Another clipped tail

[Larry Eby]

Dam area fishing last Saturday. 4 bites, 3 keepers. Collection of everything thrown. A-rig, swimming jig and grub. Bite for us didn’t pick up until the water warmed and the breeze picked up. WT from 40 to 45 when we loaded ( had to be back in town). Would’ve continued throwing the A rug. My son caught a dandy spot on a main swing. Someone had clipped the bottom section of the back fin as it appeared to be still in the process of healing. Didn’t appear to be a fanning issue. Water clarity was about 11 feet.

[abkeenan]

Seems odd that any bass in TR would have their tails clipped. We don't have a slot regulation, so it doesn't make much sense to clip a tail. 

[tjm]

does it ever make sense to clip a fish's tail?

[MoCarp]

DNA study?

[Champ188]

Possibly tournament fishermen without divided livewells. That was a common practice years ago to separate your fish and a partner's fish. There are still some tin boats and older/cheaper fiberglass boats out there with single livewells. 

[abkeenan]

13 hours ago, tjm said:

does it ever make sense to clip a fish's tail?

The answer is no. But in tournaments on lakes that have slot regulations anglers will cheat and cut the tails in order for that fish to fall into that slot. So that is why I said it makes no sense for a clipped tail on Table Rock. Champ may have found the only reason why someone would do it on TR.

[Dock-in-it]

Larry, is the attached picture an example of what you seen ?

[Johnsfolly]

7 hours ago, Champ188 said:

Possibly tournament fishermen without divided livewells. That was a common practice years ago to separate your fish and a partner's fish. There are still some tin boats and older/cheaper fiberglass boats out there with single livewells. 

I have done that to crappie and other species, but only with fish that we were keeping for the table. That way they are considered separated in case the warden checked us. Never released a fish that was clipped.

[tjm]

I'd not call releasing such a fish as "releasing unharmed".  But I also object to culling and to hauling before release, so my opinion is just that.

[dtrs5kprs]

5 hours ago, abkeenan said:

The answer is no. But in tournaments on lakes that have slot regulations anglers will cheat and cut the tails in order for that fish to fall into that slot. So that is why I said it makes no sense for a clipped tail on Table Rock. Champ may have found the only reason why someone would do it on TR.

On small lakes in northern MO, southern IA, we used to see it done a lot by locals. Not slot lakes. It was done to keep fish under the lake's length limit. Some were higher than the standard 15". 

There were a lot of hard feelings about derbies being held on those little lakes. Guess it was an attempt to protect the fish.