So what’s the big deal? Regarding the relative mortality of released fish, does it really matter if the twister tail you’re dragging through the water is impregnated with salt? Prune juice?
That’s the question that popped into public consciousness again recently when the Colorado Wildlife Commission changed the regulation to allow scented lures at a number of lakes with catch restrictions tied to the use of flies and lures — provided the lure is at least 1 1/2 inches long.
That last stricture is intended to eliminate scented objects such as PowerBait and fake fish eggs that are left to soak on bottom and thus subject to being swallowed.
But what about the continuing dispute over scent-impregnated lures that are retrieved or trolled? Are fish really more likely to inhale these to the extent of deep hooking and death?
Here we find the ultimate paradox. On one hand is the manufacturers’ widely advertised selling point: Scent not only attracts fish, it causes them to hold the lure longer, thus more hookups while said fish presumably is moving it along through the ingesting process and deeper into its body parts. Lure makers have created a rich industry based on a multiplicity of scents, mostly for bass and walleye.
On the other, anglers who spend good money for these products ask us to believe they don’t really cause significant mortality in released fish. After earlier banning the odiferous stuff, Colorado’s wildlife establishment ultimately came to agree.
Part of the reason had to do with regulatory housekeeping, the rest with a sincere belief by the Colorado Division of Wildlife that the stricter rule caused otherwise law-abiding anglers to unwittingly break the rules.
A case in point: I have tackle boxes stuffed with loose plastics, some dating back to the most recent ice age. I haven’t the foggiest notion which have been impregnated with these evil smells. I suppose I could taste them, but there’s all that dirt and fish slime to chew through before I get to the good stuff.
In any event, anglers — even those who are baseball players — now can juice up at a variety of previously forbidden waters. The list includes such highly popular trout waters such as the three Delaney Butte Lakes, but oddly omits Spinney Mountain Reservoir, which has similar regulations concerning method and release of fish.
The reason, said Greg Gerlich, DOW’s aquatics chief, is that the agency conducted a study at Spinney showing trout indeed suffered greater mortality when hooked with scented lures. This begs the obvious question as to how Spinney trout manage to grab lures differently than their Delaney cousins. Or the way this divergence in regulation adds to angler confusion.
While giving so much attention to a scented-lure issue that indeed may have minor consequence, fish managers continue to ignore, or at least publicly avoid, a method that causes more mortality than any other. This involves the use of lures with multiple treble hooks.
Anyone who has witnessed the scenario involving a large fish hooked with trebles flopping wildly in the bottom of a boat at Spinney or Antero knows the problem. We see dead or injured fish and wonder how many others are left to die.
This multiple treble business is difficult to address in an environment in which such lures hang by the thousands in local tackle shops. But if the wildlife establishment can come to a series of conclusions regarding scents that can’t be seen or perhaps even tasted, then perhaps the hook thing can be resolved as well.
It’s something to chew on.
Charlie Meyers: 303-954-1609 or cmeyers@denverpost.com
