Took my brother-in-law and his son out for some smallmouth fishing. Over this past year, they both have begun getting real interested in fishing. Both were excited to have a crack at bass fishing, with all their brand new gear, and Lake Chelan did not disappoint them. The mostly post-spawn aggressive males were feeding heavily and taking a 176 grub on a jig. Sand colored Senkos were successful as well. Water temp was 55 to 57. Weather was extremely wet and unstable in the prior 3 days, but had settled enough on Friday, to produce good fishing on Saturday in partly sunny skies, with temps of mid-60's and light breezes. I believe I now have these two hooked on bass fishing, and hopefully this summer I will get to spend more of my favorite pastime with more family members.
As a side note, bass nests were visible everywhere. Out of probably 100 nests we saw, maybe 5 had small males guarding them. Either the spawn is completely over, or the consecutive pounding of the past 4 weeks' bass tournaments has transported all the big females over to the weigh-in at Mill Bay. I should have fished Mill Bay to find out. I would bet this is what happened, because usually the big females are not too far off and at least a handful of them will feed / bite. This was not the case on this trip. Maybe we need to consider limiting tournaments during the spawn. Or, we need to make it mandatory to release the fish where they were caught.

BassnBob

5/30/2010 11:14:00 AM

I love to fish, and I like to catch some BIG ones from time to time as well. Bass are by far my #1 choice and I will say that I do like to eat a few now and then. But I have to say that with all the people moving up to the NW it is past time for us as true fisherman to draw a line in the sand and say stop keeping the fish during the spawn, and please at all times let the bigger fish go. The smaller ones are better for the frying pan anyway. I know it's hard to let that big ol' pig go back in the water after all that work, but without them we will deplete all the breading fish and just end up with a lake full of juvis that are too young to bread, but will over eat all the other smaller game fish before there big enough for us. If we don't do it our self now, the Government will do it for us and shut the fishing down for everyone. It happened back East, and it will happen here. Like most lakes in Minissoda you can catch fish, but by law you can't keep any unless it's the right time of the year. Good for the fish, but not so grate for us. Thanks Fellow Fisherman: BassnBob

MotoBoat

5/31/2010 12:31:00 PM

It interesting to note the bigger fish culled during a bass tournament are transplanted to another part of the lake (near the weigh in) in perhaps large concentrations! Do you know if this concentrations's the spawning in a negative way? Or do the female fish migrate back to where they were originally caught or match up with another suitable male?

Lundegard

5/31/2010 5:45:00 PM

I honestly don't know the answer to the migration question. I find it very difficult to believe that I could take a female smallmouth off of a nest in front of Campbell's Resort, transport it to Mill Bay (5 - 6 miles away), and expect it to find it's original nest in time to spawn successfully. I would think it's more likely that the bass would find another mate and a new nest site. But let's exagerate the example, and imagine a bass taken off of a nest on Banks Lakes' Million Dollar MIle, and transported to Coulee Playland for a weigh-in, then released just out of the boat basin. That's a 16 mile change. Now you're not just talking relocate, you're talking a whole different habitat. I love to fish for bass, and even enjoy a couple tournaments each year. But one thing I'm not sure about is taking bass off the nest. Bob's note about back east is right: many lakes in New York are flat closed to fishing during the bass spawn. We here in Washington do it for steelhead and salmon.......Anyway, thanks for the comments.

MotoBoat

6/1/2010 11:23:00 AM

I had no idea that bass tournaments occurred during the spawn. Therefore, was not aware the many fish caught from one end of the lake or reservoir to the other and everywhere between are released near the location of the weigh inn! It seems more likely than not very disruptive to the fish during a critical time of reproduction. I would think this subject very controversial.

Leave a Comment:

Login

Flag

×

Why is this comment inappropriate?

Close Submit

Delete this comment? Provide reason.

No Yes

Edit

×

Cancel Save