Babying Big Bass - How you handle a lunker impacts its chances of survival.

[bronco1]

Media Contact: Larry Hodge, 903-676-2277, [email protected]

March 6, 2009

Babying Big Bass

How you handle a lunker impacts its chances of survival.

ATHENS, Texas—One of the biggest factors that influences the survival of fish entered into the ShareLunker program is how those fish are handled and cared for prior to being picked up by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) employees.

ShareLunker handling and care tips on the TPWD web site emphasize minimal contact with the fish and keeping it in a stress-free environment as much as possible. Removing the fish from the livewell or holding tank for photographs stresses the fish, increases the chance the fish will get fungal infections where touched and multiplies the risk of serious injury such as a broken jaw.

All big bass are powerful, but anglers who have never tried to hold a fish weighing 13 pounds or more may be surprised at how strong the fish is and how hard it is to control. "We have all seen pictures of bass being held up with one hand grasping the lower jaw," says Jim Matthews, hatchery manager at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens, which is home to the ShareLunker program. "Doing this with a lunker bass will almost ensure a serious injury to the fish’s jaw."

As the person in charge of caring for ShareLunkers while they are at TFFC, biologist Juan Martinez sees all the problems that arise from improper handling. "Over-handling stresses the fish," he says. "If anglers would just take one or two pictures and then leave the fish alone, it might not get as stressed. Other problems we see are fish coming in with missing scales or scrapes, which might come from being held in a wire basket or small container, from spawning activity or brushing against trees."

Martinez agrees with Matthews that broken jaws on fish are usually caused by the fish being held incorrectly when being landed or photographed. "A misconception is that the mouth of a fish with a broken jaw will remain open," he says. "This is not always the case. If the jaw is broken in the middle and not where the jaw is connected to the skull, the mouth will remain closed. This type of injury is common when fish are held in a vertical position with the lower body not being supported."

David Campbell, ShareLunker program manager, offers the following tips for handling big bass to avoid injuring them.

Wet your hands before touching the fish.

Using your dominant hand, grip the fish with your thumb inside the mouth and your fingers locked on the outside of the mouth.

Support the rear of the fish with your other hand placed beneath the fish just forward of the tail.

Lift the fish out of the water in a horizontal position using both hands for support.

DO NOT hold the fish by the lower jaw in a vertical position. This can dislocate or break the jaw, practically guaranteeing the fish will not survive, since it will not be able to eat.

Handle the fish only when putting it into a livewell or holding tank. Do not keep the fish out of water or keep removing it from the water for photographs.

"Remember that the fish has to be in the water to be able to breathe," Campbell says. "The fish is already stressed by being caught and put into a different environment, and holding it out of the water increases the stress level. This may develop into a serious medical condition, and one to three weeks later, the fish may die. Taking photos is okay if everyone gets ready before the fish is removed from the water and is put back within thirty seconds."

If you must handle the fish, try to do so out of the wind and keep it out of water as little as possible. Wind can dry out the eyes very quickly and result in damage.

A 13- or 14-pound bass is the equivalent of a 170-class whitetail buck, with the difference being that the buck goes on the wall, while the fish, if properly handled and cared for, can live to continue to produce more fish. Anglers who want to continue to have the opportunity to catch big bass can improve their chances by treating those big bass like babies.

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[thetragichippy]

thanks, A very good article!

[bullets13]

i'll have this problem at least... 0 times in my life   still, an interesting read.

[Bucof2010]

i'll have this problem at least... 0 times in my life   still, an interesting read.

Hey we can practice on the sub 10...2 pounders lol

[bh89-2]

I wrote a small pamplet on bass care for TABC two years ago if anyone is interested.  I'll see if Coop can post it here for everyone to get.  If not PM me and I'll email you a copy.  Some of the information is a little dataed and I have changed my mind about a few items, however for the most part it is pretty good stuff.

Bottom line is this, everything David mentioned does not matter one bit if you don't take care of the fish in the live well and through the weigh-in.  Here are a few additional tips:

1. Keep your livewell water between 68-72 degrees when the water is warmer than 75. (CRITICAL) Fish metabolism and waste production will increase rapidly as water temperature rises and with the stress of being caught. It takes about 8lbs of ice to lower the water temperature in a 30 gallon live well 10 deg f for about 3-4 hours in the summer.  Use 1/2 gallon jugs as apposed to only having bags of ice.  Will last longer.

2. Buy an oxygen bottle and regulator for your livewell.  Best 200 bucks you will ever spend. See Boyd's One-Stop in Texas City for a good deal on a system.

3. Go buy a livewell additive for bass produced by www.sure-life.com called "Catch and Release".  Their product is the best I have used and I know the owners and their research very well.  They have a tranquilizer in their product that helps to calm the fish, as well as benefitial elements for fish recover.  No I am not a salesmen and don't get one penny for saying this.  Yes Academy and other's sell it.

4. Do not use an "Oxygen Generator" such as any that are run by electricity.  You need a special livewell additive that does not contain salt to use this type product.  Salt and elctricity, in general terms, creates chlorine in your water and it will kill your fish.

5. Do not ever use a livewell additive that contains garlic.  It will kill your fish.  Not to name a product, but the green bottle and green additive you all have seen is not good for fish.

6. If your not using "Catch and Release" flush your livewell every hour when you have fish in the livewell.  The biological waste will kill the fish if you don't do this.

7. When you put fish in a weigh bag, a 15 or greater stringer of fish will deplete the oxygen in the water in just a few minutes.  Make sure to fill your bag will cool clean water and if there are weigh tanks in front of your weigh-in line, replinish the water at each tank.  Your fish can and will die going through a weigh-in line.  I have seen many fish called alive at the entry and I call them dead at the tank or release point.

8. One thing I have changed my mind about is the use of hydrogen peroxide in a livewell.  You can add 1oz of hydrogen peroxide (like you buy at the store) per 4-gallons of water.  Hydrogen peroxide has an extra oxygen molecule and does offer some antimicrobial benefits for the fish.  This addition will increase the dissolved oxygen levels in your water.  Don't over-do this because you can burn the gills and eyes of the fish. 

9. Go to ebay and buy a dissolved oxygen meter.  I got one for 80-100 bucks and it is an absolute fish saver.  You need to maintain around 10PPM of dissolved oxygen in your livewell.  Fish will become stressed and die between 3-5 PPM dissolved oxygen.  Some of you got a 50K boat, spend 300 on oxygen and a DO meter....really....LOL.

10. Keep fiz needles on your boat and learn how to fiz a bass.  I will be running conservation for the TABC tournament on Rayburn Sept. 26 & 27 if anyone wants to come by and learn how to do it.  You can fiz till your fizzer runs out...LOL. 

11. Do these things and you'll spend more time fishing instead of looking in the livewell every 10 minutes to see if something is dead or belly up.  If it goes belly-up as soon as you catch it, you probably need to fiz it.