To Be Caught Again

I recently came across this photo from my nephew Bill again, and it got me thinking: How well does catch and release work?

I found a recently study that's very interesting. It's a 27-year recapture study of largemouth bass in Wisconsin by biologists Kitchall and Hodgson. It was published this year and it seems to indicate that catch and release results are pretty darn good!

By my reading, of the 1,054 bass caught (average 10 inches or more), about 40% were never caught again. However, of the remaining 60%, 21% were caught one more time. The remnant 39% were caught anywhere from twice to as much as 22 times over. By any measure that's a bunch, and it shows a resource that's used many times over.

By the way, the shot is of a bass getting ready to attack a jig in a heavy milfoil bed.