How long can bass fish go out of water?

wgbassgirl · Post by **wgbassgirl** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 2:41 pm

Over the last few weeks I have heard a lot of debate over the time bass fish can stay out of water. So people have made comments about videos where the person is speaking, for what seems like quite some time, while holding the fish or when there are weigh-ins and the angler is holding their bag of fish while speaking to the announcer. Realistically, how long can they go out of water, before you are harming the fish?

It's actually something I never really learned and I usually release the bass as quickly as I can..but there are many different opinions out there.

ukey28 · Post by **ukey28** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 1:04 pm

JMHO

Hold someone, who just ran a quarter mile at top speed under water and time it until they don't struggle any more. About 10 seconds less than that is how long.

Just kidding. But if you think about the scenario, thats what is going on. Do what you have to do quickly be it weighing, taking a picture, or showing it off to your fishing buddy and get that fish into some water.

wgbassgirl · Post by **wgbassgirl** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 3:55 pm

Who do you think we can get to volunteer for that experiement...

Thanks for the info. Your scenario puts a good perspective on it.

brendanc · Post by **brendanc** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 5:10 pm

Sure, I'll volunteer to hold Frank underwater! lol

One important factor is water temp. The hotter the water is, the worse the impact will be on a bass. In very cold water, bass seem to fare better. I have read that a bass can survive out of water for almost 20 minutes. Now that doesn't mean that the bass is going to survive once released. I would have to agree with Frank, the less time out of water the better it is for the bass. When the water temps are high, you need to be extra careful.

Just my two cents... I will try and look up some more info in some books that I have.

Great Topic bassinwg6!

ukey28 · Post by **ukey28** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 11:33 pm

Interesting test results, not what I thought I would see. But I'll still go with the shorter the better concept. Bass are tough fish. But the world is a better place with a lot of them around.
To open another can of worms I'd like to see a study of what happens to bass that are removed from beds. Do they set up to spawn if they are still gravid or do they reabsorb the eggs and call it a year??