2025 Smallie Thread

[Andrwhite610]

Started on the Tully this morning but just wasn’t feeling it. Jumped over to the Skook and got one bite and it was a good one. Caught in shallow riffles which surprised me. It was absolutely a blast with my 5 wt. the fish jumped multiple times. Caught on flashy, white articulating streamer with a cone head and added shot.

 

[wildtrout2]

Started on the Tully this morning but just wasn’t feeling it. Jumped over to the Skook and got one bite and it was a good one. Caught in shallow riffles which surprised me. It was absolutely a blast with my 5 wt. the fish jumped multiple times. Caught on flashy, white articulating streamer with a cone head and added shot. View attachment 1641241753View attachment 1641241754

Damn, what a hog! He's not missing any meals. Congrats. 👍

 

[bdhoover77]

Didn’t mean that you were. Was just bringing up that it seems there is an abundance of anglers taking advantage of the opportunity of obvious spawning locations on the Susky system. I genuinely don’t understand why it’s more accepted to fish on spawning bass than spawning trout.

No worries, I didn’t take it that way. But you do make a good point — spawning bass should not be treated any different than spawning trout.

 

[hooker-of-men]

Some chunkers from lake wading this morning that took a smelt pattern

 

[Mikey2006]

Didn’t mean that you were. Was just bringing up that it seems there is an abundance of anglers taking advantage of the opportunity of obvious spawning locations on the Susky system. I genuinely don’t understand why it’s more accepted to fish on spawning bass than spawning trout.

I mean it’s clear that targeting spawning fish and immediately releasing them usually has no significant effect on a bass fishery. It’s been happening for decades and every basically major event for every major tournament trail in the spring is won targeting spawners. I believe for certain events on the elite series during the spawn they don’t even bring the fish back to weigh in, it’s just catch weigh and release (like MLF is). Point is that it’s been widely accepted since forever and as long as they are immediately released I personally don’t see an issue with it. I find more of an issue with the way many tournaments are done, I think B.A.S.S. should do what MLF has been doing. Although I have fished my fair share of local tournaments so I can’t really judge them for that.

I don’t fish for spawning trout because I feel like catching the spawners (especially the big, older fish) can be seriously harmful to them. Some of them probably migrated a long way to get to where they are spawning and the last thing you want is for them to get scared off the redd, or worse, killed due to exhaustion. With bass that isn’t as much of a concern.

I will say that there is zero scientific basis for anything I just said and I could be horribly wrong about this, but that’s just my opinion based of what I’ve observed

 

[Andrwhite610]

I mean it’s clear that targeting spawning fish and immediately releasing them usually has no significant effect on a bass fishery. It’s been happening for decades and every basically major event for every major tournament trail in the spring is won targeting spawners. I believe for certain events on the elite series during the spawn they don’t even bring the fish back to weigh in, it’s just catch weigh and release (like MLF is). Point is that it’s been widely accepted since forever and as long as they are immediately released I personally don’t see an issue with it. I find more of an issue with the way many tournaments are done, I think B.A.S.S. should do what MLF has been doing. Although I have fished my fair share of local tournaments so I can’t really judge them for that.

I don’t fish for spawning trout because I feel like catching the spawners (especially the big, older fish) can be seriously harmful to them. Some of them probably migrated a long way to get to where they are spawning and the last thing you want is for them to get scared off the redd, or worse, killed due to exhaustion. With bass that isn’t as much of a concern.

I will say that there is zero scientific basis for anything I just said and I could be horribly wrong about this, but that’s just my opinion based of what I’ve observed

Yea I know it’s old news really and I’m not ferociously against it. When you see ten boats at a creek mouth, especially guides and kayaks running up the creeks hammering 100+ fish it seems at least questionable to me.

The live well tournament stuff is kinda wack. The catch weigh release or catch photo release like done in the kayak tournaments is far better. Also those flogger things they use to fish beds is a little ridiculous. And the sonar and live scope, it’s all pretty crazy.

 

[sixfootfenwick]

I mean it’s clear that targeting spawning fish and immediately releasing them usually has no significant effect on a bass fishery. It’s been happening for decades and every basically major event for every major tournament trail in the spring is won targeting spawners. I believe for certain events on the elite series during the spawn they don’t even bring the fish back to weigh in, it’s just catch weigh and release (like MLF is). Point is that it’s been widely accepted since forever and as long as they are immediately released I personally don’t see an issue with it. I find more of an issue with the way many tournaments are done, I think B.A.S.S. should do what MLF has been doing. Although I have fished my fair share of local tournaments so I can’t really judge them for that.

I don’t fish for spawning trout because I feel like catching the spawners (especially the big, older fish) can be seriously harmful to them. Some of them probably migrated a long way to get to where they are spawning and the last thing you want is for them to get scared off the redd, or worse, killed due to exhaustion. With bass that isn’t as much of a concern.

I will say that there is zero scientific basis for anything I just said and I could be horribly wrong about this, but that’s just my opinion based of what I’ve observed

The potential harms associated with bed fishing were first mentioned over 50 years ago (Kramer and Smith 1962). The principle concern associated with bed fishing is that if a nest-guarding bass is captured, predators will consume the unprotected eggs and fry. If substantial numbers of eggs and fry are lost to predation, then the abundance of juvenile bass produced that year may be low. Prolonged reductions in juvenile production could in theory lead to decreases in overall bass numbers because too few new bass would remain to replace the adults that die due to natural or fishing-related causes. Much of the research on bed fishing impacts has been conducted on the sister species of the Florida bass, the largemouth bass, in northern portions of the United States (Illinois) and southern Ontario (e.g., Philipp et al. 1997). Until recently, it was unknown whether impacts at the individual level, such as the loss of a single nest to bed fishing, scale to population-level harm. That is, does the number of juveniles in subsequent years decline as a result of the loss of one or a few nests?

No.

It is logical to conclude however that the morons, in herd, running their boats by, pass after pass, targeting spawning beds in a single river system likely do damage to smallmouth bass populations.

 

[nymphingmaniac]

I have often thought the same as andrwhite. thinking about overall handling I'm guilty of- I cradle and ease a trout back into the water. I tend to just place a SMB back in the water unless it was a long fight. This may be reinforced by observation. A released trout meanders and goes away. Some move to the side and rests. Most bass immediately dart off.
a few more theories
as evidenced by another post over which pulls harder, SMB are thought to be tougher, stronger. Maybe if I get some time I'll try to look into scientific evidence that suggests this to be true.
I have often said that we overestimate the fragility of trout- this is not advocating for fishing over spawning trout or mishandling them.
It may have to do with differences in spawning behavior and time. Trout may be more exposed in the low clear water in November. Trout migrated and built beds during a more stressful time and thus are more susceptible to being stressed during spawning
after being disturbed bass might immediately return to the bed. Trout scatter more and take longer to return.
Perhaps we can just see trout better and are more aware?
scientifically, is there a difference in rate of spawning success of SMB vs trout?
Trout tend to be overplayed because of light lines, especially in low Nov water. Bass are landed more quickly on heavier lines

Finally, angler perception and one group being more (or overly, depending on your perspective) conscience. Some of this is sound practice, others not. I guess I'm a control experiment, but an N=1. Same fisherman, just a different behavior and perceptions of the two fish.

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