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| FishTails |
Conservation Update
Bass Heading Home: Part 1
[March 18, 2002] by Jim Summers, WVBF Conservation Director
First I would like to thank Mr. Douglas Stang, Chief of the Bureau of Fisheries for the State of New York for giving
me permission to use his manuscript to try to answer some of your questions about tournament released bass and
do they really head for home.
The New York Fisheries people chose four popular black bass fishing waters to monitor post-tournament movement
and dispersal from the weigh-in site. The St Lawrence River study area encompassed eastern Lake Ontario and the
New York portion of the St Lawrence River from it source to approximately 37.2 miles downstream. The tournament
weigh-in and release site was located on French Creek, a tributary of the river approximately 16 miles downstream
from Lake Ontario.
Cayuga Lake is a 42,590-acre natural Lake located in central New York with a shoreline length of 89 miles and because
of the habitat of the lake black bass are limited to the shoreline and the northern 6605 acres of the lake.
Saratoga Lake is a 3763-acre natural lake in northeastern New York with a shoreline of approx. 12.5 miles more
like the size we are use to here in West Virginia.
The Hudson River study area encompassed the upper 110 miles of the tidal estuarine reach of the river (approx.
40,000 acres) and the tidal portions of four of its larger tributaries. The release site was in Catskill Creek
500 to 600 yards north of the mouth of the creek.
Radio telemetry procedures were similar for each study and tournament anglers identified the capture location of
each fish. Transmitters were attached to fish after the tournament weigh-in and all fish were released at the weigh-in
site except at Saratoga Lake where 3 fish were released out into the lake. This was done to evaluate the difference
in fish released into the lake and fish released in an outlet to the lake.
The results on the St Lawrence River were as follows. During the first 2 days after release, the radio tagged fish
did not make any significant movements away from the release site. The smallmouth bass congregated near the confluence
of French Creek and French Creek Bay 3 days after release. About 4-9 days after release, all the smallmouth bass
moved from French Creek to the Bay and the main body of the St Lawrence River. After becoming established in deeper
water in the Bay four of the five smallmouth bass showed little movement for the next 8-10 days. One smallmouth
returned to its capture location 2.3 miles downstream from the release site 4 days after its release. Four of the
five largemouth bass remained in French Creek for the initial 14 day tracking period. One largemouth bass was located
12.2 miles downstream from the release site 9 days after release and returned to within 1.5 miles of the release
site 48 days post release. So I guess we can assume bass don't really head for home at least not on the St Lawrence
River because of the 10 fish in the study; after nine months seven of the fish were located alive, one was within
4 miles of the release site and six others within 1.5 miles of the site of release. The final locations of the
bass were 11.5 to 49 miles from their respective capture sites.
On Cayuga Lake after release, the radio tagged largemouth bass moved into habitat less than 6 tenths of a mile
of shore from the release site. Mean distance from the point of release 24 hours after release was 330yards. Fish
did not move substantially farther over the next two weeks. Mean distance from the release point for most fish
increased to only 440 to 550 yards. Two fish dispersed .8 tenths of a mile and 1.3 miles from the release point
during the initial 14 day period. From 29 to 46 days after release, mean distance from the release site increased
from 6 to 8 tenths of a mile. Seventy-five days after the tournament, the mean distance from the release site was
1.4 miles. Distance from the release site and the location of tagged fish 76 days after release were compared to
the distance to capture site for each fish to determine if tagged fish were homing back to their area of capture.
Six of the nine fish with known capture locations moved closer to their capture sites a mean distance of 9 tenths
of a mile, whereas three other fish moved away from their capture site a mean distance of 1.3 miles. In general
the fish did not appear to exhibit a homing tendency because 2.5 months after release, the mean distance from the
capture site 4 miles was equivalent to that on the release date of 4.2 miles. Of the seven fish that were located
221 days after release, five were within 1.2 miles of the release site four of which were within 6 tenths of a
mile from the release site. Mean distance from the release site for the five largemouth bass located 277 days and
295 days after release were 1.2 and 1.4 miles respectively. Only one fish returned to the vicinity of its capture
site 6 tenths of a mile due east of the release site 221 days after release.
Saratoga Lake during the first 2 weeks after release, seven largemouth bass remained within 6 tenths of a mile
of the release site, two others were less than 1.2 miles away and one bass moved 4.5 miles to its capture site
in 4 days. One fish was found dead 2 days after release and one fish was harvested 8 days after release. Between
15 to 36 days after release, the average distance from the release site increased from 1.2 miles to 1.5 miles.
Fish were harvested on the 23rd and 24th days after release. By 151 days after release, the average distance from
the release site increased to 2.7 miles, also two largemouth bass were harvested 43 and 96 days after release.
Two fish caught and released in the outlet returned to within 100 meters of the location where they were caught.
These fish returned 760 yards and 1.7 miles to their capture sites 9 days and 23 days after release. Remember the
3 bass I said were released into the lake at a site other than the weigh-in site? Well, their movement was not
more pronounced than the fish caught and released at the weigh-in site. Thirty-six days after release, lake caught
and released fish averaged ½ mile from the release site compared to 8 tenths of a mile for fish caught and
released at the weigh-in site (excluding one fish that moved 4.3 miles.
Hudson River-All four radio-tagged largemouth bass remained near the release site for approximately 1 month and
two of these fish never left Catskill Creek during the 40-day tracking period. After 1 month, two fish moved out
of the creek 3.4 miles and 15.5 miles to the south and remained there through the end of the tracking period (3
weeks). At the end of the tracking period, these fish were 7.8 and 30.4 miles away from their respective capture
sites. NO fish returned to their capture site during the tracking period of 40 days in 1989.
So, my friends, to make a longer story a little shorter only 1 of 5 smallmouth bass and 7 of 37 largemouth bass
returned to their capture sites after release at tournament weigh-in sites, including 2 largemouth bass whose capture
sites were only 6 tenths of a mile from the release site. Thirty-two black bass either remained at their release
site or moved very short distances. One bass moved more than 11.8 miles from the release site and then returned
to less than 1.8 miles from the release site. Most largemouth 94% and smallmouth bass 80% that were relocated were
displaced for more than 20 days form the site where they were captured by anglers. The relocation of black bass
has potential significance only if substantial portions of populations are affected. The relocation of black bass
at anytime increases energy requirements and may increase vulnerability to capture and exploitation. These studies
show that many smallmouth and largemouth bass remain near their release site for at least 2 to 4 weeks, and anglers
are aware of these concentrations, thereby increasing the potential for the exploitation or at a minimum repeated
capture. The recommendations that came out of this study were that tournament organizers should be encouraged to
disperse fish away from the weigh-in site to minimize high concentrations of black bass being susceptible to exploitation,
provided the fish are transported at low density in aerated or oxygenated livewells. Most state agencies require
permits for fishing tournaments or otherwise regulate them; dispersal of fish after tournaments may be a permit
condition. Limits may be established on the number of tournaments originating from a single site or area within
a water body. Fisheries managers should also encourage "golden rule" tournaments where participants measure,
immediately release, and record their catch. Hooking stress alone is not directly responsible for acute or delayed
mortality, this type of tournament alleviates tournament induced mortality of black bass, relocation of fish and
concentrations of bass near the weigh-in sites.
The study also indicated that some of the radio tagged fish could have been fish that were already displaced by
tournament fishermen and further studies could be done on waters with very little or no tournament activity. Well,
my friends there it is. I am sure you now have enough information to draw your own conclusions about the question
of BASS HEADING HOME. Good Luck to all of you and I hope to see you all on the tournament trail somewhere this
year. God bless and keep you and your families safe.
JIM |
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