What's up with long creek?

[tjm]

2 hours ago, Sore Thumbs said:

Some ding dong in a kayak tournament shortened his board so the fish would appear longer. Always someone trying to get an edge. 

Is it true that some ding dongs in weighed tourneys have filled fish with lead shot to make them heavier?  Contests attract cheaters, always have and always will, the only way to prevent cheating in contests is to not have contests.

[m&m]

I would say that many tourneys weigh in at the State Park and Long Creek Marina. So it the theory is correct, those areas should have more released fish than some other areas. I’ve seen release boats go out and most don’t go very far from the weigh in spot. Having said that, I agree that CPR is the way to go. IMHO

Mike

[PHhunter]

I have a hard time believing that bass tournaments are carrying all the fish off from a location. Now they might get pressured and move, but how many fish are being transported really? And then how many are being put back by the next tournament launching in that area.

[tjm]

3 hours ago, PHhunter said:

I have a hard time believing that bass tournaments are carrying all the fish off from a location. Now they might get pressured and move, but how many fish are being transported really? And then how many are being put back by the next tournament launching in that area.

That would depend on the lake, how many boats in a tourney and how many tourneys per week/month/year - and how quick the angler catches the big fish (does he transport and cull one or twenty)- if a hundred boats a week catch move and cull three fish and transport three keepers to weigh you have moved 600 fish. With the numbers of tourneys I'm reading about, it looks like potentially several thousand fish a week are relocated at minimum. And I have read where these anglers want the states to stock more fish to compensate for fish lost to this behavior. 

[tjm]

I doubt the tourney anglers move all the bass also, there will be a few that are hard to catch that will stay in place.

[BassPastor]

If it makes you feel better, I fished 3 days last week mostly in Long Creek and had little luck as well. Lot's of boats fishing down there due to the warmer water temps and hardly saw/talked to anyone catching a dern thing. We bagged a limit, but it took 3 days and one was a catfish. lol

[Bill Babler]

I really think it is numbers and volume of fishermen.  When I first started guiding in the early 90's we thought that the lake was really pressured.  If fact there was  no pressure at all.

Sophistication of both fishermen and equipment has risen to become a huge factor.  As I type this at 6:45 at least a dozen boats are running the Long Creek area.  It is relentless pressure. and when you are talking about Long Creek, it can fish extremely small.

Guide buddy told me yesterday that you pretty much had to take a number to fish the Kings River.  There was several boats in every pocket and going down most all banks, kind of like Bo said, they were fishing everything.

I know everyone talks about daylight hours affecting the fish and fauna, but we have pictures from last March and all our trees were out and blooming this time of the year.  This year they are just budding.  I think we are about a week or two behind.  If things have not improved by the second week of April I will be pretty sad.

[Jerry Rapp]

10 minutes ago, Bill Babler said:

I really think it is numbers and volume of fishermen.  When I first started guiding in the early 90's we thought that the lake was really pressured.  If fact there was  no pressure at all.

Sophistication of both fishermen and equipment has risen to become a huge factor.  As I type this at 6:45 at least a dozen boats are running the Long Creek area.  It is relentless pressure. and when you are talking about Long Creek, it can fish extremely small.

Guide buddy told me yesterday that you pretty much had to take a number to fish the Kings River.  There was several boats in every pocket and going down most all banks, kind of like Bo said, they were fishing everything.

I know everyone talks about daylight hours affecting the fish and fauna, but we have pictures from last March and all our trees were out and blooming this time of the year.  This year they are just budding.  I think we are about a week or two behind.  If things have not improved by the second week of April I will be pretty sad.

concur on being behind.  Look at the Grand Lake FLW results.  About the same number of blanks as limits on day 1.

[Quillback]

Is it spring break in MO this week?  It was last week in AR, always seems to bump up the pressure even more.

Seems like the pressure is up anywhere you go these days.  When I was out Wednesday there were 9 rigs in the Big M lot, which is more than usual for a weekday.

[Longball22]

Wait until after next weekend.  Big Bass Tour will have plenty of keeper fish back in the Long Creek Area.