Black Bass Dispersal Patterns Following Catch‐and‐Release Tournaments on Lake Champlain

Abstract

Lake Champlain is consistently ranked as one of the top fisheries for black bass Micropterus spp. in the United States. Tournament fishing on the lake has become increasingly popular, with dozens of tournaments held annually since the early 2000s and at least 60 more planned for 2017. The largest of these tournaments launch from Plattsburgh, New York, and their frequency has generated concerns among fishery managers and the public over post‐weigh‐in mortality and stockpiling. However, relatively little is known about the disposition of tournament‐caught black bass in large (>750 km2) lake systems. To address this information gap, we T‐bar‐tagged 1,141 Largemouth Bass M. salmoides and 1,160 Smallmouth Bass M. dolomieu collected from tournament anglers launching from Plattsburgh during 2011 and 2012. Additionally, 38 Largemouth Bass and 53 Smallmouth Bass caught during professional bass tournaments were implanted with radio tags prior to release. Angler‐reported T‐bar recaptures yielded a 9.8% recovery rate, with over half of the tag recoveries occurring within the first month postrelease, primarily within 5 km of their release. Radio‐tagged fish were tracked for up to 383 d following release into Cumberland Bay, 1 km northeast of Plattsburgh. Overall, 43% of radio‐tagged Largemouth Bass and 56% of radio‐tagged Smallmouth Bass left the bay, although there was variation in dispersal patterns between years. One T‐bar‐tagged fish and no radio‐tagged fish returned to their proximate capture locations. Despite the absence of fish returning to their original capture location, results from both T‐bar tagging and radiotelemetry suggest that long‐term (>1 month) stockpiling in Cumberland Bay is not an issue. However, short‐term (<1 month) stockpiling, coupled with an abundance of publicly accessible fishing areas in Plattsburgh, may warrant concern for increased black bass mortality during the weeks after release. Received April 24, 2016; accepted February 8, 2017 Published online April 4, 2017

The Importance of Live‐Well Transport in the Physiological Disturbance Experienced by Smallmouth Bass in Tournaments on Large Water Bodies

“…Based on the information obtained for the frequency of impacts provided by our experiments, it is likely that travel distances similar to those reported by anglers in our surveys, as well as in Maynard et al. (), would be associated with several hundred impacts between the fish and the walls of the live well during the tournament day.…”

“…According to Maynard et al. (), anglers involved in tournaments on Lake Champlain commonly travel over 100 km from sites where fish are caught to the weigh‐in site. The results of surveys conducted in the present study showed that long travel distances are also common for bass tournament anglers on Lake Ontario.…”

“…Since tournaments on large water bodies have become more common (Kerr ) and may often involve more than a hundred anglers (Maynard et al. ), many of the largest black bass in these water bodies are now experiencing relatively long periods of live‐well transport during the angling season.…”

“…Large multiday bass tournaments involving more than 100 participants are now also relatively common (Maynard et al. ). Growth in tournament‐related fishing pressure, as well as continuous improvements in equipment (e.g., electronics), knowledge transfer, and incentives, has increased the probability that many of the largest adult fish in the fishery will be captured during these events (Nelson et al.…”

“…Improvements in boat design have enabled anglers to travel long distances in these events (Maynard et al. ), but even moderate winds on large expanses of open water can create very rough conditions. For these reasons, tournaments on large water bodies are renowned for the physical stresses they impose upon anglers and their equipment (boats, trolling motors).…”