Posted by Jim E (24.116.99.140) on November 04, 2003 at 10:25:52:
In Reply to: Re: Lance.... posted by Lance Martin Liles on November 03, 2003 at 21:57:42:
Lance,
After re-reading my reply, I can see that my thoughts weren't well expressed. In a nutshell, I don't have a problem with anyone fishing "during" the time of spawning fish. If fishing was to be outlawed during spawning times you couldn't fish starting in October all the way through February and maybe March !!! (Browns start in Oct. and rainbows in Dec. for the Ark. rivers.) Thats about half of the year.
When I wrote earlier that spawning time was a good time fish, I was refering to catching the rainbows that hang out downstream of the brown trout on redds waiting for the eggs to wash downstream. At times there are some browns that do the same thing. I've watched pairs building redds. I've watched males bumping and trying to push his female onto the redd to get her to lay. I've even seen other fish come in and bump the female pretty hard trying to get her to release her eggs so they can eat them. Spawning fish attract several non-spawning fish.
On the LMF this past Spring I witnessed this, but the pair of fish were carp.(Although I later heard some that saw them calling them browns. Don't get me started on people that can't identify fish.)Rainbows kept ramming into the female carp trying to get her to release some eggs. I started fishing to those rainbows and while I was there the female carp deposited her eggs and after a bit a big white cloud came down from a few feet further upstream. The male was up there doing his thing also. I ended up catching three or four rainbows, a couple of which were nice fish and also later caught the male carp(I was trying to catch the trout and the carp just turned and grabbed my fly). The trout were there to feast on the carp eggs.
Now to answer your question about fish caught off of redds returning to the redd. The answer is yes they do return, if they are unharmed. What many question is the extra stress that is put the fish, especially the females, from being caught/snagged, sometimes repeatedly. Some say, and I would agree, that too much stress can cause the female to stop egg production and then her body would just absorb the eggs or if egg production/development is pretty far along she might just abort the eggs prematurely. But I think the bigger issue is fisherman that catch them and pick them up out of the water. Too much pressure on her belly and she will squirt the eggs out right there !!!
I think it's great that all fishing is banned this time of year right below Bull Shoals Dam. There are several that have been pushing for Cow Shoals to be closed also. But what I understand is that there is a little concern of there being too many browns in the Litte Red anyway. ?? Like I wrote before, there sure were plenty last year when I was there.
Ban all fishing in a river because some fish are spawning in some parts of the river, no way. Ban fishing in heavily spawned areas of a river only, yes. Ban stupid fisherman that don't care about the resources, are inconsiderate, wade through the redds, violate the game laws, pull hooks out of deeply hooked fish and then throw them back in the water bleeding ? I'm for banning them anytime of the year.
Way back when, I quit fishing Lake Fork during the month of April for some of the reasons listed above. I didn't fish the bedding fish, there were plenty others to be caught. It was the HUGE crowds that did fish the beds that kept me away and all the inconsiderate "fisherman" that it brought. I just fished other lakes that month. I haven't been there to see the crowds around Cow Shoals during the spawn but have heard enough to know that it's no place that I would ever want to be. Even if I did want to fish there. Solitude is one of the bigger reasons why I fly fish.
Hope I explained my thoughts and opinions better this time !! ?
Jim <*)))))))><