I have been bedfishing for a while and agree with most of you that it shouldn't have a negative impact on bass. Anyways as long as you catch, take a picture of the fish, and release it unharmed so that it can go back to its nest to protect the future generations of bass then it's okay. I really hate people who keep catching the same fish over and over again because that can lead to stress on the fish and stress can lead to diseases because of a weaker immune system. So I have no problem with bedfishing as long as you release the fish promptly.

+1...its boring.The only time I don't mind it is if I see a real trophy.

I don't think it has a negative effect on them as long as you don't fillet them when you catch em! LOL!

Is it like shooting deer from under a deer feeder?

I know a lot of people have problems with that, but they enjoy fishing for bass locked on beds.

Food for thought!

I got some news for the bleeding hearts that always have a problem with fishing beds or shooting deer from bait. Wild animals entire life cycle is around eating and making little wild animals. So if your a outdoorman and harvesting or even taking part in catch and release you are in some mannor disrupting there natural cycle. The outdoorman who targets there movements in that cycle span are the ones who are most succesful
More power to em. It cracks me up to to good in a tournament on bedding fish that were easy as pie to catch and nobody else managed to find them. BOO HOO BOO Hoo.

like tim said, it's not going to effect the bass population on a big lake. catch them, then get a pic, then get them back in the water quickly. they'll be fine.


plus, sight fishing for a giant bass on a bed is just WAY too much fun not to do it.

We're pretty fortunate in Texas as compared to other states who have closed season's during the spawn periods.

It does have a negative effect on the bass. Your dad is right. It does not have a negative effect on the species on any given lake. The fish biologists monitor this potential. If you are going to catch a bass, then go catch it. If the law allows you to fillet it for food and you want to, then go ahead. Properly interacting with a species we have dominion over is an understood culture. Not all fishermen respect this and that is another issue. The fisheries biologists base their decisions on science, not morals or ethics, or emotions. The public as a whole wants a certain species, in this case the bass to be prolific. So that is what the fish biologists set out to do. When this becomes jeopardized the fish biologists will take action. That's what we pay em for. My .02

I remember this nut on Fork last year came down from his house on the lake and started slapping the water with a rake because we were bed fishing there. I think he did more damage to that bed than we could have...

I bet march and april were rough on that guy.

To each his own I guess.. I've done it, it's fun but I rather spend more time away from the beds than trying to aggravate one bass into a bite.

I'll take good ole Pre spawn Staging bass.
Can't wait !

I like learning about bass when there on beds. It's one of the few times we can interact with them and there natural habitat with our own techniques and lures and visual see every action they make. I know there in a defensive mode rather than an eating mode but you can get a feeling of how they relate to the bait and the surroundings. As long as they get released its all good!

http://www.insideline.net/1998/gustaveson-0304-98.html

This is a very old article but explains a little about the spawn and how the males are far more important than the females to the spawn. When I think bed fishing, I think seeing a big female on or near a bed and working and working to get her to bite. That last statement is why I don't like to bed fish...personally I don't have patience to stick after a fish for 2+ hours making 100's of casts at her and I especially don't do it during a tournament. There has never been a valid study done that shows bed fishing harms a spawn for a lake, only harsh opinions one way or the other. It's like the opinions everyone has on a new bait or a guide or the best rod to use for X application....they are just opinions.

Bed fishing is a lot of fun. I think if you handle the fish properly and release them so they can get back on their nest everything is pretty much OK. However I do not agree with tournaments being held during the spawn. You snatch these fish off their beds and haul them god knows how far to the weigh in site. I think this can really screw things up.

I read a very interesting article about this subject, written by a biologist. It boils down carrying capacity of a reservoir. If nobody bothered the fish during the spawn, and all the fish spawned successfully, then the rate of fish that actually matured would actually remain the same because of competition for food would limit survival. If less fish spawned, the survival rate increases dramatically on the few that do spawn because of the same principle. Basically in their research, anglers had basically NO imapact at all on the amount of fish that reached legal size. It is impossible that anglers could disrupt every fish that spawns because of the diverse places that they do it in.

Weather impacts the survival and the spawn more than anything. If large waves of fish spawn followed by aheavy rains, often the eggs will wash away, become covered in silt, or get into an area where they cannot recieve proper sunlight to hatch.

In short. I do not like bed fishing, but to each his own, because it baseically is not going affect the fishing in the coming years, but the weather will.