Biologist’s study supports open season on bass | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star

There are those who will disagree with Jed Pearson’s position that there is no reason to have a closed season on Indiana largemouth bass during the spawning season, which is now.

They can argue the point with Pearson, a Department of Natural Resources fisheries biologist, but he said his position is based on a study that shows a 27-year trend, and not on his personal opinion.

Indiana discontinued its closed season in 1948.

The argument for a closed season is that nests should be protected during the spawn; that catching male and female largemouth bass reduces the bass population in the state’s natural lakes.

Not true, Pearson said.

Then there’s the ethical issue of disturbing bass when they are nesting. Pearson doesn’t address that issue in a report he released this month, leaving it to the angler to decide.

Even the novice bass fisherman knows the best time to be successful is during the spawn. That’s when it’s easy to find bass — usually large bass — moving around at or near their fanned-out, circular shoreline nests.

And that is when many bass tournaments are held in Indiana.  Click link below for full story.

via Biologist’s study supports open season on bass | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star.