometimes a foul hooked fish is the result of a bass being pushed onto the lure by another bass.

[Ray Esboldt]

I don't do this, but I know lots of guys that will livewell fish if they pop a good fish that they suspect is part of a school. I know I have lost a fish right in the middle of a school and ended a bite. But, I have also caught 20 fish out of the same school with all of them released immediately.

In other words, I don't know if releasing a fish back into a school shuts them down or not.

[BassProAddict]

He says it may or may not.It depends if any skin from behind the head to the fork of the tail is broken.

He observed that these hooked/injured fish were avoided by their host school when they are released.

[EBass]

Interesting. I've heard about that, but I've never practiced it. I don't have a live well either, but still.

However, I could see that happening - we all know that mother nature can be a beeotch at times.

The 2nd part I don't agree with. I've seen fish miss before, or they only had a part of the worm in the mouth and not the hook, or plain ol end user error.

keep em coming

[Central Bassman]

When I started fishing tournaments as a Co-angler a few of the guys that I would go out pre fishing with would not release a fish back into the lake when they were fishing deep water. I myself have only done it a few times. I agree with Ray I don’t know if it does or doesn’t shut down a school of fish. I can see how it might spoke some fish away or something like that, but I’m not sure

[Deitz Dittrich]

I fish Chisago quite a bit(which is a catch and release lake) So all fish must be returned to the water right away.. . I have never once thought I shut a school down because I released a fish.

I have superstitions, this isn't one of them.

[hhguide]

I do this when fishing Crappies in the late spring I drill one hole at the begining away from them all about 40 yards off and put all the fish back through that hole I know this may be alittle bit extreme but it seems to work we noticed alot more bites and not so hesitant fish. they werent just nudging the baby but sucking it in.

[BassProAddict]

On this initial topic, he experiments with a kicker of an idea.He catches a bass from a school (he's underwater while his angler partner fishes from above), kills and fillets the bass, grabs a lure and smother it with all the juices from the killed bass.He also did this with lures dipped in chicken's blood.

The chicken blood attracted some gills and one bass.But to his amazement, the lure smothered in bass juice scared off the school the filleted bass came from.He says the school completely stayed away from the lure!

[ocf1]

These fish are smarter than many of give em credit for. where can i get my hands on a copy of this book?

[BassProAddict]

I got mine from Amazon.com.I saw this book recommendation from BassMaster magazine.

[BassProAddict]

The writer actually says that bass do not have the mental capacity to think/analyze.He's says that from his observations, bass purely rely on natural instincts.