These are not gigged bass

[Chief Grey Bear]

1 hour ago, dtrs5kprs said:

There are ways to deal with a gut hooked fish that give it a chance. Hard to see that opportunity with a freaking spear.

Other than there is photographic evidence of the contrary. 

 

1 hour ago, dtrs5kprs said:

Question I have is why not limit gigging to very specific bodies of water? 

Yep, again punish all giggers because of the actions of the <1%. 

If we were to do that to all the poachers that use a rod and reel, we'd have to close all rivers to fishing.

[MOPanfisher]

To all the guys using common sense and even gasp "biological principles", stop it!  Some topics like gigging, C&R only, or Ned rigs are much more interesting without all that silliness.  Maybe next week when it get back into the 60s we can get back to fishing.

[fishinwrench]

1 hour ago, Chief Grey Bear said:

Yep, again punish all giggers because of the actions of the <1%. 

If we were to do that to all the poachers that use a rod and reel, we'd have to close all rivers to fishing.

Well.....just because a few idiots can't drive very good with a buzz, DUI is now the most sought after CRIME in the country.  

I think it's safe to say that more pole/line fishermen get enforced upon than giggers.   

And why is it that guys only gig at night anyway?    Suckers don't act any different at night than they do during the day.  I've never done any gigging but it seems like you could come up behind a sucker and stick him just as easily during the daytime.  Guys snag them during the daylight hours.

[Mitch f]

2 hours ago, SpoonDog said:

Anything with a nervous system is gonna feel pain, fellas.  Whether it's akin to what humans feel I don't know, but it wasn't that long ago folks thought dogs and cats and horses didn't feel pain like we did, either, and we've justified all sort of awful things through history by saying one group of folks doesn't have this or that capacity. 

Fish feel pain, and if you've ever walked by a hatchery raceway or watched fish chase each other in an aquarium you already know they can feel physiological stress.  Some build complex nests using only their jaws or their fins, some can sniff there way home from the oceans, some exhibit a level of parental care you won't see in many humans.  Regardless of whether they feel pain "like us" they're pretty neat critters and they deserve respect- that doesn't mean you should beat yourself up about fishing for them, though.

I've seen lots of folks kill lots of things they thought were ducks or doves or quail.  How many swans were offed this year because someone thought they were snow geese?  You set a trap without knowing for certain what animal it'll catch, and I promise a few cats and dogs go missing that time of year.  Gigging's no less accurate than any number of things we otherwise find perfectly acceptable.

MDC hasn't restricted gigging because they're not in the position of legislating vice.  It's easy to understand why dynamite or electricity aren't good for fisheries, and when they did the research to show noodling screwed catfish they banned it- despite the influence of state legislators.  And while you guys have been able to show some bass are gigged, you haven't shown (with verifiable numbers) it appreciably impacts the resource.  You're entitled to think gigging's a hick thing to do if that's your opinion, but realize the grownups aren't going to make decisions purely  because you think something's icky.  And for a group of folks who's constant refrain is MDC pays more attention to reservoir or trout or paddlefish or catfish anglers than smallmouth guys, the idea they should restrict another angling group to a certain set of waters is ludicrous.  Who ordained you?

All the bass fishermen ask, is to be treated on the same level as the trout guys, who have managed to get gigging banned in certain management areas.

Again, (for the 10th time) we are not trying to ban gigging. Saying they are the adults and we are children reminds me of most government agencies, who operate like HAL 9000 with their "superior intellect" and have taken control. I actually think of them as the paid servants that they are. Most of the long belters I've seen at MDC meetings talk a good game. But the results take so long with so much red tape that we all feel like it's just talk. It's no wonder a Bully CEO type like Donal J Trump is so popular, people are so freaking tired of the status quo.... which is not working, and it needs to change.  

[Al Agnew]

It's already been touched upon, but fish don't have the capacity for complex thought, including imagination, prediction, and deduction.  I've seined and trapped bunches of minnows and young game fish, carried them around in a minnow bucket for an hour or more, scooped them out with a hand net, and dumped them into my aquarium.  They immediately either swim frantically around for a few minutes or dive for the bottom and hunker down.  They appear totally freaked out.  But a half hour later they are back to acting normally and if you feed them at that point, most of them eat as if nothing is wrong.  Their fear, if it was true fear, is a direct result of the stimulus at that time, and they don't remember it and dwell upon it.  If the aliens plucked you out of your house, beamed you up to a spaceship, and stuck you in a cage, you think you'd be back to normal in a half hour?  Nope, you'd be scared to death about what else was going to happen...because you have that capacity for complex thought and imagination, and your imagination would be coming up with all kinds of horrible scenarios.  With fish, as soon as the trauma is past, they've probably forgotten about it except for a conditioned response that may or may not work to make them avoid it in the future.

[Mitch f]

4 minutes ago, Al Agnew said:

It's already been touched upon, but fish don't have the capacity for complex thought, including imagination, prediction, and deduction.  I've seined and trapped bunches of minnows and young game fish, carried them around in a minnow bucket for an hour or more, scooped them out with a hand net, and dumped them into my aquarium.  They immediately either swim frantically around for a few minutes or dive for the bottom and hunker down.  They appear totally freaked out.  But a half hour later they are back to acting normally and if you feed them at that point, most of them eat as if nothing is wrong.  Their fear, if it was true fear, is a direct result of the stimulus at that time, and they don't remember it and dwell upon it.  If the aliens plucked you out of your house, beamed you up to a spaceship, and stuck you in a cage, you think you'd be back to normal in a half hour?  Nope, you'd be scared to death about what else was going to happen...because you have that capacity for complex thought and imagination, and your imagination would be coming up with all kinds of horrible scenarios.  With fish, as soon as the trauma is past, they've probably forgotten about it except for a conditioned response that may or may not work to make them avoid it in the future.

I know a guy who caught a 20"+ smallmouth and put it in his 50 gallon aquarium. Within a few minutes it was gobbling up all the goldfish!!?

[fishinwrench]

11 minutes ago, Mitch f said:

I know a guy who caught a 20"+ smallmouth and put it in his 50 gallon aquarium. Within a few minutes it was gobbling up all the goldfish!!?

Yet you still don't own an orange crankbait ?

[dtrs5kprs]

9 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

Yet you still don't own an orange crankbait ?

I do. Burnt orange coachdog is one of the best 6a/7a bomber colors ever. Starting to pop up in SK and others too.

[Ham]

The old metal lip Bomber crankbaits came in some fun colors back in the day. Coachdog was one I had some good luck on.

[dtrs5kprs]

1 hour ago, Mitch f said:

I know a guy who caught a 20"+ smallmouth and put it in his 50 gallon aquarium. Within a few minutes it was gobbling up all the goldfish!!?

I fight the pet bass urge on occasion. It's not right, but gosh it's tempting.