Lenny wrote:RJ wrote:No offense Lenny but thinking the MNR would even contemplate such a thing is a but much.
One thing with studies is that you can start with a result and build a study to get to that result.
If every Bass held vertically had its jaw broken and could no longer eat we'd have no fish left anywhere due to an epidemic from the last 60 years of Bass Fisherman breaking jaws.....
RJ
No offence taken RJ, just stating the facts. I never said anything about the MNR.. I was talking about how tournaments could lower their impact. And in tournaments they weigh their fish in bags which makes it more realistic. I don't think it would make for any more fish dropped- you can still hold the lip, you just have to support the other half of the fish. From the article posted below the "Mike Iaconelli" hold is the worst for the fish. Maverick- that sounds like a great system! Haven't heard of that before. I never bother to weigh my fish. Here's another article about it for those interested. I think there's going to be a big paradigm fish of fish handling in the next few years. :
http://www.bassmaster.com/blog/how-not-hold-hawg# .
I read the article "how-not-hold-hawg" Basically it is about the author and how held up a 10lb largie. By the lower li-p - HORIZONTALLY
I won't post the whole article but here is an excerpt dealing with holding the fish horizontally:
"First I talked with Bob Wattendorf of the Florida Wildlife Commission (FWC), and he said that while there’s no scientific research to support the theory, the FWC contends that it’s not good for the fish — particularly larger fish. He said by putting that much weight on the jaw of a big bass and potentially twisting it to the side, you can cause irreparable damage, which could ultimately kill the fish.
Mike Allen, a fisheries biologist with the University of Florida agrees. He suggests holding the fish more vertically by the lower jaw — only briefly — then returning it to water as soon as possible. He said it may be okay to hold the fish at a horizontal angle, provided it’s supported at the tail…but added that in doing so, to use caution, so as not to remove any of its protective slime."
The bolding and red colour is mine to highlight what the biologist actually said. Never said -don't hold the fish vertically.
So how did you come to the opinion that holding a bass vertically is bad? Please post links to all the studies about this not just an article written by a pro angler on a BASS tournament website.
