It’s a bass angler’s tangible sign of success, the roughed-up thumb.
Is it also evidence of a problem?
Lots of fishermen are thinking of bass right now, to judge things based on activity at sport shows. The Hawg Tank at the Great American Outdoor Show – being held through Feb. 11 in Harrisburg – was constantly busy this week, hosting to seminars on where to find bass and how to catch them. All around, anglers were buying up bass lures of all kinds, too, not to mention rods, reels and line.
No one was talking about the hows and whys of holding bass.
The study
That’s been the subject of research lately, though. And what scientists determined is that, when it comes to holding bass – to remove hooks, take a photo or just admire a fish – lipping them may not be the best way to go.
Researchers from the University of Florida, Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission and Fisheries Conservation Foundation examined 99 bass. The fish weighed between 2.5 and 8.5 pounds.
All were handled in one of three ways. Some were lifted by the lower lip and held vertically; some were lifted by the lower lip and then tilted so that they were horizontal, just like some anglers hold them for photos; and some were cradled, or held horizontally, with one hand on the lower lip and another supporting the fish’s belly.
Each fish was held out of the water for one minute.
They were then released and observed. Scientists looked for three things: how quickly they recovered from handling, how fast they went back to feeding and how many, if any, perished as a result of handling.
Results were reported in an article published in 2017 in the “North American Journal of Fisheries Management.”
The results
The tests showed there are differences based on handling.
Bass that were cradled “regained equilibrium” the fastest. They were ready to go in 10 seconds, on average, with none needing more than 60 seconds to get back to normal.
Fish held horizontally by the lip regained equilibrium in 12 seconds, on average. The longest any took to get right was one minute, 36 seconds.
Interestingly, fish hoisted horizontally needed 33 seconds, on average, to return to normal. Some took as long as six minutes.
All of the bass, regardless of how held, were able to feed within 48 hours with equal success.
Some of the fish, meanwhile, died within 30 days of release. Their deaths were potentially related to handling. Scientists reported seeing symptoms of disease, such as fungus around the eyes and on top of the head.
But, they added, mortality rates were not out of the ordinary.
So does it really matter how anglers are holding bass?
Yes and no, scientists concluded.
None of the three methods of holding bass is particularly bad for fish.
“However, based on our results, we recommend that anglers use two-handed support to handle (bass), thus minimizing the mean amount of time for an individual fish to regain equilibrium after an angling event,” they wrote.
So there may be no wrong way for holding bass. But perhaps some are better than others.
