Bass Fisherman Liberation Day Has Arrived (3/1/26)

 

I went to Beat Trax, bought my licence around noon, and headed to Erskine around 3 PM. I caught one dink bass on a Cubby.  Today is when catch-and-release fishing is officially legal for bass during the closed season. 

Liberation Day Has Arrived!

The Day Has Come

 

A totally closed bass season is now a thing of the past in the State of MN. Here at Bass Pundit, I have been advocating for this change since my very first year of blogging. Here is my very first post on the subject from April 2005.

Pundit Activism

"Opening Bass To Year Round Fishing," Amen!

 

It certainly seems like 2026 is going to be the year that MN will finally go to catch and release fishing allowed for bass during the closed season.

News On Minnesocold Bass Seasons

 

It looks like we have one more year of a closed bass season in MN before the state does away with a completely closed season for bass in favor of allowing catch and release fishing for bass year round.

Has A Tipping Point Been Reached On Mn Closed Bass Season

 

Click here to take the survey

At long last, the MN DNR is considering doing away with a closed bass season and going to catch and release outside of the open season for bass. Michigan did it, then Wisconsin did it. Minnesocold will hopefully do the right thing. 

BP Story Time: MN Fishing Opener

Picture Fish, Not The One In Story

 My memory is foggy about when this story happened. It was when I was in high school, but it may have been when I was in college. It may have happened the weekend between Fishing Opener and Bass Opener. 

I was fishing in the channel between West Sylvia and Sylvia for pike with spinnerbaits. I was catching pike and bass, minding my own business, when some guy came out on his dock and chewed me out for fishing for bass out of season. I told him I was fishing for pike, but he wasn't having any of it. I was like, what an A-hole. Later that night, I caught a pike that maybe went 7 or 8 lbs and was the biggest of my life at that point on a different spot. A few years later, I caught a 10lb pike almost right where he chewed me out on Opener, setting a new personal best, and I got a 12lber there sometime in the Fall during the mid-1990s.

Florida Study Shows Bed Fishing Zero Impact On Largemouth

Facebook Video Here

The Study Here

It has been my opinion for a very long time that having a completely closed season on largemouth bass is nonsense from a scientific perspective.  Angling pressure during the spawn does next to nothing in effecting how successful a body of water is at producing largemouth bass.  This is doubly true in weedy natural lakes.  A lake's fertility, carrying capacity, and spawning habitat are what impact largemouth populations, not fishing pressure.

Get with the program state of Minnesota.  Open up largemouth bass to catch and release fishing when not in season.

WI Goes to Year Round Bass Fishing

Wisconsin is now the latest state to do away with a totally closed season for bass.  Congratulations WI bassheads for getting it done.  Hopefully, MN gets with the program and follows suit in the next couple of years.

Update: This change isn't official yet. 

#WhatTheStateofMNRobsFromIt'sBassFishermen,THIS!

(This video is must watch)

KVD & Zona went out an absolutely smoked the pre-spawn giants last week, because the state of Michigan came to it's senses two years ago and did away with a totally closed season for largemouth and smallmouth bass.  Now Michigan anglers are free to immediately catch and release fish to their hearts content during the whole pre-spawn period.  The state of MN gave us two extra weeks of catch and release fishing.  I really hope that within the next couple of years this state revisits it's closed season for bass and once and for all goes catch and release just like Michigan did.

Calling Out the MN DNR On Pike Fishing B.S.

The MN DNR sent out a press release yesterday encouraging people to get out and fish.  In it they got onto the topic of closed seasons and why we have them.  Here is the line of BS I take issue with:

They are telling us a major reason why we are not allowed to catch and keep pike right now is because some people might target walleye under the guise of fishing for pike.

As our DNR has told us, pike populations in the central portion of this state are having a detrimental impact on walleye populations.  The pike are out of control eating up as many of those precious little walleye's as they can and the DNR finds that acceptable because they can't have a few people targeting walleye's out of season that would be released.

C'mon DNR, get your head out of your ass!!!

If anything pike being closed makes keeping the bass fishing season closed enforceable.   It is the position of this blog that there should not be a closed season for pike in the central portion of this state, period!  Lets get the hammer handle issue under control because that is a real problem.  People catching and releasing some incidentally caught bass and walleye while targeting pike would be a rather small problem by comparison.  

What I Really Want To Know Is...

Dennis Anderson wrote a column for today's Star Tribune on the early catch and release bass season.  You can tell Dennis is not a dedicated bass fishermen by his closing question;  "If bass won’t be hurt by an early two-week catch-and-release season, could they also sustain a two-week harvest season at that time, which would mean opening bass fishing each year in Minnesota with the northern pike and walleye seasons?"

I know of very few bass fishermen that would have asked that as a closing question.  We don't want bass season opened up to catch and keep with the walleye and pike.  The thought of limit's of bass going home with meat fishermen out for panfish, walleye, and pike is enough to make some of us want to toss our cookies (and maybe a few bricks) in Dennis Anderson's general direction.    

What I really want to know is why it is ever illegal in MN to fish for bass with catch and immediate release?  If your unfamiliar with MN fishing regulations than you might not know that bass have three season; closed to all fishing, immediate catch and release, and open to be kept.  That is right, in MN there is a season in which we are forbidden by law from intentionally attempting to catch bass so we can immediately release them.  Michigan was once like MN is now, with the three seasons.  They experimented with an immediate catch and release season and just this year passed a law making the closed season always open to catch and immediate release fishing (CIR).   My hope is that in a year or two we will follow Michigan's lead and no longer make catch and release fishing for bass illegal for part of the year. Immediate catch and release fishing for bass should always be legal, except in waters with a smallmouth bass population that needs protection.

BP's Opinion: That Was Not MN Bass Opener

A lot of my Facebook friends had posts talking about yesterday as "Bass Opener" here in MN.  I beg to differ with that opinion.  BASS SEASON IS STILL CLOSED, we are just allowed to legally intentionally fish for them with the tackle of our choice and release them.  I know giving people the impression that they can go out and keep bass right now was not there intention, but that is the impression I fear the average casual fisherman will get.   Bass Opener isn't until Memorial Day weekend same as usual.

Congratulations To Michigan Bass Anglers

They can now fish for bass all year long.  Hopefully MN will follow suit in 2-5 years.

Updated: More on MI Bass Season

DNR Officially Announces Bass Catch & Release Season for 2015

Yes, I have known about this for some time, but the official announcement was made today

From today's DNR press release:

MN Bass Catch & Release Season May 9-22, 2015

We got her done, finally.  From the MN DNR.

MN Plans to Implement Early Catch and Release Season in 2015

Thank you for your question.  We only received three requests.  This does not meet the 25 requests needed; consequently, we plan to adopt the rules without a hearing.  At this time, we are reviewing the comments for possible changes that have been requested and take them under consideration.

This is the e-mail I got today from the DNR on the purposed rule changes next year which contained the early bass season.  Since only 3 people requested a hearing, there is no more bureaucratic red tape standing in the way.  If they "plan to adopt the rules" than I would say there is a 98% likelihood we can fish for bass starting on the MN Fishing Opener next year.

Update: I was wrong about the bureaucratic red tape part.  I was informed it will probably be 3 months at least until this is finalized. 

What The MN DNR Has To Say About An Early Catch And Release Season

Right now the MN DNR is taking comments statewide fishing regulation changes for next year.  Among the changes are a long awaited early catch and release season for bass that would coincide with the walleye/pike opener.  Here is what the DNR had to say about it in their Statement of Need and Reasonableness.

Item A (2) This part of the rule proposes a catch and release season for bass statewide for 
inland waters prior to the harvest season. Bass populations are generally expanding across 
Minnesota. A statewide bass angler survey in 2012 (Schroeder 2012) indicated a moderate level 
of support for some form of catch and release season for bass. The Minnesota Bass Advisory 
Committee, comprised of representatives of the State’s primary bass organizations, has long 
advocated for an early catch and release season. Other northern latitude states (New York and 
Michigan) have recently made similar changes to their season structure in response to expanding 
bass populations, and to provide bass anglers with additional angling opportunity with low risk 
to bass fisheries (Jackson et. al. 2013; Jackson et. al. 2008; Einhouse et. al 2002; and, Bremigan 
et. al. 2008). Recent work by Philipp (2012) suggests through a conceptual model there may be 
some potential for genetic shift in bass populations exposed to catch and release angling during 
spawning. Research and management staffs have documented sufficient recruitment in most of 
Minnesota bass lakes and rivers. In addition, harvest rates from creel surveys are routinely low 
(less than 10% of overall catch). Jackson et al (2013) and Einhouse et al (2002) suggested in 
New York’s Lake Erie, that the smallmouth bass population actually increased in abundance 
since the opening of an early catch and release bass season (since 1994). Similarly, Gwinn and 
Allen (2010) suggested that seasonal closures would have little benefit on most largemouth bass 
fisheries, provided overall harvest rates are low. Therefore, it is reasonable and necessary to 
offer increased recreational opportunities without significant harm to bass populations in 
Minnesota. 

The question I have with this stuff being the case is why not open bass, or at the very least largemouth bass, up to catch and release fishing in March, instead of only to coincide with the walleye/pike opener?

B.S. WI and MI Liberalizing Bass Fishing Seasons, MN Doing Nothing

Michigan is in the process of getting rid of their closed season altogether after having experimented with a catch and release season and the Cheeseheads are shutting down the catch and release season in the North for largemouth in favor of opening up with the rest of the state.

We will be lucky to get an early two week catch and release season in 2015.  But at least this year I can fish for smallies on Mille Lacs come Fishing Opener.

Yes It Is Time For An Early C&R Season in MN!!!

Is it time for an early C&R bass season?

The process for getting this looked at has been a little slow in my opinion, but it looks like there is a good chance this will happen in 2015.  There will be a public comment period sometime in the next few months and probably be a hearing or two at the capital.  Providing there is no significant opposition this should pass and I'll be throwing what I want to on the Fishing Opener in 2015.

Cool Article From Sports Illustrated 1963

This Is The Fish You Can't Catch Too Many Of