Year-Round Bass Season Is On The Table In Minnesota What are your thoughts?

https://www.bbcboards.net/forumdisplay.php?f=193

Opportunity to expand early season angling statewide.
No biological evidence that Minnesota bass populations are stressed. …
No biological evidence that catch-and-release fishing will pose a conservation issue. …
There are enforcement concerns that offering early angling for bass may increase opportunities for anglers to target walleye and pike during their closed seasons. ..

Am not a bass fisherman, am curious to how others feel about a year-round bass season!!

I’ve no problem with it.

Dutchboy wrote:

I’ve no problem with it.

me either, I don’t purposely fish for them anyway

I am all for it as well as a year round walleyes season with catch and release from February till May.

I like the idea but in wisconsin!

No issue with it, why stop at bass is my question.

If they were trying to protect bass when they were spawning, they could make it C & R WHEN they actually spawn – in May/June. Not in March and April. Clearly having it completely closed is protecting the sacred walleye instead. Zero science behind it. They don’t want people “walleye fishing for bass.”

No other state in the country has a completely closed season for bass except Maine.

Some years there might not be a whole lot of time before the walleye/pike opener to even do much of it, depending on the weather. Some years there might be a whole month or more though (like last year).

Wisconsin changed theirs years ago. Quite often, MN follows suit. So I would expect it to occur, perhaps by 2026.

Enforcement discretion could occur in some situations. I could also see some lakes prohibiting it because of special lake-specific regs.

Im all for it. It would be a nice way to get kids out before the lakes are full of pleasure boaters too.

Why is there a season closure for any species? That’s the dumbest thing ever. It doesn’t matter when you kill a fish, it’s not reproducing the following year anyways. Minnesota sucks!

Wow…..
Personally I am all for it.
I am catch and release every specie anyway.
Let’s git er dun!

fins wrote:

Why is there a season closure for any species? That’s the dumbest thing ever. It doesn’t matter when you kill a fish, it’s not reproducing the following year anyways. Minnesota sucks!

so.your saying then no seasons for ducks, deer grouse……….

you did say species?????????/

Bass fisherman and it probably wouldn’t make a huge difference for me, most years. I’m for it, though my wife probably isnt…

I’d love to see year round for all fish, and just roll with the same bag limits 365 days a year on all waters.

This would lower the traffic on the river here for sure. Make it happen MNDNR.

Can you not read glen? I said fish.

Glenn57

Even though he was talking about fish, you bring up a GREAT point that I’ve thought about more than once.

Chew on this and get back to me.

One must first acknowledge that hunting and fishing “seasons” are made up man-made “dates”.

Now please explain how killing a pregnant doe in November is any different than killing that same deer in June???

Either way the fawn(s) won’t survive. Dead in the womb or dead from malnourishment.

One is certainly more cruel than the other, but at the end of the day they’re all eliminated before the next “season”.

Openers are a ton of fun and traditional, but when math and biology come down to it, it’s all about total mortality.

It doesn’t matter “when” the mortality happens during a 365 day period…it only depends on how much there is.

Fish…deer…ducks…grouse…turkeys… bears… pheasants…etc…all the same.

Anyone please prove me wrong

This concludes tonights Deep Thinking with B-man

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Very well put. My point exactly. I’m sure there’s lots of $ involved with the “openers” as well that the state would never want to give up.

I’m in favor of C&R seasons for all species vs. complete closure. Every reason given for the complete angling closure 2 1/2 mo’s a year are nonsense when scrutinized. Impose a zero bag limit, but let us fish!

Unfortunately, after more than three decades of hoping, I’ve come to the conclusion this change is not likely to happen in the ‘Land of 10,000 Regs’ state.

Have you ever heard of a situation in any lake (aside some prairie swamp lake where everything’s stocked by a sportsman’s club, etc) where the bass were really hurting and needed to be stocked? Both smallmouth and largemouth are very resilient and prolific species and very few are kept for the table. I say game on!

B-man wrote:

One must first acknowledge that hunting and fishing “seasons” are made up man-made “dates”.

It doesn’t matter “when” the mortality happens during a 365 day period…it only depends on how much there is.

Take grouse for example. Killing a grouse in winter is considered much more detrimental to the population than killing one in fall. With scarce food and harsh weather, if you start hunting them it will disrupt their natural survival strategies and patterns which could potentially lead to them starving themselves just to avoid being shot. They’re already strained due to limited food resources and they’re grouped up much more than any other time of year. They’d be a lot easier to hunt in the winter and it’d really dent the population if it was legal. I think it’s well known amongst serious grouse hunters that it’s extremely unethical to kill a grouse in the winter.

Contrary to your opinion, I believe there’s definitely science that supports having seasons for at least some species.

fins wrote:

Can you not read glen? I said fish.

OK i stand partially corrected. you did say fish in the next sentence.

B-man…i also get that point…… BUT…..those that survive due to a closed season and are able to produce offspring the following year would have not been able to had they not been protected for said period of time. alot of species, especially fish are pretty vulnerable during the pre spawn periods. and as Bman so intelligently put it if there was no season there’d be alot less!!

and again fin…..i also agree it is a money grab..

personally i really dont care one way or the other what they do with the bass season…..and like Thunder said……noone eats them anyway.

Oh there are people who line the banks of some metro lakes who eat Bass or anything else that gets on their line. Limits and out of season aren’t a language they understand. Not that is would matter.

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

Take grouse for example. Killing a grouse in winter is considered much more detrimental to the population than killing one in fall. With scarce food and harsh weather, if you start hunting them it will disrupt their natural survival strategies and patterns which could potentially lead to them starving themselves just to avoid being shot. They’re already strained due to limited food resources and they’re grouped up much more than any other time of year. They’d be a lot easier to hunt in the winter and it’d really dent the population if it was legal. I think it’s well known amongst serious grouse hunters that it’s extremely unethical to kill a grouse in the winter.

Contrary to your opinion, I believe there’s definitely science that supports having seasons for at least some species.

I had no idea on this. I have shot my fair share of grouse in late december when I hunted more. I get why no one else would be out now.

ThunderLund78 wrote:

Have you ever heard of a situation in any lake (aside some prairie swamp lake where everything’s stocked by a sportsman’s club, etc) where the bass were really hurting and needed to be stocked? Both smallmouth and largemouth are very resilient and prolific species and very few are kept for the table. I say game on!

Personally, I think that bass are good tasting fish be that’s not my point.

Let me play the devil’s advocate and ask if bass populations aren’t hurting and don’t need stocking like you say, why change how the Minnesota bass fishery is evidently being successfully managed now?

I guess my point is still being partially missed.

“It doesn’t matter “when” the mortality happens during a 365 day period…it only depends on HOW MUCH THERE IS.”

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I’m not advocating for a 365 day grouse season, but if you kill 20 grouse during September-October or you kill 20 grouse from September-March, there’s still 20 dead grouse.

I can see your point about added stress, but I also don’t feel like any grouse I jump while shed hunting, collecting sap, scouting deer, hunting turkeys, etc are going to die because they had to fly away from me???

Then factor in the grouses massive and natural population swings? Human pressure has very little to do with the grouse numbers in any given year.

Karry Kyllo wrote:

Let me play the devil’s advocate and ask if bass populations aren’t hurting and don’t need stocking like you say, why change how the Minnesota bass fishery is evidently being successfully managed now?

Because 48 other states never close their season on them fully. The data shows there can be a season that is open all year.

The current closed season has nothing to do with protecting bass. It’s to protect walleyes while they spawn.

If the goal is to protect a fish during its spawning season, then harvest should be restricted when that occurs. Right now, it’s not (mostly). Targeting bass while they spawn on beds but immediately releasing them has shown no detriment. But removing them, hauling them around in a livewell for a tournament, or keeping them clearly does. And yet, that’s exactly what is occurring.

Make it make sense.

I never fish for them but I think the season on bass and pike is continuous on Rainy.

Youbetcha wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Gitchi Gummi wrote:</div>
Take grouse for example. Killing a grouse in winter is considered much more detrimental to the population than killing one in fall. With scarce food and harsh weather, if you start hunting them it will disrupt their natural survival strategies and patterns which could potentially lead to them starving themselves just to avoid being shot. They’re already strained due to limited food resources and they’re grouped up much more than any other time of year. They’d be a lot easier to hunt in the winter and it’d really dent the population if it was legal. I think it’s well known amongst serious grouse hunters that it’s extremely unethical to kill a grouse in the winter.

Contrary to your opinion, I believe there’s definitely science that supports having seasons for at least some species.

I had no idea on this. I have shot my fair share of grouse in late december when I hunted more. I get why no one else would be out now.

It’s not unethical to kill a bird in season, no matter who tells you it is

B-man wrote:

I guess my point is still being partially missed.

“It doesn’t matter “when” the mortality happens during a 365 day period…it only depends on HOW MUCH THERE IS.”

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I’m not advocating for a 365 day grouse season, but if you kill 20 grouse during September-October or you kill 20 grouse from September-March, there’s still 20 dead grouse.

I can see your point about added stress, but I also don’t feel like any grouse I jump while shed hunting, collecting sap, scouting deer, hunting turkeys, etc are going to die because they had to fly away from me???

Then factor in the grouses massive and natural population swings? Human pressure has very little to do with the grouse numbers in any given year.

I disagree. There’s more implications to hunting grouse than the number you kill. Like I said, when you hunt grouse in the winter it will disrupt their natural survival strategies and patterns. When pressured, they will leave their scare habitat and food sources to try to avoid being killed. You don’t kill every grouse you make contact with. Typically I kill 1 grouse for every 5-10 I flush. If I hunt them in the winter and kill my limit in a day, I could have potentially flushed/contacted 25-50 grouse. As I said, in the winter when they’re pressured, those grouse may end up starving themselves just to avoid being shot. So yes while you killed your limit of 5, you may have caused the death of many more.

gim wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Karry Kyllo wrote:</div>
Let me play the devil’s advocate and ask if bass populations aren’t hurting and don’t need stocking like you say, why change how the Minnesota bass fishery is evidently being successfully managed now?

Because 48 other states never close their season on them fully. The data shows there can be a season that is open all year.

The current closed season has nothing to do with protecting bass. It’s to protect <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleyes while they spawn.

If the goal is to protect a fish during its spawning season, then harvest should be restricted when that occurs. Right now, it’s not (mostly). Targeting bass while they spawn on beds but immediately releasing them has shown no detriment. But removing them, hauling them around in a livewell for a tournament, or keeping them clearly does. And yet, that’s exactly what is occurring.

Make it make sense.

Why do we have to protect walleye while they spawn? I get a closed season to limit harvest.
For the record I agree 100% that carrying around bass caught off beds in a tourney is not helping their spawn.

Bearcat89 wrote:

It’s not unethical to kill a bird in season, no matter who tells you it is

Just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s ethical.

Is it ethical to shoot a bear over a pile bait? Is it ethical to fish bass on spawning beds? Is it ethical to shoot a doe with a fawn? Is it ethical to shoot deer in a fenced in farm?

I think an important part of being a sportsman is being an ethical one. It’s pretty clear ethics and morals aren’t something everyone inherently has.