no season on bass

[gr@ssmonkey]

just interested in your guy's thoughts on having no season on bass or my personel prefereance an april 1st opener ,what do u think good or bad for the fish ,good or bad for tournaments,good or bad for the economy ,i know indiana has no season on bass but don't know enough to know if it has been good or bad for them(i do know that michigan dollars will be spent in indiana,tournament fishing before they will be spent in michigan tournament fishing )

[bigjc]

April first opener sounds like a good idea to me.  Kent has been catch and release for years now, and it has been fishing great last few years.

[Got Fish??]

I have mixed thoughts on this subjected. I know, IT would be great to hit the water flying in early spring. One thing to think about is pulling fish off beds. Leaving them unprotected for other fish to invade or maybe the fish after released may not find it's bed.The way it is setup now works. The fishery here in Mi is I think one of the best in the country. Can it be finetuned? Yes,  but all and all we have a pretty good fishery.

[Bender]

Why would they do April 1 and not the whole year? Just curious why they would have a closed season at all. To me even the late April date doesn't make sense, what are they protecting by not having it open before that?

There have been a ton of studies on the subject with most showing no impact on the fish. Here is one of the more recent documents concerning Michigan: http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/publications/pdfs/IFR/ifrlibra/Special/Reports/sr44/SR44_Intro.pdf
If you want to study this get ready to spend weeks reading. You can find a lot more studies by searching on Google or let me know and I can list some that I have found.

I think Dan Kimmel worked very hard with others in the state to present information to the DNR to get the CIR season opened. I have been researching this subject a little because here in New York most of the state is open all year for CIR but in my county you can only target bass beginning at the end of June. The biggest surprise to me has been how difficult it is to get anything changed. 

Just one last tidbit is that 69% of bass anglers in Michigan fished for bass during the closed season anyway for the CIR season began.

[thedude]

yeah, screw april 1st. March 1st. Guess i don't care much if its closed Jan and Feb

i went out on a private stocked lake yesterday for a couple hours and caught some nice march bass

[MadWags]

there is no reason for a season if you are practicing catch and release.

[mikesmiph]

Bass seasons are just like other laws, they only affect those who abide by the law. I argue with my brother all the time about gun control. The only people those laws affect are the ones who own guns legally. The "bad guys" dont buy their guns legally anyway. Its the same with bass seasons. I think the majority of bass fishermen abide by the law. You will always have that select few who are going to break any law, just because they can. An open bass season in Michigan would not hurt the fish,IMO. You already have the few who keep bass year round. That wont change. Everyone knows that Michigan doesnt have the resources or manpower to enforce game laws properly. No matter what the laws are. Those of us who abide by the laws, do so because we are just good people.

[TCook]

The current closed season makes no sense to me. The purpose is to protect the spawn and for the most part it does not do that with the current dates. Not to mention most bass fisherman will target bass before the season opens anyways. I don't do it much and spend most of my time in Indiana but if given the opportunity I will target bass without any second thoughts in MI. I think there are two options they should have no closed season at all or lengthen the closed season to actually protect the spawn. I am obviously in favor of no closed season but I will be shocked if I ever see that day come.

[rustydog]

If it was c&r duting ice up I wouldn't mind but you would think these guys up here are starving to death when it comes to releasing a bass while ice fishing. I personally caught 25 or 30 largemouth this winter while fishing for gills. After season closed guys were wondering if they should chance keeping the ones they were catching because they taste to good to put back. The last day out my buddy landed 7 and Igot 5. Can't rember last time I saved a bass.

[SethV]

I am for no season.  Ever.  Of any kind.  No stupid catch and release.  No closed season.  Let us fish.

This is the worst time of year.  I have to "pretend" to fish for pike if I put the boat in the water - or travel out of state.  I can't really get excited about C&R - I want to fish tx.  So, Between now and the "real" open, I will mostly fish out of state.  Of course I will fill with fuel & eat out of state also.

We have a "natural" season here anyway - its called winter.

Seth

[capt charlie's charters]

closed season is bull.  you gonna tell me the guys in the ice shantys that hook a nice bass are going to throw it back because its out of season.  its not the legal fisherman who abuse the fishery, its the low lifes who catch and keep everything, season or not on beds or not, or if its even legal size.   limits on walleye are a joke, a huge percentage of those guys go back to the dock, fill their coolers then go back out again....and brag about it.  most states don't have the man power to enforce the laws so why be concerned with filling the books with a bunch of laws that can't be enforced anyways.

March 15th sounds good, ice is usually gone by that time.
capt charlie     

[gr@ssmonkey]

I am for no season.  Ever.  Of any kind.  No stupid catch and release.  No closed season.  Let us fish.

This is the worst time of year.  I have to "pretend" to fish for pike if I put the boat in the water - or travel out of state.  I can't really get excited about C&R - I want to fish tx.  So, Between now and the "real" open, I will mostly fish out of state.  Of course I will fill with fuel & eat out of state also.

We have a "natural" season here anyway - its called winter.

Seth

ditto   but i would like to see a dec. 30 to mar. 1 which is "natural season"  so at least some will put them back,but i can only imagine the tournament possibilities,and not having to start the season on the same day the rest of the world wants to kick the summer off........like seth said,he will spend money out of state to fish before season opens here and so will alot of guys,as for the hurting the fish during the spawn,i beleive the only one policing the bass is us,the bass fishermen himself so no i don't think it hurts the spawn,it's already been going on for eons,fish look healthy to me.......good read though u guys might have to take up that project if i have as much time on my hands as i did this winter

[LennyB]

I like the idea of catch and instant release in the beginning of the year myself. I think most bass fisherman are catch and re-leasers anyway.
The DNR spoke at our club on this subject when the new regulations were introduced a few years ago and said the issue wasn't with the bass fisherman, it was with the walleye and pike anglers claiming to be targeting bass while actually poaching walleye and pike. Most of them are meat hunters.

[t-bone]

There is no reason to have a closed season. Just have a catch and release season during the spawn and everything would be fine. There is no one patrolling the inland lakes now to enforce any rules. I'll be fishing for pike for a while.

[REEL_MAN]

Indians doesn't have a bass season and to let you all know there were several tx's last weekend. MI's DNR is just a bit slow to realize how much money they are loosing to Indiana because many of you cross the stqte line because oyu want to fish tx's.
So come on over the waters fine.

REELMAN
<))))>{

[Got Fish??]

 I really like to fish.So if having a closed season saves even one fish that I can catch,so be it. I know there are a lot of meat catchers who would love to clean out our natural resource's. With out any rules or seasons these butchers will take away everthing we have all fought so hard to preserve. Think about it, if your going to fish before the season you are probally going to release anyway. So why would you want to invite people to your party. That you don't even know?

[SethV]

I really like to fish.So if having a closed season saves even one fish that I can catch,so be it.

Man, that makes no sense at all.  Tell you what, lets just close it year round - there will be even more fish to catch!!!  Or maybe we can have it open for 2 weeks per year - just imagine how awesome the fishing would be for those 2 weeks!!!   

Up here in Michigan we have such light fishing pressure compared with other parts of the country - "meat hunters" and the like are no threat to the bass fishery.  Most of the meat guys are fishing for walleye, perch, ect (trash fish     )

If fishing on Guntersville, Grand, Eufaula, ect is so good with them getting pounded year round by many more anglers per acre than we will ever see - i don't think we have any reason for a season up here.

Tournaments should start at ice out.

Seth

[Waterfoul]

I really like to fish.So if having a closed season saves even one fish that I can catch,so be it.

Man, that makes no sense at all.  Tell you what, lets just close it year round - there will be even more fish to catch!!!  Or maybe we can have it open for 2 weeks per year - just imagine how awesome the fishing would be for those 2 weeks!!!  

Up here in Michigan we have such light fishing pressure compared with other parts of the country - "meat hunters" and the like are no threat to the bass fishery.  Most of the meat guys are fishing for walleye, perch, ect (trash fish    )

If fishing on Guntersville, Grand, Eufaula, ect is so good with them getting pounded year round by many more anglers per acre than we will ever see - i don't think we have any reason for a season up here.

Tournaments should start at ice out.

Seth 

Don't worry about it.  If Czar Obama and his political vassals have anything to say about it... you won't be able to fish anymore anyway.  Our very own Jenny has him sooooo peeed off right now he's actually TARGETING the Great Lakes region.  Fishing as we know it in Michigan is in great danger and we should ALL be talking to our elected officials to defend our rights as Americans to fish our waters.

As for the closed season on bass... it does NOTHING to protect them during the spawn.  Look around any lake in Michigan from December 31 to the 3rd Saturday in April.  You won't see any bass spawning.  Water is way too cold, even for the smallies.  Just as the spawn is starting we are suddenly allowed to fish for them again??  Why?  Because those who made up this law apparently don't fish much.  They don't listen to those who study the very fish they are trying to "protect."  They don't see the economic impact they are having on our state and the tourism industry.   The reason there is a closed season (and I'm quoting a DNR official I talked to in person recently) on bass is because they believe the walleye and pike fishermen go out and "target" bass... oh well about the incidental eye or pike eh?

The current closed season is asinine and unwarranted.  Every other state in the country with a bass population has been proving it for many, many years.  But many of those more southern lakes don't have the "meat" fish population we have here in Michigan.

[gr@ssmonkey]

there is still a creel limit so if the meat hunters can't clean it out in the first 6 months than why would they clean the lakes out anymore in the other six months,i know the spawn is in the season we want to open but i think the post earlier showed plenty of info that fishing during the spawn has no noticeable affect.......don't want to argue just interested in your opinion got fish and fun to debate it..........i know it sounds greedy but the tournament side is what i'm getting at and the dollars leaving michigan(it's not greedy though,tournament fishermen have policed there own fish(bass) forever,i was catching and releasing when i was 15,i'm 36 now,no dnr had to implicate catch and release,bass fisherman did that,and today it's as common as fishing with artificial lures.............if there was a tournament this weekend,i'd buy gas,oil,more gas and probably some snacks and be there,instead i'll do some yard work and hit the nieghborhood pond no dollars spent there

[thedude]

the violators will violate - regardless of any regulations. They will keep short fish and fish out of season unless the DNR/COs are there to fine them.

The ONLY reason we have a bass season (or pike season for that matter) is because the DNR thinks its easier to enforce a closed walleye season. It removes the "we were bass fishing officer" excuse. We are getting screwed because people like to eat walleye. It would stand to reason that its 10 times easier to enforce a no-possession season on walleye since all they have to do is wait at the ramp and check coolers - rather than approach people on the water. it also eliminates the claim to "pretend" to bass fish when targeting out of season walleye.

Furthermore - there aren't even catchable populations of walleye in most of our Lower Pen. lakes. Couldn't they just have "no bass fishing" in places like the grand river, muskegon, hardy pond etc where people *might* actually be able to abuse a walleye population?

I really like to fish.So if having a closed season saves even one fish that I can catch,so be it.

its that kind of attitude that keeps us from having a real season. I like to fish a lot too. I also pay a lot of money to fish. I pay money via taxes and license fees so that the DNR can stock lakes and rivers with trout, salmon, musky, walleye, etc. i don' t see any benefit personally from that other than the 1 or 2 times a year i go salmon fishing. The DNR does NOTHING with bass. We all pay towards the benefit of other fisherman - other fisherman should stand by us since all we ask is that we can fish when it makes sense.  Do the math on money spent stocking and managing inland lake muskies compared to the number of "musky fisherman" that fish inland lakes primarily. A tiny minority that is getting a substantial amount of the license fund as well as representation for a fish that can't even sustain its own population.



someone should start an online petition about this. i bet we'd get a surprising amount of signatures if everyone made sure all their fishing buddies signed it.