Tournament Fishing On Lake Martin

A question that remains unanswered about tournament fishing on Lake Martin. Is it good for the lake or bad? It is good for the economy of the area around the lake from the standpoint of income being brought into the area. However it may not be good for the lake in general when it comes to population of largemouth bass.

I had the honor to have hosted the first Red Man Tournament event that came to Lake Martin from our old place at Piney Woods Marina and Restaurant near Wind Creek State Park. That was about twenty years ago. At that time limits were ten fish per person. We have seen the limits go down in an effort to preserve the lakes due to the heavy tournament pressure that they receive. It went to seven fish now it is at five fish limit. All these changes were met with some resistance but fishermen understood that things had to change as the sport grew.

The one thing that has not changes is the rule about bed fishing for largemouth bass. It is still legal in a tournament or otherwise to fish for bass while they are bedding in the spring in shallow water. Due to the smaller population of largemouth bass on Lake Martin this part of the tournament format could use some changes. We don’t hunt deer when they bed down, we don’t shoot turkey when they are roosting or most any other animal when they are bedding but we still allow fishermen to jerk bass off their beds in the spring.

Some say it does not hurt but really you think? Taking a big largemouth bass off her bed and hauling her around all day then taking her up to the weigh in scales and then maybe hauling her back out into the lake in a release boat does not effect the spawning of that fish. I just can’t believe that fish will continue to spawn after such a day hence a big hatch of largemouth bass is lost once again.

A simple rule change is all that is needed or even some off limit fishing time in the spring for all bedding fish might not be a bad idea. There has to be something done to insure that we have a future population of largemouth and spotted bass on Lake Martin. No fisherman that has fished this lake for twenty years can tell me that they can’t tell a big difference in the numbers of bass that they catch each year.

Tournament fishing is a great sport one that I enjoyed for lots of years with out jerking spawning bass off their beds. Sure I may not have won as much money as some but I know I did some little part to insure the future of the lake for my grandchildren. Maybe we will see that the future of bass fishing needs to make a few more minor changes due to shear numbers of boats fishing today as opposed to twenty years ago. Something to think about the next time you see a big bass swimming around on the bed at spawning time. Till next week have a great week and Happy Easter. I’ve gone fishing. 

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