I got a question for all you guys. I don't have a clue...well here it goes. me and my partner was doing a little pre fishing at high rock lake and they had a tournament (that we were not in) and watched them put at least 200 to 250 bass back at the landing. Now here comes the million dollar question. Where do they go and how far will they go and when will they bite agian?

There was a good study done on this at my local lake - it's a great quick read:

 

http://www.seafwa.org/resource/dynamic/private/PDF/GILLILAND-144-149.pdf

Thanks for the nice read flyingmonkie. What I don't get is despite this kind of study there are places that they allow having some heavy tournaments weekly at same locations.

There is a misconception that you have to run 30 minutes down lake to catch bass. Lol I do believe sometimes that may win, but you can stay within a couple miles of the ramp and catch some good fish. If it looks good enough for the bass they will stay. Me and a buddy of mine usually stay within a couple miles of some boat ramps. We know which tournaments are at what ramp and on what day and we use that to our advantage. Now for when will they bite after being released? I have no clue but we don't seem to have a problem catching them!

The area surrounding the ramp that our local bass tourney does weigh-in is off limits during the tourney for this very reason.  I suspect this is pretty common across the country.

 

When NOT in the tourney, the nearest dock is usually my first stop.

No were i fish and have never heard of the ramp area being off limits

No were i fish and have never heard of the ramp area being off limits

Only during the tournament.

Hootie

There was a good study done on this at my local lake - it's a great quick read:

 

http://www.seafwa.org/resource/dynamic/private/PDF/GILLILAND-144-149.pdf

Great read, thanks.

 

I thought it particularly interesting that most stay on the same side of the rez/lake.    I give the Lewis and Clark award to the two "that were recaptured 12 km away within 2 weeks of their being tagged"

There is this "secret" little channel  on " pool 10" on the Mississippi that stays well stocked all summer long. Happens to be a couple hundred yards down stream from a landing that has a tourney almost every weekend. Only go there when fishing is crappy. Helps to keep the spirit up and the fever down.    

There is this "secret" little channel  on " pool 10" on the Mississippi that stays well stocked all summer long. Happens to be a couple hundred yards down stream from a landing that has a tourney almost every weekend. Only go there when fishing is crappy. Helps to keep the spirit up and the fever down.    

Is this Marquette and Guttenberg area? If so, I was just there last weekend for a tournament. Good area.

Dilly, Well it's about 10 miles by river from Marquette to Guttenberg so I'll say yes. A great stretch of river.