Year Round Catch & Release Bass a Michigan Reality
On April 10, 2015 a year round catch and release bass season has become a reality. The Natural Resource Commission implemented this historical regulation at the first possible opportunity with their new Fisheries Order authority at a public meeting held on April 9th. This shift in the management of bass fisheries benefits all bass anglers in the state of Michigan.
This decision comes on the heels of years of work put in by the Michigan United Conservation Club, The Bass Federation of Michigan and most notably the Michigan B.A.S.S. Nation represented by Conservation Director, Dan Kimmel of Lansing Michigan. After attending well over sixty such public and private meetings Dan, and the coalition of bass organizations that pushed for the change have opened up a new era of cooperation with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
The idea of year-round catch and release for bass is not a new one. As of April 9th, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota were the last three states that still maintained statewide seasonal closures on bass. The restrictions are essentially a hold out of historical traditions that go back to the “market hunting” days of the early 1900’s where commercial fishing was devastating to fish populations and the public good.
Even in this modern era there is more work to do going forward. The next step in the process is to implement a catch and delayed release study that will be setup later this year. It should be the beginning of the process to bring another month of bass tournament fishing to the state of Michigan.
(Thank you Dan Kimmel of www.greatlakesbass.com for supplying much of the content for this article)
© 2015 Wayne Carpenter
