Year Round Bass Season in WI???

I know you all hate the green fish here but am I reading this correctly??? C&R year round for bass in WI?

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Interesting. I went out and searched it online. Seems to have disappeared.

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I did some checking, and someone I trust said they released it early and took it down again. Apparently it’s true.

Man that is so cool, I can’t wait until 20 years from now and Minnesota will follow!

I know that Michigan allows the catch and release or bass all year round too.

From tom boleys Facebook page:

“I just heard that WI is going to a catch and release bass season during the typical gamefish closure. If this is true we will see some amazing smallmouth fishing through the ice for the month of March.”

You can look at this 2 ways.

1. No big deal because bass fisherman don’t keep bass anyways and there may be only little disturbance of the females on beds anyways.

2. The kind of people that will keep anything they catch may target these fish on beds because they’re easy to catch and there’s a lot more meat than a sunny or crappie…and a lot less work and time to acquire a substantial amount of poundage.

It has NOT been passed yet.

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munchy wrote:

It has NOT been passed yet.

Correct. I saw that post this morning as well. However it sounds like the DNR is pretty confident that it will be passed.

I’m all for it personally and hope MN will follow suit. It’s completely bogus that it closes and personally I think it’s just another tool the DNR uses to protect the almighty walleye.

I think this will help some lakes in WI that game fish season doesnt close on at all, those lakes get pounded by everyone and their brother as soon as ice is off

With this change, I believe all of the bordering states and Canadian providences surrounding Minnesota will have a continuous bass season in some form or fashion.

Why not Minnesota?? There is no biological reason to prohibit fishing bass on a C&R basis. When I proposed the idea of a C&R season openly on the boards, and privately to a key legislator a few years back, the idea was roundly rejected. Why? The main reason was none other than…“we’ve always done it this way” or “its to protect the walleyes”.

How does closing down for bass protect walleye? Incidental walleye catches leading to mortality during what would be an open bass season? Sorry if I’m being obtuse I’m just not connecting the dots.

I’d be surprised if Minnesota followed suit (assuming Wisconsin does this). This state is so far behind the curve when it comes to items like this. Both Michigan and Wisconsin have allowed the use of crossbows during their archery season for years now without problems but Minnesota won’t even consider it. Don’t hold your breath people.

moustachesteve wrote:

How does closing down for bass protect walleye? Incidental walleye catches leading to mortality during what would be an open bass season? Sorry if I’m being obtuse I’m just not connecting the dots.

It’s just my personal opinion but I think the state doesn’t want the continuous bass season because they think that walleye poachers will then be able to say “we’re fishing for bass not walleye” making it harder to police the walleye closure. In all seriousness when has this state EVER cared about bass? They don’t even care about the smallmouth in Mille Lacs that has made it into a destination in the US to fish. Instead of finding ways to re-brand the lake so they might be able to cash in some on smallmouth anglers (and possibly lessen some of the burden with the walleye seasons), they are upset about it!

Everything in this state is done for the walleye. I get it, it’s the almighty state fish. But as Brian said, there is no reason not to have a continuous season for bass. The only semi valid reason is to protect the spawning fish, however every fish I have caught on a bed goes directly back to the same bed the second I put it back in the water.

gim wrote:

I’d be surprised if Minnesota followed suit (assuming Wisconsin does this). This state is so far behind the curve when it comes to items like this. Both Michigan and Wisconsin have allowed the use of crossbows during their archery season for years now without problems but Minnesota won’t even consider it. Don’t hold your breath people.

Doesn’t bother me at all! Once the lakes thaw I will be in WI fishing for my favorite fish and they can have the money I spend while I’m there.

moustachesteve wrote:

How does closing down for bass protect walleye?

As explained to me, a C&R Bass season would provide the ability for anglers to target walleyes and get away with it under the guise of ‘bass fishing’. So, because apparently many of us are not trustworthy, they close the season for all gamefish species (a few exceptions, like panfish) to protect the walleye fishery.

Makes sense, right?? Yeah, no…

mahtofire14 wrote:

Doesn’t bother me at all! Once the lakes thaw I will be in WI fishing for my favorite fish and they can have the money I spend while I’m there.

Totally

BrianF wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>moustachesteve wrote:</div>
How does closing down for bass protect walleye?

As explained to me, a C&R Bass season would provide the ability for anglers to target walleyes and get away with it under the guise of ‘bass fishing’. So, because apparently many of us are not trustworthy, they close the season for all gamefish species (a few exceptions, like panfish) to protect the walleye fishery.

Makes sense, right?? Yeah, no…

The IDO crowd is a miniscule percentage of the angler population. I do agree that it is often closed to protect walleye. I also do think that far more people than most realize would target walleye during this time and get away with it. Some people just have too much faith in humanity. I have a lot of faith in the regular posters on here wanting to truly wanting target bass in the spring…but this population is very different than some people who are on the water.

The bigger reason that the idea of an “opener” exists is that it generates revenue by increasing demand. If angling has a short “closed” season, it is a reset and people then really stock up on supplies and plan trips for the “opener”. I compare it to what Leinenkugels does with marketing their beer. Summer Shandy sells more volume than any other brew they have. I once asked at the brewery why it is not available year-round, and they said that the economics have proven having an offseason where it is not produced recharges the demand and drives their “release” (aka opener) every year. They truly believe they would sell less if it was offered year-round.

BrianF wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>moustachesteve wrote:</div>
How does closing down for bass protect walleye?

As explained to me, a C&R Bass season would provide the ability for anglers to target walleyes and get away with it under the guise of ‘bass fishing’. So, because apparently many of us are not trustworthy, they close the season for all gamefish species (a few exceptions, like panfish) to protect the walleye fishery.

Makes sense, right?? Yeah, no…

Yeah, no…makes perfect sense…Not! Who explained that to you?

And who here hasn’t targeted crappies right after ice out and all spring long before the “official opener” using minnows? Isn’t that what one would use targeting walleyes in the spring? Slip bobber?

Would be a slam dunk to explain that than to claim you’re targeting bass.

Hopefully it passes, the license is dropped to a buck and they allow 17 lines per angler.

We could use about 100,000 less anglers in Minnesota.

Our new Governor is a idiot, this is just one of many proposed bills he trying to push through. many that will big a large tax hike.

If you want an idea of how Minnesota will handle this……….Quiz…which state is the only state in the Union to still have 3.2 beer?

Noticed that the WI DNR website has the year-round C&R bass season back up. Assuming the legislation passed?

I think if your targeting walleyes, a game warden has eyes, you will get pinched, making you fight will have some cost. Right now you can be in a boat targeting walleye and say your fishing perch. Do people do this? I think this is a non issue . my 2 pennies.edit LIke I said if you target a non-leagle fish you most likely be ticketed.

You’d bet your @ss their is gonna be anglers fishing for eyes. It’s catch and release, what’s the problem right? If it’s not bad for bass who bed down certainly would be even less detrimental to walleyes. Finding out where they hold in spring, setup for spawning, would make for a very nice opener!

Are we saying here that during our normal ‘closed’ season for game fish that it should be catch and release only- for ALL species instead?

You really can’t fish for bass in March and not catch a pike. Or Ski. Or walleye in some lakes.

Is the stress of C&R not detrimental to fish as they prepare to, and during spawn??

Why is Muskie opener so late then every year? That is pretty much a C&R species anyway…

As much as I would like to go the route that Sconnie seems to be going (and man would I love that) I have a feeling that pulling fish off beds isn’t good for them. Or their offspring. Or all of the unintentional species catches

about 95% of bass I catch on beds, when we have the rare opportunity to fish for bedding fish, go directly back to the bed they were on after they are released. Look at down south where there is year round C&R. There bass populations are clearly not effected by it. I don’t believe there is any problem with a year round C&R bass season. Other species I don’t believe it would be a good idea as bass release much better than other species.

I saw that it was posted on the DNR site as well. I don’t know if it’s been confirmed but they were saying there would be an announcement mid-late Feb so I’m expecting something soon. I’m very excited if it is passed for this season. As I said earlier, I will happily give my money that MN could get from me to WI if this is passed.

I’ve been thinking about this. How much more time would it really even give people to bass fish? A couple weeks at the most? Our average ice outs are generally sometime in mid April, closer to May, or even opener up further north. On rare occasion we do get a really early ice out which might give people extra time to target bass, but how often does that happen? About once every 10 years.

gim wrote:

I’ve been thinking about this. How much more time would it really even give people to bass fish? A couple weeks at the most? Our average ice outs are generally sometime in mid April, closer to May, or even opener up further north. On rare occasion we do get a really early ice out which might give people extra time to target bass, but how often does that happen? About once every 10 years.

Doesn’t matter if it’s two days before the actual season for me. It’s painful for me two be able to have the boat out but have two panfish for 3-4 weeks after ice out until opener. I will be heading to WI when ice out hits from now on.

mahtofire14 wrote:

Doesn’t matter if it’s two days before the actual season for me. It’s painful for me two be able to have the boat out but have two panfish for 3-4 weeks after ice out until opener. I will be heading to WI when ice out hits from now on.

Wasn’t that long ago when legal bass season didn’t even open until the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend!