Originally Posted by
sayner
+10000000000000
The meat hunters, I like to call them "bucket people", have a way bigger effect on panfish and walleye populations than on bass. For the most part, the closed season, at least for bass, make no sense, biologically speaking. Sure aren't protecting spawners, the opener is tomorrow and we are quite a ways away from the spawn, for bass anyway. Unless we get a big warm up, the northern zone will probably be in the middle of the spawn when the c&r season ends and harvest season begins.
I spoke with a DNR biologist years ago about the closed season and was told it was more about "tradition" than anything else. No closed season on the Mississippi, Wisconsin and other rivers has never had a negative effect on the bass or 'eyes in my view.