Food for Thot.

[BuKuBass]

Why smaller bass should be kept and eaten.
The article is long, but if more of us adopted what Wayne advocates, we all would have better bassin'.

Read all about it! (http://www.wayneswords.com/gillnet.htm )

[iangler]

Interesting article. I wonder if this holds true for river bass as well?

[FelonFinder]

This article or its contents were in a fishing journal I read this back in the summer. Of course I'm all for it. Smallmouth are a great tasting fish. Eating the smaller ones from certain bodies of water would probably be a good idea! Although I am also for moderation.

[Jon55]

Thanks for posting Buku. :applause:

I do not believe that we should assume that catch and release is always the right thing to do.

At Foster Lake there is no limit on bass. I assume it is because there are so many that it hurts the steelhead and salmon populations. Just above, at Green Peter the limit is the state norm of 5. Also there the limit on kokanee is a state high 25. My bet is that eventually the kok limit will come down and the bass limit will go up if nature takes its course. Meanwhile, at Selmac the limit is one bass.


Generally speaking, if I want to eat something, I will keep the 11-13" fish and return all the big ones. It makes sence to thin out the smaller ones a bit - especially in an enclosed environment.

Tight lines this year!

[sbasser]

Some pools of the Columbia (and other waters) have enough mercury and other contaminants, that consumption of fish caught from them is recommended to be little or none. :smash: The information on this is in the WA WDF&G Regs, and I'd expect the same for Oregon and Idaho. Check before you keep! :eek: C&R, Steve :passout:

[FelonFinder]

I have not heard of any mercury warnings until Brownlee, all the way from Eastern Idaho along the Snake. I think by the time it gets to the Columbia though, it has picked up enough crap to be a concern. This far inland, and with so little industry, we don't see that problem.

[Lunkerlander]

If you have ever done much fishing on the Umpqua then ya know how great that population of smallies is. The only problem is if you catch 100 fish in a day 96 of them are dinks. On a trip down there with some friends this year I C&R all my bass while my friends were keeping the bigger ones trying to fill there bag limit. I tried giving them a hard time but it didn't work. In a system like the Umpua that is over populated with small fish it makes sense to thin out the dinks. I'd like to see a lot of our fisheries go to a regulation system like that of Oxbow res. C&R untill a certain date (July 1 in Oxbow) then bass under a certain length may be retained. Thats just my thoughts anyway.

[Jon55]

If you have ever done much fishing on the Umpqua then ya know how great that population of smallies is. The only problem is if you catch 100 fish in a day 96 of them are dinks.



So, the question of the thread is, Are there so many dinks in the Umpqua because of smallmouth overcrowding?

:shrug: