I'm Really, Really Sick Of This...

[fishgypsy]

Your story still doesn't justify the 300 / 1 1/2 hour quote. Sure the 60/20 ratio meets the statement, but the 20 fish limit caps the number of fish at the limit. Even the most insane game-hog will look a the tub of fish and realize that they must clean the nasty mess and stop killing fish.

I guess if your counting every boat on the river, or every boat in the state in a given 1 1/2 hour period the quote could be deemed accurate. I don't believe that was the intend or the way the message was received.

I've had nights that we have been on a 3 fish per minute rate for a period of time as well, this is rare, and not sustainable for long. I can't imagine cleaning a mess of 300 fish.

No one said he cleaned 300 fish : )

[Kicknbass]

No one said he cleaned 300 fish : )

OH.....What was I thinking???

[Bman]

I was fishing with the Guru, and saw evidence of gigged Smallie's first hand.

[jscheetz]

Bman, you KNOW that isn't a "gigged" smallie - it was probably just one of those rogue snail darters, or those pesky flesh eating scuds or some such thing that took a bite out of him. If there is one thing we've learned from this post is that no matter how many pictures you take, or how many fish you no longer see in your favorite holes, that it is not giggers gettin em, but rather some sort of rival wildlife attack. That is reassuring to know anyhow.

JS

[jdmidwest]

I was fishing with the Guru, and saw evidence of gigged Smallie's first hand.

That really does not look like a gigging scar since most gigs are 3-4 pronged if I remember right. It would have been hard to stab a fish in a side angle attack as the wound shows and not hit it with other prongs.

I read a paper a while back that lampreys were on the rise in a few rivers, could that have been a culprit. The wound does not rule out a Greater Heron beak either.

I don't gig so I don't have a dog in the hunt to protect them. But I don't like to attack other sportsman that legally enjoy their sport. I don't see how that could have been caused by a fish gig. Anyhow, nice fish.

[Bman]

That really does not look like a gigging scar since most gigs are 3-4 pronged if I remember right. It would have been hard to stab a fish in a side angle attack as the wound shows and not hit it with other prongs.

I read a paper a while back that lampreys were on the rise in a few rivers, could that have been a culprit. The wound does not rule out a Greater Heron beak either.

I don't gig so I don't have a dog in the hunt to protect them. But I don't like to attack other sportsman that legally enjoy their sport. I don't see how that could have been caused by a fish gig. Anyhow, nice fish.

This fish has a Lamprey scar.

My previous post showed a fish that was hit by a gig. Not a Heron or Lamprey. We looked carefully. We released several others not pictured that had been gigged.

[Bman]

Bman, you KNOW that isn't a "gigged" smallie - it was probably just one of those rogue snail darters, or those pesky flesh eating scuds or some such thing that took a bite out of him. If there is one thing we've learned from this post is that no matter how many pictures you take, or how many fish you no longer see in your favorite holes, that it is not giggers gettin em, but rather some sort of rival wildlife attack. That is reassuring to know anyhow.

JS

JS,

I see what you mean.

[Kicknbass]

I was fishing with the Guru, and saw evidence of gigged Smallie's first hand.

Looks like catch and release gigging. Just kidding, that's not funny.

It is probably the result of a mis-identified fish. That water is pretty murky, it would be easy to mistake a specie is that water. It doesn't look like typical gigging water. This stretch of river probably rarely clears up enough to be good gigging water, likely only a few days in the late season after a cold dry spell. What was the visibility the day of your fishing trip? At what depth could you identify a fish on the bottom? 2-3 feet?

I've gigged a lot of fish over the years and I'm not going to dispute that those marks were made by a gig. It look's like a classic gig mark to me. Rarely to all the "points" of the gig hit the fish. If you have a good gig, it only takes one to hold a small fish. How big was that bass? 15" +/- The person that took it was probably extremely disappointed to find a game fish on the end of his gig. Unfortunately, S##t happens, not unlike hooking one deep in the gills. Too bad.

[Al Agnew]

Actually, if it was the stretch of river I think it was, it gets plenty clear enough to gig, and was that clear before the last round of rain. And since they mentioned that they caught several bass with gig marks, if somebody was doing it by accident they were being criminally careless.

I'm going to say it again...if you think herons can get smallmouth in the middle of the winter, you're delusional. The bass simply don't move into shallow enough water during the daylight hours in the winter. In all the years I've spent on Ozark streams, and all the others I've talked to including Nick and cwc who have spent even more time on the water in the winter, none of us have ever seen smallies in water shallower than about three feet in cold weather. The weedbeds are gone, and the water is too clear for them to feel secure in shallow water. They seem to know instinctively that they are slow and sluggish and unable to escape predators as easily, which I think is why they gravitate to deeper pools with lots of cover in the winter. About the only natural predator of adult smallmouth in the winter is the otter. Otters don't leave those kinds of marks.

And it's funny that during the summer, when I and the others catch a lot MORE stream bass per trip and it would be possible for herons to actually find them in shallow enough water occasionally, we almost never see a bass with a fresh puncture wound. But in the winter when the chances of heron predation are practically nil (and the gigging season is open) we see a lot of puncture wounds.

So please don't suggest herons are the culprit on ANY of these wintertime bass.

[slider]

You can put this thread to bed I just got called out to close some roads from the rain. James and Finley are up and muddy the gigging fore this year is probable over. To all of the gigger's hope you had a good year. To the small mouth clan you can have your strech of water back. Slider