Fishing in frigid weather, C/R & Frozen Gills

[Al Agnew]

8 hours ago, Micropterus said:

Fish don't eat less in winter because their food is harder to find, they eat less in winter because their requirements for maintenance and activity metabolism is lower, so they do not have to consume as much forage.  

Fish in cold water often do not need to replenish whatever energy they use up that quick, because their energy requirements for maintenance metabolism is low, which aids in the recovery process after a fish is caught and released.

In contrast, a stressed or injured fish at warm water temperatures is burning up a lot more calories while trying to recover, because of higher maintenance metabolism requirements. Fish in warm water also have a higher oxygen demand than in cold water and warm water also holds less oxygen for a double whammy. Also, fish in warm water are often more suceptable to infection and disease.  All of these factors can come into play and result in higher mortality rates of fish that are caught and released in warm water.

Also, I realize that you guys already mentioned some of those points, but i figured I'd reiterate them to shown how they can all be related to higher fish mortality in warm water.

 

Yeah, I knew that they eat less in winter because of lower energy demands, but your points are all important.  Thanks for clarifying everything so well.

I don't like treating fish with less than respect, so I'm a bit ashamed to tell this, but to show you how much less harmful cold is to bass than warm...Thursday when Hog Wally, Mitch, and I went fishing, we decided to keep all the spotted bass (it was, of course, within the Meramec River system where the bag limit is 12 and no length limit).  We kept them in the live well until we loaded the boat at the end of the trip.  I wanted to keep a half dozen or so, and had no way of keeping them alive for the drive home, so I just dumped them into a plastic grocery bag and threw it in the back of the pickup (it has a tonneau cover).  The drive took longer than I thought it would, almost two hours.  The fish appeared to be in good shape when I got the bag out of the truck...maybe even slightly alive, still.  I had some other stuff to do before cleaning them, so I put them in the kitchen sink and ran some water on them.  I came back from doing my chores a half hour later and they were ALL breathing, and three of the six were swimming normally...it's lucky they didn't jump out of the sink!  That's after two hours completely out of water in air temps that were probably in the mid-30s.

[Guest]

7 hours ago, Al Agnew said:

Yeah, I knew that they eat less in winter because of lower energy demands, but your points are all important.  Thanks for clarifying everything so well.

I don't like treating fish with less than respect, so I'm a bit ashamed to tell this, but to show you how much less harmful cold is to bass than warm...Thursday when Hog Wally, Mitch, and I went fishing, we decided to keep all the spotted bass (it was, of course, within the Meramec River system where the bag limit is 12 and no length limit).  We kept them in the live well until we loaded the boat at the end of the trip.  I wanted to keep a half dozen or so, and had no way of keeping them alive for the drive home, so I just dumped them into a plastic grocery bag and threw it in the back of the pickup (it has a tonneau cover).  The drive took longer than I thought it would, almost two hours.  The fish appeared to be in good shape when I got the bag out of the truck...maybe even slightly alive, still.  I had some other stuff to do before cleaning them, so I put them in the kitchen sink and ran some water on them.  I came back from doing my chores a half hour later and they were ALL breathing, and three of the six were swimming normally...it's lucky they didn't jump out of the sink!  That's after two hours completely out of water in air temps that were probably in the mid-30s.

No problem.  I've had the same thing happen when I had a bunch of panfish in my boats live-well in cool weather---I drained the water before a long drive home, thinking the fish would be mostly dead by the time I got there, only to find them still very much alive when I pulled them out of the live-well.   

Also, it's well documented in fisheries literature that post release mortality of bass caught by anglers tends to be much lower in cooler water than warmer water.  Many of these studies have evaluated post release mortality of bass in tournaments.  However, there are studies that have tried to emulate the practice of catch and immediate release at various water temperatures, in order to better understand mortality rates of bass in relation to recreational angling.   

[Gavin]

Don't know. Usually cut there gills and bleed them out immediately if I want a fish dinner. Released immediately in water mostly. Maybe a picture if it is memorable, but few are. Cooked that day when I keep.

[Al Agnew]

Yeah, I usually bonk them on the head when keeping them and ready to head for home.  Just didn't do it this time.  I seldom eat them the same day, but clean them and freeze in a container full of water.  They'll stay good for years that way...though we seldom let them sit in the freezer for more than a few weeks.  By the way, the spotted bass on upper and middle Big River are usually full of yellow grub parasites even in the winter.  These had a few, but so few that picking them out was quick.