Bass tournaments before June 15th ??

[AndyS]

Bass tournaments before June 15th. The New Jersey Freshwater Fishing Digest containing all the rules and regulations for fishing : April 15th to June 15th bass fishing is catch and release only. I see videos of people stuffing bass into their live wells already ?? How can people hold a tournament when the season is closed ??

[NJSquatch]

i have always wonder this as well

[Wilson]

It's catch, photo, release (i hope alive and well) and then Facebook
Nothing like rolling up at MCR at O' dark thirty and having to wait for $500,000.00 worth bass tournament boat guys to launch

[thmyorke1]

What are your thoughts the rule? I figured there's plenty of bass and fishing the spawn helps control over-populating.

Yet again I'm not sure how the populations are going in the state. Probably vary by water.

[Charlie B]

Anyone know the release mortality rate of bass kept in a live well for any time? It may be very low I don't know...Charlie

[Eskimo]

Originally Posted by thmyorke1

What are your thoughts the rule? I figured there's plenty of bass and fishing the spawn helps control over-populating.

Yet again I'm not sure how the populations are going in the state. Probably vary by water.

I don't know. Since New Jersey is the most crowded state in the U.S. and one one of the most densely-populated areas of the world, we definitely don't have an issue with bass being under-fished and overpopulated.

In my opinion, the harvest restrictions set by Fish & Wildlife are far too liberal to be sustainable and the only reason we have bass fishing in New Jersey public waters is because the majority of skilled bass fishermen are of good character and practice catch & release.


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[thmyorke1]

Originally Posted by Eskimo

I don't know. Since New Jersey is the most crowded state in the U.S. and one one of the most densely-populated areas of the world, we definitely don't have an issue with bass being under-fished and overpopulated.

In my opinion, the harvest restrictions set by Fish & Wildlife are far too liberal to be sustainable and the only reason we have bass fishing in New Jersey public waters is because the majority of skilled bass fishermen are of good character and practice catch & release.


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Good point. I thought the harvest restrictions are pretty strict. Would you say they should be stricter, how so? I think it depends on water, for bass. Ponds are totally different from the Raritan river for example

[trout taco]

I used to belong to a bass club and these closed season tournaments are "paper weigh-in's". Basically you catch a fish weigh and measure it and the five biggest are your "bag" for the day. Very lame. Not sure about fish going in live wells.

Most fisheries when there's a closed season not only can't you have C&R tournaments you can't target the species period. Doing so is considered fishing for them during the closure and subject to some heavy fines. No different than people in salt water trying to fish over the 3 mile line for stripers or small mouth fishing in NY at Lake George before the season is opened. If you're caught targeting, your fined whether you have possession or not. You're fined in NY even if you never had a hit but it appears you're targeting smallies before the opener. I was at Lake Hopatcong two weeks ago and stopped at Lake's End marina. There had to be 10 bass boats fishing that cove! Asked the owner and he said there's bass tournaments just about every week. Don't agree with NJF&G on this one. If the season is closed. especially during the spawn, it should be closed to everyone.

Originally Posted by trout taco

I used to belong to a bass club and these closed season tournaments are "paper weigh-in's". Basically you catch a fish weigh and measure it and the five biggest are your "bag" for the day. Very lame. Not sure about fish going in live wells.

Agree with you and in my opinion that practice puts a lot more pressure on already stressed enforcement agencies to patrol the waters. If the season is closed to protect the spawn, which I assume is the case, no fishing should be allowed. The concern in addition to the practice is what impact does it have on the spawn itself either in stressing the fish out and effecting reproduction or taking females away from the beds and exposing eggs to predator fish.