Bass taken from one area unlikely to return after being released

Post by **WB Staff** » Fri Oct 26, 2018 7:43 pm

The Department of Fish and Wildlife (DWF) imposes a requirement on bass tournament organizations whereby all bass must be released at least two miles from the weigh-in site. If bass are released from the docks near the weigh-in site, they become concentrated and are easily caught by anglers.

Many fishermen believe released bass return to the area from where they were caught because of their homing instincts. For example, if a bass was caught near Redbud Park in Clearlake and then transported to the tournament weigh-in site at Lakeport, that bass would return to Redbud Park.

That’s an interesting idea, but it’s wrong. According to studies condcuted by DFW and other biologists, largemouth bass move little their entire lifetime.

A number of years ago the DFW tagged 580 bass (497 were smallmouth and the remaining 83 were largemouth) that were caught in a tournament at Lake Shasta. The bass were then released at the weigh-in site. Fishermen catching a tagged fish were asked to contact the DFW. The study lasted three years.

Anglers returned 34 largemouth bass tags. Thirteen were caught less than a mile from the release site while the other 21 were caught from 1-7 miles from the release site. During the first 40 days after being released, the average distance traveled by the fish was less than a mile, and the average for the entire three-year study period was less than two miles.

Read the Rest: https://www.record-bee.com/2018/10/09/l ... ravel-far/

MichaelB · Post by **MichaelB** » Sat Oct 27, 2018 2:07 am

Interesting read ..... it should then be like an aquarium around Russos on the Delta.

toddmc · Post by **toddmc** » Sat Oct 27, 2018 8:32 am

This is only one study. I have read other studies that suggest the opposite. Regardless, weigh-in fish should be distributed around the lake. This is why the MLF format is a better tournament format for the fish.

WRB · Post by **WRB** » Sat Oct 27, 2018 9:10 am

In SoCal a bass traveling 1 to 2 miles is from one end of the lake to opposite end!
Lots of tagging tracking studies have been performed over the years and Black bass of all species tend to behave differently depending on the lakes size, depth, prey sources etc. if a good prey source is nearby with shelter, no reason for bass to travel back where it was caught....but some do.
Tom

Fishfreq · Post by **Fishfreq** » Sat Oct 27, 2018 1:12 pm

Couldn't read Terry's story cuz I didn't wanna turn off my popup blocker, but any study on Shasta that's mostly smallmouth musta been done decades ago, and I'm gonna guess under the watchful eye of Dennis Lee, who really cared about the warm water fisheries around us.

That's nothing new, bass are lazy like us; from the couch, to the fridge, maybe the breakfast table, take a nap on the couch. Eat some popcorn...

Now in our big lakes that go up and down a lot, or have lots of flow, I'll bet they move farther, or else every tournament around peak season would be won fishing the 'meat wall' outside the 5 mph buoys.

MGJR · Post by **MGJR** » Sat Oct 27, 2018 3:00 pm

Would love to see more Cali specific research. This study is a bit dated, but does provide some interesting results. The research is a bit mixed among species, waters, etc. If fish were to concentrate, we would see huge concentrations of fish around marinas and Ramps, which we don’t typically do. I’m a big proponent of releasing of the “mid lake” or neutral areas, to allow the fish to disperse “naturally.”

WRB · Post by **WRB** » Sat Oct 27, 2018 7:10 pm

WONBass had a release boat that distributed tournament caught bass around the lake in lieu of releasing in the marina weigh in areas.
Most tracking studies were about behavior, not tournament caught released bass in California.
Texas Parks and Rec has performed several tournament released bass studies worth reading.
Tom

DanIsaac · Post by **DanIsaac** » Sat Oct 27, 2018 9:35 pm

New York, Michigan, and Minnesota have all published similar studies with nearly the same results. I can tell you firsthand that the Redbud arm hasn't fished anything like it used to once all of the larger tournaments and TOCS
began going out of the northend exclusively.

It would be nice if DFW made the permits for Clear Lake site specific and mixed it up (north/south) for the sake of the lake as a whole, but that will probably never happen.

Dan

R. Duzac · Post by **R. Duzac** » Tue Oct 30, 2018 8:42 am

I could also remember when Big Break was an awesome place to fish when all the tournaments went out of there.
Always loaded with fish.

Bass boy dave · Post by **Bass boy dave** » Tue Oct 30, 2018 1:30 pm

I was having this same conversation on the boat over the weekend. at berryessa we would never fish the narrows unless it was really tough. and with the increased number of tournaments now on the lake you have just as good a chance of breaking 20 lbs in there as you do the main lake.