Tuna Posted January 29, 2019 Report Share Posted January 29, 2019 I decided to share in the Hard Baits section since it has the most activity. This is from my research and search criteria. Hopefully your results may bear out better toward bass fishing. Iowa is currently in a deep freeze. I spent some time researching fishing categories in the Northern Midwest area. Categories as follows; food fishing (crappie, gills, catfish, trout, etc) vs. sport fishing (bass, northern, muskie). After reading a bunch of statistics and articles, I wonder if producing lures as more than a hobby is worthwhile. I love to fish, usually as a loner with my main interest in bass fishing. If I catch anything else I may get a photo and try to release in good shape. I also like to create bass and panfish baits. I'm going to break these "stats" down from what I noted. What is the main motivation to by a license? Food fishing and to support DNR efforts to provide restocking with a good chance of productive bounty 83%. Sport fishing less than 15%. Wow, I was kind of shocked. Curious, I contacted a major soft plastics marketing company. A rep told me nationwide sales in dollars for panfishing baits outnumber their bass baits near 4 to 1. Guess that sounds right per midwest conservation reports. Ok, so what's the fatality rate of fish after a proper, non-deep hooked release? Many of the articles tell me bass have a 1 in 10 chance of dying, sunfish a 1 in 15 and crappie/muskie a 1 in 7 due to their sensitive slime or exhaustive fight. One especially interesting article I read was published by the Joplin MO. Globe in 2017 about impact of striper stocking, a state border conflict and spider rig crappie fishing. https://www.joplinglobe.com/sports/local_sports/everything-one-needs-to-know-about-crappie/article_ed8d519e-5120-5765-8987-6b1be194c9a8.html Always welcome your point of view. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
