Wickiup Bass Fishing Regulation Proposal!

[Senko86]

Bass Anglers this is your chance to help protect an amazing bass fishery in the state of Oregon.

At one point Wickiup had the highest average weight per bass caught during tournaments held there per ODFW Records. In recent years that average has dropped 26% which indicates over harvest - the head Biologist was asked if there was any other confirmed study indicating other reasons for the decline and he admitted that there were none.

Chuck Lang and the Central Oregon Bass Club submitted a proposal to ODFW to adopt the state bag limit - 5 bass no more than 3 over 15 inches - for Wickiup as there is no current limit and each fall at low pool buckets of LM leave the lake by bank fisherman. There will be several meetings held by ODFW throughout the state one of which has already happened in Bend. At this meeting there were many people strongly opposing this regulation change of which were many trout fisherman and fly fishing guides that showed a blind hatred towards bass and many of there points had no scientific information to back them. The main comments were focused on the fact that the bass were introduced and should not be there so people should just get rid of them to help the trout fishery. There is one huge problem with this thought, bass are there they cannot be removed unless Crane Prairie and Wickiup Res are completely drained and killed. This solution would destroy both the bass and the trout fishery and would cost a crazy sum of money and truely is not a feasible solution. If the bass in Wickiup are subject to continued unregulated over harvest the larger fish will be removed by the bucket brigade slowy stunting the population and resulting in an over abundance of smaller bass that are not harvested. This would destroy a trophy bass fishery and still not accomplish the protection of the trout fishery.

How can you help? Attend your local meeting and voice your support for the proposal and help prevent unsound logic from destroying an amazing bass fishery. It is only a few hours of your time and can help save Wickiup from a fading future. If you cannot attend you can also write ODFW voicing your support!

I will post the meeting schedules and the contact information where you can write to soon.

Thanks for YOUR Support!

Sincerely,

A Concerned Bass Angler

[MXRacer105]

Good man.

I will bet you, however, that this thread turns into a cluster soon, due to people with the same mentality as those you encountered at the meeting.

Bass hating idiots I like to call them.

[sheepdog-dad]

I for one enjoy being able to catch big fat bows and bass at the same lake on the same day.

I say 'Slot Limit'. Take the medium sized fish and leave the babies and biggies!

Sheepdog-dad
no I don't have a sheep dog. Sheepdog-dad = Marine dad

[tsohg76]

I love the Wickiup Bass Fishery and the Kokanee and the Brown. What i find funny is that Wickiup is not that great of a fly lake. But it was fly anglers who were so adamant about the proposal. Not regulating Bass in Wickiup hurts trout more then it hurts bass. thanks Senko for your post!

[SOBass]

Good heads up! I will likely not make it to a meeting, but I will try to write ODFW on the matter. I completely agree that just trying to eliminate the bass at this point makes no sense. I understand why trout fishermen are upset, but there is some benefit to the bass being there. The large trout survive since most of them will not be devoured by even the largest of bass. The bass will eat alot of the smaller trout, limiting the population of trout. This is not necessarily bad. It becomes a tougher fishery, but less people fishing it due to the lower numbers of fish. This also means less pressure on the fishery, possibly making it a little less difficult to locate and hook into trophy-sized fish.
I, personally, have not fished Wickiup, but I am going camping in LaPine in July and am looking forward to giving Wickiup a try. I know it is supposed to be worth the short trip.

[luvs2fish]

I see no issue with no limit on the LM, I enjoy catching them and personally do not keep them. If you guys wanna catch some of the largest LM in that area go focus on Davis Lake and petition that place to be available to the use of Lures along with the current ONLY Flyfishing gear. That would make more sense to me. Seems like some priorities are a bit miscued and Bias.

[tsohg76]

Originally Posted by luvs2fish

I see no issue with no limit on the LM, I enjoy catching them and personally do not keep them. If you guys wanna catch some of the largest LM in that area go focus on Davis Lake and petition that place to be available to the use of Lures along with the current ONLY Flyfishing gear. That would make more sense to me. Seems like some priorities are a bit miscued and Bias.

I agree the bias of the trout anglers is very adversarial and juvenile. Not managing bass in davis or wickiup will not benefit the fishery at all. We only want to protect the great fishery we have, and make it viable for everyone.

[builder]

Wickiup is a trophy trout and kokanee fishery. There are plenty of other places for bass but very few trophy trout lakes. I have never caught a bass in there as i target big browns almost exclusively when I fish there. If I ever do catch any bass in there I will defiantly not return them to the lake.

[SOBass]

Originally Posted by builder

Wickiup is a trophy trout and kokanee fishery. There are plenty of other places for bass but very few trophy trout lakes. I have never caught a bass in there as i target big browns almost exclusively when I fish there. If I ever do catch any bass in there I will defiantly not return them to the lake.

It was inevitable... someone posting that probably should stay out of this thread altogether.

[tsohg76]

Fished Wickiup since '85, love my browns and love my kokanee. The bass fishing there is fantastic and has some great potential. It just needs managed, managing the bass there benefits all three species. Not managing the bass there hurts. Why people do not see that amazes me. But everyone is entitled to their own opinion.