RE: Chaconas opinion – Capt. Steve Chaconas wrote an impassioned response to the problem of undue handling stress on bass by professional anglers. Reducing handling stress is one of the continuing goals of largemouth bass population management (as emphasized recently by Julie Claussen in Black Bass Diversity: Multidisiplinary Science for Conservation). To continue progress toward that goal, organizations such as B.A.S.S. are working with resource agencies across the country to minimize angling stress on bass and conserve populations of bass for future anglers. Such collaborations infuse the latest scientific results into updates of classic guides such as Keeping Bass Alive and suggestions from resource agencies to anglers. Encouraging anglers to consider these results when handling fish can be a challenge, particularly when existing avenues for outreach are insufficient or ineffective.
As Chaconas noted, exposing multiple largemouth bass simultaneously to the air by laying them on the carpet of a boat can be a problem. Exposure to air can lead to respiratory stress, drying or loss of the mucus coat, and ultimately to bacterial infections, disease, and more severely, to death. Several studies across the country have demonstrated that even though fish swim away alive, more can die once they are released than at the scales. The fish that die at the scales are often those from anglers who have malfunctioning live wells or have not provided good water exchanges, good water temperatures and recirculation.
The tough fish that die after they are released are typically those that suffer delayed mortality and have been stressed by the livewell and handled inappropriately during the tournament. A goal of managing bass populations has been to lower delayed mortality by researching the best ways to handle bass while they are in the care of the angler. Anglers will help reduce delayed mortality of otherwise tough fish by significantly minimizing the time the fish is exposed to air and the time the fish is handled by human hands. Additional information on reducing delayed mortality and conserving populations of bass for other anglers can be found at: http://dnr2.maryland.gov/fisheries/Pages/bass/ta.aspx.
A stressed bass may not die, of course. Delayed mortality depends on size of the fish, season of fishing and pre-existing conditions of both the bass and the water. In my experience, more larger bass typically die from oxygen deprivation than smaller (12- to 14-inch) bass. Bass that are caught and released during summer are also more likely to die from stress than those caught during early spring.
A common pre-existing condition is the occurrence of Largemouth Bass Virus (LMBV). Bass with LMBV may be more likely to die during summer and from handling stress than bass without LMBV. Moreover, bass released into waters that have greater bacterial or pathogen loads may be more likely to experience disease when their mucus coat is damaged. Few anglers will turn down a big fish, nor can they control tournament schedules throughout the year. Therefore, catch-and-release anglers routinely face two problems when fishing: 1) not knowing the history of the fish they caught, or the waterway that fish will be released to; and 2) stigma from other anglers who, in their own experiences, understand that some fish-handling practices subject the fish to unnecessary risks.
In my opinion, anglers should minimize risks associated with handling stress by staying current with the latest scientific information and consider that they are being watched by a diverse constituency in a sport that does not penalize players as other sports do, yet still relies on sponsorship and support from the general public.
