What's your thoughts on bed fishing?

Is there any other species?
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joeyblackwood
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What's your thoughts on bed fishing?

Post by joeyblackwood » Wed Mar 18, 2015 2:40 pm

Most of us have done it I'm sure but isn't it detrimental to the future bass population from the trauma caused to the fish and the heightened chances they abandon the beds? Should it be made illegal for tournaments since there isn't any real skills involved? All one has to do is toss the lure on the bed. Just thinking out loud. What say you?

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Re: What's your thoughts on bed fishing?

Post by MRQturbo » Wed Mar 18, 2015 3:47 pm

there would be no way to enforce this in tournaments.....up here in canada, bass season is closed during the spawn, we aren't allowed to fish for them during this time...

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mhood
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Re: What's your thoughts on bed fishing?

Post by mhood » Wed Mar 18, 2015 10:08 pm

Personally, I'm uhginit. :evil:

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Re: What's your thoughts on bed fishing?

Post by Garfisher » Wed Mar 18, 2015 10:12 pm

Smallies usually stay on their nests if they've been captured once or twice, however if they're really pounded they will leave. Fry predation is also a factor, on lakes that don't have many egg predators like gobies or sunfish, usually not many eggs/fry are lost while a fish is off it's nest provided it's released quickly and not thrown in a livewell. However, if there are a lot of predators around, having a massive loss of eggs or fry increases the chance of the male abandoning it's nest.

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Re: What's your thoughts on bed fishing?

Post by Heronimo » Thu Mar 19, 2015 12:28 am

I personally don't do it. In NJ, they close bodies of water during trout stocking, why not close bass fishing for a couple of weeks during the spawn?

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Re: What's your thoughts on bed fishing?

Post by JerryC » Thu Mar 19, 2015 12:43 am

Heronimo wrote:I personally don't do it. In NJ, they close bodies of water during trout stocking, why not close bass fishing for a couple of weeks during the spawn?
Agreed.. Where I fish in NJ the lakes are pretty stained so its hard to site fish. But they do close a lot of the trout stocked waters as Heronimo said. I'll usually head to a nearby river to fish when the lakes are closed off..

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Re: What's your thoughts on bed fishing?

Post by Jeffbro999 » Thu Mar 19, 2015 1:06 am

Here in Florida, we have so much vegetation it would be impossible to catch even a small percentage of bed fish each year, they have to many places to hide. It would be a lot worse for lakes that lack cover. Even then there are a lot of fish that never get caught during the spawn. A lot of fish will go right back to the bed after release if they are locked on it. Have seen catch the same fish 2 or 3 times in a row. I don't do it, we like catching the big girls cruising around the spawning areas but I don't have a problem with it.

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Re: What's your thoughts on bed fishing?

Post by toddmc » Fri Mar 27, 2015 1:16 am

It's not much of an issue on very large lakes with lots of cover. It's a big issue on small lakes with not much cover and lots of fish being taken to the weigh in. Bass are cannibals also, and they will eat what is available. I doubt many people consider that they are taking away a food source by bed fishing, but they are.

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Re: What's your thoughts on bed fishing?

Post by joeyblackwood » Fri Mar 27, 2015 2:10 pm

toddmc wrote:It's not much of an issue on very large lakes with lots of cover. It's a big issue on small lakes with not much cover and lots of fish being taken to the weigh in. Bass are cannibals also, and they will eat what is available. I doubt many people consider that they are taking away a food source by bed fishing, but they are.
Many of the lakes in San Diego County are crystal clear so its very simple to sight fish and some people will target the same bass many times over. Even the San Diego River is clear this time of year since we get so little rain.

With the reservoirs so clear and so much fishing pressure, bed fishing is almost the only option to actually catch a fish. I cannot count how many times I've been to Lake Dixon (where the ACTUAL world record sized bass was caught and released) and spent the whole day there with nearly 100 other anglers and not one of us caught a single fish, not even a bite. The fish are numb to anything artificial except for when spawning. The world record was caught on a bed.

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Re: What's your thoughts on bed fishing?

Post by MTBF » Fri Mar 27, 2015 9:22 pm

Fun but not fun for me. I got to experience this in New York on Chatauqua Lake a few springs ago. It was May and fish were spawning and pre spawn, some were post spawn. Regardless we did a fair share of "drop shot" bed fishing. Still doesn't seem right to me, most of the days I threw a crank bait and caught good solid fish but the big smallies were on beds getting ready. It was CPR fishing at it's best.

To me bed fishing is 1 spot staring at a fish casting and casting for it to bite. I like working cover where I can't see them, or fishing open water with any technique...you feel the fish bite and see it later. To me, this is more fun and good traditional fishing.

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Re: What's your thoughts on bed fishing?

Post by toddmc » Sat Mar 28, 2015 3:52 am

joeyblackwood wrote:
toddmc wrote:It's not much of an issue on very large lakes with lots of cover. It's a big issue on small lakes with not much cover and lots of fish being taken to the weigh in. Bass are cannibals also, and they will eat what is available. I doubt many people consider that they are taking away a food source by bed fishing, but they are.
Many of the lakes in San Diego County are crystal clear so its very simple to sight fish and some people will target the same bass many times over. Even the San Diego River is clear this time of year since we get so little rain.

With the reservoirs so clear and so much fishing pressure, bed fishing is almost the only option to actually catch a fish. I cannot count how many times I've been to Lake Dixon (where the ACTUAL world record sized bass was caught and released) and spent the whole day there with nearly 100 other anglers and not one of us caught a single fish, not even a bite. The fish are numb to anything artificial except for when spawning. The world record was caught on a bed.
I feel your pain as I am a SoCal angler also. I'm not saying don't bedfish, but the fish need to be released very quickly. I've been doing it for many decades and most go right back to the beds with no harm, but tournaments and meat fisherman during the spawn can be very detrimental on smaller lakes. I make a point to tell young anglers to make sure they release all fish when I see them on small city lakes or my golf course ponds. Cameras on phones are helping kids release more fish because they can still show people without killing the fish.

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Re: What's your thoughts on bed fishing?

Post by Johnny A » Sat Mar 28, 2015 4:13 am

I'm not against it. I'd like to know how the Hell they do it! Two of the most difficult times for me to pick'em up is pre-spawn cruisers and on the bed spawners! Fortunately, as mentioned above, NJ doesn't have the clearest water for it.

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Re: What's your thoughts on bed fishing?

Post by GOOD YEAR 71 » Sat Mar 28, 2015 5:25 am

Not my style and I refuse to do it. I let them bed in peace and I'm delighted when others do the same.

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Re: What's your thoughts on bed fishing?

Post by QUAKEnSHAKE » Sat Mar 28, 2015 7:04 am

Im after anything that will bite bed or no bed.

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Re: What's your thoughts on bed fishing?

Post by trent_s » Sun Mar 29, 2015 2:24 am

The above post is what's wrong with bass fishing, and attitudes towards bass.

I believe it's absolutely disgusting what tournaments do to fish, especially the "big" fish. Even if that female lives, swims back across the lake to her bed, the fry are all likely eaten. And large fish have better genes, it's just evolution. So instead we create an environment where the weakest (worst genes) are at an advantage, because stunts get thrown back.

In trout fishing you aren't even allowed to fully remove fish from the water in some blue ribbon streams. But for some reason bass fishing seems to attract the "NASCAR" brand of fisherman. It's absolutely ruining bass fishing, and is deplorable.

I don't think anyone should bed fish, but if you do turn her loose right away and let her get back to the nest. And tournaments should absolutely be shut down during spawn. I've hated this aspect of "bassing" for years.

And with the technology today, it's absolutely possible to hold tournaments where fish aren't kept, and can be weighed, measured, girthed right in front of an onboat camera, and released. The big weigh ins with huge fish being beat around in plastic bags is just for the fans anway.

Now every tournament fisherman is going to throw the keyboard at me. But we all know it's true, whether we admit it or not.

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