Catch and Release Mortality

[Nighthawk]

I think a lot of the bass morality is because they are not released immediately but after several house of riding around in a live well of a boat, weighed, put in a holding tank and then release. There has been a lot of study on bass and the effects of tournament fishing on them. I think that is where a lot of the data on bass comes is obtained. Fishing farm ponds in Mississippi I have caught the same bass several times.

Here is an article from paflyfish discussing the effect on the two warm water rivers in my county.

http://www.paflyfish.com/smartsectio...a-rivers..html

These rivers are now strictly catch and release for bass. Thing is for decades the rivers have been catch and release only for any bass under 15 inches so what has caused the population crash especially in the once world class small mouth fishery of the Susquehanna river? I think the PFBC is on the right track when they talk about reduced levels of dissolved oxygen caused by agricultural run off. The same thing affects our trout streams of course. That has to make it hard to nail down exact numbers on catch and release mortality rates.

Environmental conditions in the individual fishery has a large impact on C&R rates in that fishery.