New Study from New York Shows No Harm from Spring Bass Fishing

[djkimmel]

Another new study - this one with lots of long term monitoring of bass populations on 3 different bodies of water looking at before and after populations, and the affects of spring bass fishing including some harvest and bass tournaments - from Drs. Jackson, Brooking et al from the state of New York - similar waters to our Michigan waters. The study results have already made an impression on open-minded fisheries biologists here in Michigan as it gets passed around.

Check it out for yourself in this PDF: Year-Class Production of Black Bass Before and After Opening of a Spring Catch-and-Release Season in New York: Case Studies from Three Lakes

The study includes both largemouth and smallmout bass sampled with methods biologists here have said they would use and expect to see in a good study done right. I share these results to show that there are studies that do look at the effects of bedfishing for bass, and they do show what I have said all along - no negative correlated bass population affects.

If we want to get the best use of our bass fisheries we could easily allow more bass fishing including spring bass tournaments and our bass populations can handle them. People want to fish more and not liking that is not a good enough reason to tell them no. We should be using science and science keeps saying yes.