Ken Duke (Bass After Dark Podcast) covered this exact subject last week. He had leading fishery biologist from Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina. All the biologist generally agreed they didnt see an overall deprevation from bed fishing in regards to the big picture. But they all generally agreed (and had data to back it up ) that bed fishing in General was very detramental to that particular fish having a succesful spawn. It also included the detriment to catching the male off the bed as well. 100% agreed that hauling the fish around (male or female) for hours, then weighing and releasing miles away was a near 100% chance of zero reproduction. They all agreed the best hope for a sucessful spawn if fishing was allowed was catch and release back in the water immediately and even then there was detriment to said fish completing the spawn. It was a very interesting podcast. Fun fact .. the Kentucky biologist brought up that in the 30,s when everybody was dang near starving to death, that bass fishing was illigal until the month of May after the spawn or something like that. And it was repealed in the 40,s

Sight fishing for spawners is 1000 times more destructive to Bass populations than FFS will ever be.

The studies done in Michigan show catch and immediate release during the spawn has not adversely impacted the fishery. These studies followed a relaxing of regulations which had previously prohibited bass fishing until the possession season started in late May.

Love the intro. Also, with you on bed fishing. Should be catch and release.

Yes sir I agree with you on the bed fishing.

As much as I’m against “scopeadoping” in tournaments, when it comes to the spawn I do agree that bed fishing is horrible for a fishery. I’ve always thought that pros bed fishing taking them off the beds is obviously a bad thing! Might be the only time of year I’d be in board with spotlighting tourneys! 👍🏻

Minnesota sets it's seasons based on when the fish spawn. They even close specific areas of lakes if we have a late ice-out to protect spawning areas. Only perch, panfish and a few others have continuous seasons. NO ONE should be fishing for "gamefish" during the spawn.

Awesome video

I would like to see what it would do to a lake if fishing was stopped during spawn of all species. But with that said I don’t tournament fish of any kind. Yes I do use live scope because it’s fun.

I like the video ain’t got no comment on it no matter what you do someone ain’t gonna like it

So there are a few things here. You can't hurt a lake by bed fishing. Yes, you can hurt a nest, but a bass has 1000s of fry every year of its life, and only 2 have to survive to maintain population. Todd's video makes some very good points, and I think he knows what he's talking about, but if you rather hear it from fisheries biologists, this video will help. kzfaq.infokqtsPoTls3A?si=3BJ4RNoL25UmjyO5 They basically say that in most lakes, more juvenile bass are produced than the lake can support every year, and the excess fish don't survive the winter. This is true no matter if we have tournaments during the spawn or not. Furthermore and this is kinda of another subject every fish biologist you talk to say that most fisheries will benefit from more harvest because they are to populated to produce trophy bass.

More tournaments like the Lake Fork weekend...

Release fish back at the catch site

I have no argument with the potential detriment of bed fishing, I’ve been catching fish off of beds in Caney since the latter part of February to as late as last week. So essentially you would need to shut down fishing from the February to the end of April. But what about the other species? Crappie, bluegill catfish ect..? What about male fry gaurders? They’re easier to catch than bed fish. The rabbit hole is deep

I say we ban FFS, ban bed fishing, we should ban the fish from even being in the water & tempting us to catch them! That's the real bad guys in this whole situation, the bass for even existing! Ban the bass!

Im really not sure what I think about it, bed fishing? I watched Tods vid also. He made some good points that I can't really argue with. A lot of it makes sense. For me, I need some data & facts to sway my opinion in either direction! I will say, anyone against bed fishing & doesn't think people should bed fish. Shouldn't be fishing during the spawn at all. If they think they can fish during spawn & not catch fish off beds, thier not being realistic! Bass bed deeper than we realize. If someone bad mouths someone else for bed fishing but also fishes themselves during the spawn. They are a hypocrite 100% . I personally catch & release so if I catch a fish off a bed on purpose or an accident. It's going right back in. I don't give anyone a hard time about it anyway...

I would stop fishing tournaments during the prime spawning period. As far as FFS I would like to see half of the BASS and Mlf tournaments split into 2 categories. Half with unlimited electronics , unlimited information , and even Alabama Rigs . Then half of the tournaments with No FFS , No 360, No waypoints and no practice . It would represent all types of fishing, be entertaining to all viewers, and Benifits electronic companies and conventional lure manufacturers. As far as Castledine , he claims all the time that he keeps it real and he has researched evidence on fishing issues, but he has no clue at all that fish put in live wells and carried 30 miles to a weigh in and held up to the fans are going to go find a bed and start spawning again ( That’s Laughable at a minimum. He definitely lost some credibility there lol…..I’m not a fan of FFS but Life is all about Compromising. FFS can have a place in tournaments , but let’s mix it up a bit . Half and Half 😀

Livescope is the new gun. Ban it instead of learning to use properly. Misunderstanding the proper function of these tools... or something like that...

1. if sight fishing spawners during tournaments were bad, the lakes would've been destroyed years ago. This has been going on for decades. The problem with topics like this is exposing weakness in our sport and allowing BS groups like peta to use this debate to their advantage with the government. The LAST thing the fishing industry needs is more government. 2. How many crappie and bluegill are still in the lakes, all them pan fisherman use the spawn to fill the freezer. At least with tournaments the fish only ride back to the ramp then get put back. The only way a crappie or bluegill get released is into the frying pan

Bed fishing takes hell of lot less skill then LS fishing and all i hear the ban it crowed talk about is getting back to traditional ways and an angler ability. Sounds hypocritical again. It was too windy i couldn't SEE my fish well whip out some of those traditional skills you keep talking about.

Not just tournaments. Fishing seasons should be closed during each species’ spawning seasons!!! We need to protect the resource and eliminating spawn season fishing is one of the most effective ways to do that.