A random thought on catch and release

[Jim Conlow Sr.]

What I have found over the years is that we have certain baits that are hot for a few years and then start to taper off in their effectiveness.
Several years back before ther advent of the Senko, the brush hog was just about the hottest bait around. But it had started to fade in effectiveness just about the time the Senko started winning tournaments.
Now in my opinion the Senko has began to fade and the brush hog is catching fish again.
Again its just my theory that you sting a fishes mouth with a particular lure a few times and he will stop biting that lure, and the fishermen will for the most part stop using it. Wait a few years until none of the adult fish have seen the formerly effective lure and it will become hot again.
Based on this theory there is another possible conclusion tat we may come to. That theory is that catch and release has another conservation effect, in that we are teaching the fish not to bite things with lines attached, with hooks attached, making rattling noises, when the pings of our sonar are on to be heard, when the rotation of trolling motor props can be heard, when our shadows and the shadows of our boats can be seen, and perhaps a multitude of other factors that we have not yet concieved.

So if what I have just said is true we are in effect teaching the fish not to get caught by those who will kill and eat him. Arent we wonderful to be so concerned about the education of the fish???

Tongue in cheek? Yes but not completely.

[DeltaDan]

Jim- My oldest son and I watched these two boats today "RIP" out undersided Stripes and not release them....


I called the CoCo Boat Sherif with the CF#'s (CF 6024 JF is the Wellcraft if I remember correctly....) They were not in the area-- but would stop by in the area if they make it that far today.


They were using bait on 4' leaders with sliding sinkers it looked like drifting with the tide 300 yards into Dutch Slough from the S Jac River. ~~ These two boats were working toghter as well ~~ As soon as the bite was on on one boat--- The other would get up to it fster than the occupants could reel up and drop their baits again.


They boated 9 undersized Stripes -- if barely leagal sized that I saw first hand.

[NaCl]

...."random thoughts" are what get older citizens placed in special day care centers and diapers! LOL!

.....NaCl

[Fish Chris]

Ahhh Dean ! That was brutal !

Fish

[Jim Conlow Sr.]

6 or 7 years ago up at lake Oroville I saw a big patio boat with a big load of people cruising the lake and dropping off fishermen on strategic points. they had about 12 people that I could count fishing from places on the bank a long way from any trails or roads. The mother ship was circling around every 2 hours or so to pick up the catch. It looked like a commercial operation to me.
I called the fish and game but do not know what the results were.

A few years back there were some commercial type operations on catfish out of Kinocti harbor at Clearlake. the had people catching hundreds of pounds of catfish daily. Fishchris knows about that one, he was there trying to break the lake record for catfish. During that time he and a friend caught over 900 lbs of catfish in a single day. Of course they released all of their catch (so that the commercial guys could earn a living)

It was nice to meet you in person at Inland Marine last week. It's always nice to meet someone that you have come to respect based on their postings here.

You reminded me off my grand father. Not in appearance but because of one of his old cowboy sayings. If my Grand father had ever seen you his comment would have been "Holy @#$% that guy is big enough to eat hay".

[Jim Conlow Sr.]

Yeah Dean some of the elders in my family who are long gone now would probably describe me as someone who was vacinated with a phonograph needle or who was suffering from diarrhea of the mouth.
So far no problem from the other end.

[Jim Conlow Sr.]

One of the advantages of having age related onset dementia, is that by the time your mind realizes that you have been insulted you have already forgotten what you were supposed to be pissed about.
It also comes in very handy when your wife wants you to do unpleasant chores around the house and you just hook up the boat and drive off.

[Fish Chris]

Hey Jim, their have been studies done by In-Fishermen, which seem to indicate exactly what you are suggesting !

The "Mike" said exactly the same thing to me once, about trophy bass, and this he said, was why we have to constantly evolve along with the fish, always trying to stay one step ahead.

Here's a thought too; {not bass, but fish nature in general} Everybody will tell you that Sturgeon have a very sensitive mouth. Okay. But then a whole lot of guys still use steel leaders, and a large percentage of the ones that don't, will use a heavy, stiff, mono leader. Well heck, heavy mono is probably about 90% as detectable to a Sturgeon, as vinyl coated steel is. Oh sure, these leaders still catch fish, but I believe that over many years, the Sturgeon are being trained, to avoid baits with a hook attached, just the way bass are.

So, back to staying one step ahead; I use 130 lb braided TUF-Line as a leader. It's very strong, yet very thin, soft, and limp. Also, I go to great lengths to cover virtually all of the metal of my hook, but at the same time allowing the hook point itself to be wide open, and just looking for something to stick into !

Personally speaking, I believe that the reason a lot of the old time Sturgeon guys, would still catch more Sturgies than me, is because they know the hot feeding spots better than I do (from time on the water) however I believe my bait rigging is far superior for "todays conditioned Sturgeon".

Anyway Jim, yes, fish absolutely do become conditioned. Why do you think that one of my biggest secrets to success has been to always try to do everything differently, or should I say, to never follow the crowd.....

Good fishing to you,
Fish

PS, The fact that "the crowd" is training Largemouths to stay away from "the crowd", could very likely be a good thing for me

Anyway, some fish will be slicker, but their is no such thing as an uncatchable fish !