tagged fish & HFFA December tournament

[shanai]

December HFFA tournament held today ( 12/11/11 ) - water temp was about 70.5 degrees pretty much the entire day - cloudy, windy gusts at times made fishing difficult, although some nice bass and Tucs in the 3-4 pound range were caught. 1st place weight ( 3 fish total ) went over nine pounds.

There were two tagged fish among the fish that were caught

# 4907 16" 1lb 7 oz caught near BS Island
# 3806 191/2" 3lb 8 oz caught near Kemoo Island


steve

[shanai]

Ater the most recent HFFA tournament, a few members conducted some lavage testing on Bass and Tucs to examine and document what these fish are eating. The results revealed that most of the stomach contents were empty, a few had remnants of fish and other mostly unidentifiable stuff.

This testing was performed in part to gather more information about the current health of the fisheries for a lake management assessment of Lake Wilson. The purpose for the lake management assessment is to hopefully develop a comprehensive plan to improve, perpetuate and sustain the gamefish fisheries at Lake Wilson for all anglers to enjoy.

[roadwarriorsvt]

Thanks for updating Steve. I got a little feedback from our contracted biologist. He was not surprised that almost all of the fish's stomach's were empty. He said that with our climate, the fish have a high metabolism and can digest their prey in as little as 4-8 hours. He said that bass will sometimes regurgitate while being held in a livewell to. He instructed to perform the lavage right after catching the fish, which probably won't happen during a tournement, but when anglers are our just fun fishing, that would be the best time to do it.

If any of you anglers would like to assist the HFFA in surveying bass stomach contents, please send me a PM. I will provide you with the neccessary equipment and instructions to correctly perform a lavage and document your findings.

[Ca_Bass]

I've been conducting my own stomach surveys over the past 6 months with bass but for my own purposes ...when I'm practicing for a tourney I will throw a fish or two in the livewell in hopes they regurgitate what they've been eating. In texas it was mainly crawdads...here it's been moslty shad and herring. kinda interesting bit hasn't really been all that helpfull from a tournament standpoint.

[Joel]

I've been conducting my own stomach surveys over the past 6 months with bass but for my own purposes ...when I'm practicing for a tourney I will throw a fish or two in the livewell in hopes they regurgitate what they've been eating. In texas it was mainly crawdads...here it's been moslty shad and herring. kinda interesting bit hasn't really been all that helpfull from a tournament standpoint.

Something that my dad taught me when i was a kid was to always look in the throat of the fish before dumping it in the livewell. Especially in the springtime I could almost always make a color determination at Table Rock Lake because there would be remnants of crawdads in their mouths...still a habit I have today.

[Ca_Bass]

I check for that too! After one of the tournaments I fished in texas was over and I was pulling my fish out I noticed there was probably like at least 10 spit up crawdads in different digestion stages in my live well..then I dawned on me the next day to try this while I'm pre fishing. Hasn't really worked lately because the water has been about 57 degrees so the fish aren't getting as stressed but in texas the water close to 90 and those fish couldn't hold anything down in my livewell.

[roadwarriorsvt]

That might tell you what type of lure would be effective. There aren't many crawdads left around in Lake Wilson but they are still a very effective bait here.

[Pegasus]

They are a great bait..... if you want red devils ! Just rub a hook with a crawfish and they will bite it ! No joke !

[BASSTRACKER]

couple of weeks ago i caught a nice 2lb bass off a tree, suspended not anywhere near the bank or bottom. think it was on a spinnerbait. but when i took the hook out i looked in the gullet and yep had 2 feelers poking out!!! guy had a crawfish in there!!!! i have hope yet!! crawfish are little balls of protein and the tucs wouldn't show any interest . if only we could get the red devils outa there and bring the crawfish back i know we could get back the big bass days!!

[roadwarriorsvt]

The HFFA is looking into the logistics of raising crawfish to replenish the lake.

[Ca_Bass]

So when people catch red devils what do you do with them?

I think most everyone is in agreement that the red devils play a huge part in the lack of size of the bass. It's not illegal to take them out and I'm sure most everyone just let's them go when they catch em. Maybe there is a aquarium fish store that would be interested in them...I know some of those big red devils can go for a decent amouunt of money. They're not just gonna git rid of themselves!

[roadwarriorsvt]

So when people catch red devils what do you do with them?

On Lake Wilson, you're always near a bank!

[Ca_Bass]

Haha...I was thinking the same thing but did want to offend anyone these big ponds I used to fish in arizona had way to many tilapia in it so I would just feed em to the blue herrons that were around.

[Stan Wright]

Not sure if the pet store would want an adult red devil....
Chris put one in his 50 gallon tank.
They don't play well with others.

[BASSTRACKER]

yes the red devils disappearing wouldn't hurt my feelings, perhaps someone needs to start selling them to the chinese restaurants!! lol