Dispersal of Smallmouth Bass from a Simulated Tournament Weigh‐In Site

Kaintz, Melissa A.; Bettoli, Phillip W.

doi:10.1577/m10-033.1

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Most fish that crossed into the Vermont Islands lake region did so in the northern reaches of the lake, near Isle La Motte, where water depth is 15-24 m, rather than crossing deep, pelagic zones (>60 m depth) east and southeast of Plattsburgh. These results support previous research that found that the vast majority of tournamentreleased Largemouth Bass used continuous shoreline for traveling and avoided deep, open water (Gilliland 1999) and that Smallmouth Bass dispersing from a central release point were rarely observed in open-water areas (Kaintz and Bettoli 2010).…”

Section: Dispersalsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Because black bass are thought to navigate primarily with the use of landmarks (Warden and Lorio 1975;Wilde 2003), postrelease movement patterns in waterbodies with large, deep pelagic zones may be limited (Healey 1990;Gilliland 1999;Kaintz and Bettoli 2010). Impediments to movement, such as pelagic zones and an absence of recognizable landmarks, can result in increased densities of fish located near release sites.…”

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confidence: 99%

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

Maynard

Mihuc

Sotola

et al. 2017

N American J Fish Manag

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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

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Section: Dispersalsupporting

confidence: 90%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Maynard

Mihuc

Sotola

et al. 2017

N American J Fish Manag

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“…Descended fish, on average, moved similar distances to the control group, and the farthest traveling fish in the study (28.6 km) was a descended individual. Stockpiling of fish following CFEs, defined as delayed or failed evacuation from the release site, is a concern for fisheries management and has been the subject of many other tracking studies (e.g., Richardson-Heft et al 2000;Young and Isely 2006;Kaintz and Bettoli 2010;Brown et al 2015). Our findings suggest that descending Walleye may be a better approach than venting for encouraging longer and faster movements away from CFE weigh stations after barotrauma relief.…”

Section: In Situ Telemetry Studymentioning

confidence: 74%

“…We first tagged fish with a unique cinch-up tag (FT-4; Floy Tag Manufacturing Inc.) behind the first dorsal fin. We attached acoustic transmitters to the tag loop either directly through the transmitter cap (for 142-d transmitters) or with PDSII 2-0 violet monofilament dissolvable suture (Ethicon, San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico) for 6-d transmitters such that transmitters would fall off after the monitoring period (modified from Kaintz and Bettoli 2010). The tagging and transmitter attachment procedure took approximately 2 min per fish, and we submerged fish in water the entire period.…”

Section: In Situ Telemetry Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Walleye Responses to Barotrauma Relief Treatments for Catch-and-Release Angling: Short-Term Changes to Condition and Behavior

Eberts

Zak

Manzon

et al. 2018

Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management

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Barotrauma causes stress and impairment in fish and can cause mortality after catch and release. Relief of barotrauma symptoms is necessary to reduce mortality, but we currently know little about sublethal effects associated with relief methods. Here, we assess the condition and behavior of tournament-caught Walleye Sander vitreus with barotrauma by using three popular relief methods: 1) swim bladder venting, 2) deep-water release (descending), and 3) livewell reorientation with fin weights. In a short-term ex situ experiment, 50% of untreated fish with barotrauma did not recover sufficiently to be released after 20 h. Fin weighting immediately improved condition by enabling fish to regain correct orientation; however, only 53% of fin-weighted fish recovered sufficiently to be released. All vented fish were negatively buoyant, but 73% were releasable after the holding period. In a concurrent in situ study, acoustic telemetry showed that Walleye without barotrauma (controls) made variable postrelease movements (total distance: 5.1–27.6 km), descended fish behaved similarly to controls (4.7–28.6 km), and vented fish made the shortest movements (2.6–16.7 km). However, there were no statistically significant differences in distance metrics among groups. Control and descended fish used larger areas and volumes of the lake than vented fish. Descended fish also used significantly deeper depths than vented fish, and control fish were intermediate in the depth used. Telemetry did not indicate mortality of any fish in the in situ study. Our data suggest that without treatment, mortality of Walleye with barotrauma could be as high as 50%. Fin weighting is not an effective catch-and-release aid for Walleye with moderate-to-severe barotrauma, and swim bladder venting may alter short-term, postrelease movements and habitat use. The consequences of these short-term changes to Walleye behavior from a fisheries management perspective are unclear. Eliminating catch-and-release angling in deep water is the best means of managing barotrauma in Walleye. If deep-water angling cannot be avoided, we recommend noninvasive descending over venting.

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“…Transmitters were attached to the cinch‐up tag via a loop of Monocryl 2‐0 dissolvable suture. The suture material dissolves in approximately 21–30 d, allowing the radio or acoustic transmitter to release after a short‐term study (modified tagging methods from Kaintz and Bettoli ). The radio transmitters used were Lotek MCFT2‐3A and MCFT2‐3BM models (temperature and motion loggers) (Lotek Wireless, Newmarket, Ontario) that had a battery life of approximately 33 d. The acoustic tags used were Vemco V9‐2x and V13‐1x with external mounting caps for attachment (Vemco, Bedford, Nova Scotia); battery life ranged from 15 to 72 d. The attachment process took approximately 2 min, during which fish were kept submerged in the holding tank to limit their exposure to air.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unexplained Variation in Movement by Walleye and Sauger after Catch‐and‐Release Angling Tournaments

Eberts

Butt

Somers

2018

N American J Fish Manag

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Walleye Sander vitreus is a popular species for catch-and-release angling tournaments in North America, but we currently know little about the postrelease behavior of this species and the congeneric Sauger S. canadensis. We used radiotelemetry and acoustic telemetry to track Walleyes (n = 101) and Saugers (n = 19) for 7 d after release at tournaments in Saskatchewan. Our objectives were to provide a description of postrelease movements, and examine the influence of handling variables and stress scores on movement. Walleyes made highly variable movements over 7 d, and total dispersal ranged from less than 100 m to over 28 km from the release point. Path lengths-the cumulative distance between start and end points-were considerably longer than straight-line dispersal. Walleyes made larger movements than Saugers, with average total dispersal values of 6.1 ± 6.9 km (mean ± SD) and 1.3 ± 1.8 km, respectively. Multivariate modeling revealed that species and tournament were the only important factors affecting movement. Fish size (TL), capture depth, distance transported, and time spent in a live well were not consistently important predictors of postrelease movement. Walleyes and Saugers moved much smaller distances when they had poor outcomes for the reflex action mortality predictor (RAMP) test, but RAMP scores in general did not explain a significant proportion of the variance in any fish movement metric. Swim scores at the time of release, an alternative metric of stress, also did not explain a significant proportion of variance in fish movement. Our results show intriguing variance in the behavioral response of individual Walleyes and Saugers to catch and release at tournaments, but do not identify causal factors.

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Dispersal of Smallmouth Bass from a Simulated Tournament Weigh‐In Site

Cited by 5 publications

References 16 publications

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

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

Walleye Responses to Barotrauma Relief Treatments for Catch-and-Release Angling: Short-Term Changes to Condition and Behavior

Unexplained Variation in Movement by Walleye and Sauger after Catch‐and‐Release Angling Tournaments

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