Why does Bass Open so Late

I can not understand why they open Bass so Late in Minnesota. My understanding is that it is to protect spawning Bass. If that be the case why do they open it earlier in the Northern part of the state where they spawn even later. Most years they are still spawning by opener anyway. I don’t think most of those who target bass would keep one anyway and as long as the bass is placed right back in the water they will go right back to the bed anyway. Those that keep Bass to eat most likely don’t even know or care what date the season opens and end up in a hot oil bath before season anyway. To me its just another example of the DNR ( DO NOTHING RIGHT )

It is not to protect the spawning bass as much as it is to make sure they have the chance to spawn. How many bass do you think would be removed from the water before they spawn if there was no season?

They are just making sure the fish are still in the lake when it comes spawning time.

IMO I wish every state would do that, it would make for a much better fishery.

Seems you are on a pretty high horse right now. DNR does nothing right, people who keep bass will do so whether it is legal or not, people who keep bass do not know about season dates.

You must be the all mighty bass fisherman that catches and releases all the fish he catches, and everyone else is beneath him.

bassforfood

you mean there are seasons on them

Being from ND I wasn’t a big fan of the seasons. However over time here I’ve seen the benefits of them. There are a lot of people that complain about the slots on Mille Lacs as well. I was one. But fishing the opener there the last few years, it works as well. Sure you don’t get a ton of eaters but there just aren’t many places in the world you can go and catch trophy fish like you can there.

By the way, I’ve kept bass to eat on occasion, I do it in season and by the law.

Million dollar question.

Makes no sense if it is to protect the spawn. This is one of the warmest springs we have had in a while for and the majority of fish will still be in some phase of the spawn during MN’s opener with many males guarding beds or females hanging around them.

Being able to target pike and walleye before bass is just straight dumb. Make it C&R, if nothing else.

The best bass fishery in the state is open year round and I think it is doing just fine.

The one area where I can see some dramatic damage is when you have a small 250 acre lake and Mutt and Jeff are out there pulling 10 bass a day off beds for a week straight.

At this point the fishing “opener” is nothing more than a tourism marketer’s dream to convince bland casual fishermen that it’s the thing to do for the weekend. The state gets a quick boost in license sales, Gander Mountain gets a quick run on the line of crap they carry in their stores and some lodges get a boost for a weekend.

on a serious note! This is one area I think the DNR are right on the mark..

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It is not to protect the spawning bass as much as it is to make sure they have the chance to spawn. How many bass do you think would be removed from the water before they spawn if there was no season?

They are just making sure the fish are still in the lake when it comes spawning time.

IMO I wish every state would do that, it would make for a much better fishery.

Seems you are on a pretty high horse right now. DNR does nothing right, people who keep bass will do so whether it is legal or not, people who keep bass do not know about season dates.

You must be the all mighty bass fisherman that catches and releases all the fish he catches, and everyone else is beneath him.

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If I am not mistaken Iowa does not have any closed season on bass – So am I to assume that so many are taken out of your lakes during the spawn that you don’t have any bass left. Given you stance on how harmful it is to fish them during the spawn, I’m sure you don’t fish them until after the spawn correct.

I consider myself a Fisherman – Be it Bass, walleye, panfish, roughfish, Ect. and I don’t think of anyone as beneath me.

I just don’t understand the rational of the delayed opener for the stated reasons.

I can tell you right now, Iowa does not have anywhere close to the same fishery as Minnesota. There is a reason we all go to MN or WI to fish on vacations. Iowa bass fishing SUCKS except for a few select areas.

I can fish here for a week and catch maybe 30 bass on average. I can go to MN and catch 30 in one morning, all bigger than the ones here.

The tournaments here are won with 6 and 8lb sacks. 5 fish wins it almost every week.

I do not fish for them at all in the spring, but that is not by choice. I just don’t waste my time trying to catch them when I can go catch a few eater walleye or some panfish. Come summer when the walleye fishing slows down, I switch to bass fishing.

alot of the fish on the mississippi and st croix river have not spawned. no matter what the weather does it seems the fish in this area always spawn around bass opener…at least for the last 10 years anyways. they just started moving up last weekend.

Generally the rivers are colder than rivers… lakes are a different story, again generally.

I have been going to wisc to fish bass since the 5th of may. I can’t keep the fish but sure is fun to be able to target them legally. From my POV, their quality of fishing is pretty great too.

I am not saying it dnr is not doing thinsg right, but is is wierd that the northern portion of the state has some rules that the southern side doesn’t.

Most of the time when the bass opener is here in thw southern side of the state, the bass are still on beds or in pre-spawn-so the delayed opener isn’t having any effect on protecting the fish.

my POV would be to open the season the first week of May and have it run CPR until week 1 of june.

this would elimate MANY bass anglers from making multiple trips and spending money in another state…

just my two cents.

Its my understanding bass fishing opens earlier in the Northern part of the state due to political reasons. The resorts up there promote walleyes, not bass fishing. So the season opened earlier in the hopes that bass would be removed.
I’m all for a C&R only season. Waiting around for the real opener sucks.

bass opens later in northern wisconsin..i wanna say everything north of 77 from danbury to minong area is close i think!

We have 3-openers in Minnesota,
1) Walleye & Northerns
2) Bass
3) Muskies

Gives the old pa&ma resorts another tourism promotion to invite people up.

Kind of like asking why a special musky opened?

FYI: There is a group of bass guys working to try and get a C&R early season, similar to Northern Wisconsin.

Buzz is more up to date than I am,but many idea’s have been thrown out.

One I like is a split Minnesota opener:
1) One is open walleye & northern with C&R Bass south of some East-West line, say 45°North (roughly Highway 12) our maybe a but further North (maybe just North of Mille Lacs) he 1st weekend in May.
2) then open the rest of the state to the north the 2nd or 3rd weekend.

Leaving full open bass on memorial weekend.

Another thought i’ve heard is use I-94 as the splitter line.

Either way, it would boost tourism and keep many Minnesotans fishing here.

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Million dollar question.

Makes no sense if it is to protect the spawn. This is one of the warmest springs we have had in a while for and the majority of fish will still be in some phase of the spawn during MN’s opener with many males guarding beds or females hanging around them.

Being able to target pike and walleye before bass is just straight dumb. Make it C&R, if nothing else.

The best bass fishery in the state is open year round and I think it is doing just fine.

The one area where I can see some dramatic damage is when you have a small 250 acre lake and Mutt and Jeff are out there pulling 10 bass a day off beds for a week straight.

At this point the fishing “opener” is nothing more than a tourism marketer’s dream to convince bland casual fishermen that it’s the thing to do for the weekend. The state gets a quick boost in license sales, Gander Mountain gets a quick run on the line of crap they carry in their stores and some lodges get a boost for a weekend.

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I am in the same latitude as northern Mn(MI U.P.)We have no lodges and Gander Mountain is 100 miles from here…The Bass here have just begun to make beds…the March warm spell had little or no effect on the bass because the temps in April and May were below average…it was 28 degrees here yesterday morning…
With millions of people within hours of a fishery, Mutt and Jeff have lots of friends.
Personally…it takes little skill to lob a lure in front of a bass on her bed. Sport fishing is all about a challenge and learning curve to me. I’m glad to see our catch/keep season doesn’t open until June 16. There are lots of locals in my area that eat bass and have for decades. They lob nitecrawers to them and are pretty effective ar it. I don’t have a problem with that as long as they are following the law.
The best bass fishery I know of is Chequamegon Bay in Ashland Wi (Lake Superior) you can keep one bass per day 23″ or bigger…maybe thats why it is the best!

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At this point the fishing “opener” is nothing more than a tourism marketer’s dream to convince bland casual fishermen that it’s the thing to do for the weekend. The state gets a quick boost in license sales, Gander Mountain gets a quick run on the line of crap they carry in their stores and some lodges get a boost for a weekend.

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B-Mac, you are hilarious!!!!

It is rediculous that northern and walleye open before bass in MN. It is an unenforceable law. My buddy was out on opener this year and when the walleye fishing slowed they moved in shallow and started throwing swimbaits for pike. After catching bass after bass, the game warden showed up. He asked what they were doing and when told “pike fishing” he checked their licenses and sped off upset, knowing there’s nothing he can say about “incidental catch.” The MN DNR is clearly wrong on this one and everyone who studies the details will come to the same conclusion.

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Personally…it takes little skill to lob a lure in front of a bass on her bed.

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Same here but making them bite has been a different story for me.

Also, I didn’t see it mentioned but why not just make it catch/release right after ice out?