Winter at Clear Lake means using jumbo minnows to catch bass. Even among serious bass fishermen, the practice of using jumbo minnows is becoming more popular every year. There is a reason that the local tackle shops sell up to 1,000 minnows a week during the winter months and it”s because they catch fish when artificial lures won”t.
However, not all bass fishermen embrace the idea of using live bait. Many of them rank the minnow fishermen right up there with those who take home a bass to eat. But are these bad practices? Take the use of live bait such as minnows or crawdads. The practice of using live bait has created a lot of controversy and divided the bass fishermen into two camps – those who favor it and those who adamantly oppose it.
There is little question that live bait is deadly on bass, especially the larger ones. Minnows are natural food for bass and one on a hook differs little from one that is swimming naturally. The reason just about all the fishing guides use live minnows is because they can catch fish even in the worst conditions.
I can remember a number of years ago when I guided on the lake. One day a client from Southern California told me how successful fishermen from down south were using live crawdads. He even showed me how to rig one properly. It opened a whole new world for my clients and me. The one thing I learned is that clients wanted to catch fish and the use of live bait didn”t deter them one bit.
During those days I took a lot of heat from other guides because I used live bait until I found out from a local tackle shop owner that many of these same guides were coming in secretly to his shop and buying crawdads.
Using live bait doesn”t mean that you”re killing the fish. In fact, at least 90 percent of all live bait fishermen release all the bass they catch.
The one downside of using live minnows is the cost. A dozen jumbo minnows goes for $12. When the fish are biting you can go through $25 in a few minutes.
The other controversial subject is keeping a fish for the dinner table, especially bass. Catch-and-release has become a way of life for most bass fishermen and woe to the person who keeps a fish. But is keeping an occasional fish bad and will it destroy the species?
When you look at the numbers, a lot more fish are killed during a major bass tournament as opposed to fishermen keeping a fish to eat. A typical bass tournament on Clear Lake will produce approximately 250-300 fish per day. According to biologists, immediate and delayed mortality of these fish runs about 10 percent. Delayed mortality is when the fish die several days or a week after being released. Approximately 25-30 bass die during a one-day tournament. On any given day on Clear Lake I”ll bet that far fewer are kept and eaten by fishermen.
It”s also a known fact that large bass caught in a tournament suffer high mortality. When you haul around a 10-pound bass in a livewell for six hours, the chances are slim it will survive after being released.
While I”m an advocate of catch-and-release I see nothing wrong with a person taking an occasional fish home to eat. In fact, when I fish for bass at Indian Valley Lake or Upper Blue Lake I usually bring home a few fish to eat and they are delicious. The legal daily limit for bass is five and it was set at five to make sure a fisherman could harvest a few bass without harming the fishery.
Biologists I have talked to tell me that a fisherman taking home a few fish to eat has little impact on the overall fishery. Bass, and all other fish, reproduce in such large numbers that any fish that dies is quickly replaced. According to the biologists, a lake will always reach its maximum carry capacity in what is called fish poundage. The carrying capacity is dependent on food and habitat. As the food supply increases so does the number of fish. The consensus among the scientists is that the small number of bass kept for human consumption has no effect on the overall population. The same applies to fish lost in a tournament.
Most of the recreation fishermen go fishing for relaxation. They just want to catch an occasional bass and if it requires using live bait, then so be it. The same applies to tournament fishermen. If they want to only use artificial lures and rely only on their skills, I say go for it. Just don”t condemn the other fishermen.
