A smallmouth bass fishing enthusiast recently sent us an email recommending that the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission restrict fishing to catch and release only on Crooked Creek.
He said this is necessary because he believes anglers are removing too many smallmouths from the creek.
A tagging survey and creel survey recently conducted by the Game and Fish Commission refutes that perception.
Vic DiCenzo, chief of fisheries for the Game and Fish Commission, briefed the commission during its monthly meeting in Ponca on a tagging study and angler satisfaction survey conducted on Crooked Creek.
The commission determined that anglers from 11 states invested 20,521 hours of fishing divided among 4,809 fishing trips. The overwhelming majority -- 71% -- targeted smallmouth bass and contributed about $300,000 to the local economy.
Anglers reported catching 25,986 smallmouth bass. They kept 0.
Of course, most of those reports came from recreational anglers, most of which do not keep smallmouth bass. It does not account for local anglers that target smallmouth bass to eat.
For the tagging study, commission employees attached tags to 195 smallmouth bass. Anglers that called in the tag numbers to the Game and Fish Commission got a $100 reward, so anglers were highly motivated to cooperate. Anglers from seven states harvested eight smallmouth bass, an exploitation rate of only 5%.
Read it all: https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/202 ... ting-bass/
Advertising
Copyright © 2013-2025 WesternBass.com ®