I myself am a bass angler and cannot stand the connotation that "hippie" type people attatch to us. I don't mean to segregate a part of the population but those types of "protect the environment at all costs" and "save the whales before the humans" type people are the only ones that have problems with us. Maine is loaded to the brim with them and there are many ridiculous websites that portray tournament anglers as the devil. I'm from MA and go to school in NC so I've seen both the north and south and it seems like people are MUCH worse up here. What you all need to understand is a couple things.
1. With the improvements in livewells these days and many types of powders that can be added into the wells, the mortality of fish during tournaments is hardly ANYTHING. Especially on a lake the size and health of Winni.
2. Not every bass spawns right on the shore or in shallow water. Generally, the smarter and bigger fish will spawn out in deeper waters where predators have no view on them. These spawning bass alone are enough to sustain a population.
3. Males will hit any lure near them, females however will take a little more coaxing and precision. Not just anyone can go out and fish beds and catch a 25+lb limit, sure maybe one of the females will be dumb but not many of them.
4. Many anglers, like myself, choose not to target spawning bass just because of our morals but does that the people that do target them evil? No. People are beginning to learn that the entire population does not spawn at once and it's perhaps a better idea to try and find post or pre-spawn parts of the population instead of spending hours trying to get one stubborn chunk to bite.
5. Some bass spawn multiple times in one year (this happens more in the south than the north), but there's a chance that the fish after being released will spawn again before the year is out.
I feel that bass aren't all that stupid and that traits are passed on down through generations. It's a fact that a certain percentage of a population of fish are "uncatchable" and are just too smart to hit lures. In turn, I believe that if the population is taking that big of a hit, the fish will be smart enough after being caught in 2 FOW to not spawn there again and seek deeper haunts for spawning.
Tournament anglers are not evil and we're not trying to destroy your precious waters. A lot of us, such as myself, have a love for the outdoors and are fascinated by bass. Trying to find them and getting them to bite an inanimate object is a sport to me. I release all my fish by choice, even when not fishing in a tournament. We don't hate the outdoors, but we hate people trying to take the outdoors away from us and trying to restrict it to the point of it not being enjoyable.
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