A fight begins. Susquehanna River, PFBC, spawning bass and the people that want to exploit the river

[SteveG]

Foxtrapper, while I have similar feelings as to fishing being turned into a competition, trying to ban it would be impossible. Look at others who use "public" waters e.g. commercial fisherman, fishing guides, boat rentals, even charities. You can't paint with a broad stroke and not have collateral damage.

That being said, I think if there is some profit being made, that there should be a fee to do so (and the proceeds benefit the waterway). Commercial fisherman, guides, and "on the water" businesses pay taxes and various fees to operate. Do tournament organizers have to pay any fees to host a tourney on public water?

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Better article

http://www.dailyitem.com/news/local_news/bass-populations-increasing-in-susquehanna-river/article_535f11ce-f446-51bf-96c0-1cfd0945fe5e.html

 

[gape]

Don't touch those regs.

Guides and bait shop owners weighing in. How ridiculous. These jackasses are only looking at their pocketbooks. Go get a real job if the guiding and tackle shop isn't enough.

 

[Beefheart]

Salvelinus, thanks for bringing this up and for your detailed response to Joe Raymond in the article. You argue the sensible angler's side very well.

I will be writing the PFBC on this issue and will try to attend the late-January meeting as well.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Great. Resource First!
http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/after-complaints-fish-commission-may-again-allow-bass-fishing-in/article_e4242c38-dcf5-11e6-8f22-47bf518983c7.html


In case you didn't know:

http://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/smallmouth-fry.html

After egg laying, the male stays at the nest and protects the eggs by circulating water throughout the nest. Larger males tend to be more protective and aggressive in defense of the nest than smaller males.
In scientific literature, there's conflicting information regarding the benefit to eggs from water circulation due to male activity versus natural water movement and quality. Researchers have removed the male immediately after spawning in a hatchery pond. Nests were isolated with a wire cage to exclude predators and still allowed natural water movement around the eggs. Good hatches were observed from these test nests. Researchers concluded the main function of the male was to protect the eggs and keep them free of sediment and not necessarily aerate them. I suspect that the more turbid a pond, the more important that water circulation from the male's guarding and circular swimming activities becomes as a benefit of keeping settling sediment and detritus from collecting on the eggs and suffocating the embryos.
If eggs or fry lie exposed on the bottom among small sand or fine gravel then they are more vulnerable to being eaten by nest predators. Some nests will lose all eggs to predators. If the male has to only defend the nest from two or three sides, then protection is more successful. This is why a large rock or bulky structure with a half log, or a cover log, are important items to have near the nest.
Whenever the male bass leaves the nest, unattended exposed eggs are quickly eaten by predators. Many small fish such as minnows, perch, bluegill, fingerling bass and even crayfish or large insects prey heavily on eggs or fry when the parental male is distracted or chasing away other nest invaders. Large fry from the first smallie spawn have been seen feeding on new fry from the second nesting or from other fish's nests.
Angling and removing the male from a nest even temporarily in a pond can result in large losses of eggs or fry to the hungry mouths of small predators. It has been estimated that 100 eggs or fry can be consumed during each invasion of small nest raiders. Also, studies have shown that catch-and-release during the guarding stage can cause premature nest abandonment by the male smallie (Suski et al 2003). The largest male bass produce the largest broods and are the most defensive and most likely to be caught by anglers. It is believed that captured and released bass are less able and less willing to protect their brood, especially after exhaustive exercise of fighting the business end of a rod and reel. One study found that displacement of males by angling resulted in empty nests the following day. Angling for bass during spawning season is not beneficial for producing smallie fry.

Hope to see some of you at the meeting if we are allowed to attend.

 

[raftman]

Ugh. Thanks for posting this article Salvelinus. I'll be sure to write and try to attend the meeting.

 

[Fredrick]

This reminds me of crazy people who are fine when they are taking their meds . But they stop taking their meds because they believe that they are cured/fine and don't need the meds anymore. So they eventually go back to being crazy and wonder what happened .

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

http://www.thefishingwire.com/story/393980

Please attend if you can

http://www.fishandboat.com/AboutUs/MinutesAgendas/Documents/agendasDocs/2017-01agd.pdf

Unfortunately it sounds like a done deal.
See you guys during the next population collapse!

 

[Paraleptalata]

I comment very little but this topic is near and dear. I have lived fished and guided on the Juniata for 33 years. It saddens me that these regs for closed season are going by the wayside but it was bound to happen. We have pathetically low number of WCOs in this state. Those WCOs cover huge regions and the Susquehanna and Juniata are big waterways to cover. Not to mention that the closed season was full of holes from the start and WCo had virtually no way to prove someone was bass fishing or the bass was a by catch. Short story is very few abided by the rules. The boat launches up and down the Juniata are full every weekend in the spring. I am certain they are not fishing for carp. It is a law with no way to enforce. Close the river completely to all fishing or not at all. It sucks that this is going away but I doubt it will affect the population to badly. They have rebounded despite consistent nest poaching in recent years. Gear up for the next battle. Catch and Release will be in the cross hairs next and that we really do not want to lose!

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

You may be right but I cannot fathom what metric they used to release this reg. the YOY is simpily not even close to historic numbers yet.
It's all about the money and the guides/shops. It's sickening. You darn right C&R will be next. In the 80's and 90's we never caught the amount of larger bass that I do today.
Give it 5 years, they will be gunning for that one next...

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

PFBC smallmouth bass closed season update.

Today's vote approved to no longer have a closed season. The commission will vote again tomorrow, then it will go to public comment for 60 days, then back to the commission for review and final vote.

It won't happen for 2017. If approved it will take effect for the 2018 season.

Smh...

 

[foxtrapper1972]

In a move to increase fishing opportunity ( I mean license sales)
PA will now look for new ways to turn wild resources into money even at the risk of wrecking the barely recovering (maybe?) fragile fisherie

 

[SurfCowboyXX]

This, combined with the lifting of Clean Water Act protections (first thing the new president did) should really help the fishing in a couple years. Back to the dark ages.

 

[afishinado]

No closed season, which was found to be pretty much unenforceable, but still C&R and no tourneys during spawning season.

Commissioners proposed easing regulations and removing the closed season on Smallmouth and Largemouth Bass in the middle and lower Susquehanna and lower Juniata rivers, allowing anglers to practice catch-and-release fishing for the popular species from May 1 through mid-June. Harvesting would still be prohibited throughout the year, and tournaments would remain banned during the bass spawning period from mid-April to mid-June period, like all other waters of the Commonwealth.

 

[Dave_W]

afishinado wrote:
No closed season, which was found to be pretty much unenforceable, but still C&R and no tourneys during spawning season.

Commissioners proposed easing regulations and removing the closed season on Smallmouth and Largemouth Bass in the middle and lower Susquehanna and lower Juniata rivers, allowing anglers to practice catch-and-release fishing for the popular species from May 1 through mid-June. Harvesting would still be prohibited throughout the year, and tournaments would remain banned during the bass spawning period from mid-April to mid-June period, like all other waters of the Commonwealth.



I can't recall: Are tournaments currently allowed in the pre-spawn period prior to mid-April?

I do see their view that the no-targeting-bass season was largely unenforceable, and I suspect the court case of the guy who posted a bass on Facebook (a case the PFBC lost) may have contributed to the agency's decision to propose dropping this specific part of the regulation.