I am trying to find out if it is possible to transfer bass from a boat livewell to my lake in a cooler?

You have a lake in a cooler?

Depends on how far you have to travel. Isn't transporting live fish against the law in California?

11 minutes ago, Scott F said:

Depends on how far you have to travel. Isn't transporting live fish against the law in California?

Probably 30-40 minutes any longer or distance would rig an airator for sure

Thanks @Scott FShould have looked that up first.  Was just curious on how to add fish to a private pond. Will need to check with fish n game

I did find this

 If the fish are species native to California or found in the wild here, you will need to have a Department of Fish and Game (DFG) Aquaculture Permit in order to legally sell or transport them,

 

16 minutes ago, Kyhokie said:

You have a lake in a cooler?

It's a REALY big cooler

If you do that make sure you transport them in the same water they came out of.

Cool it down if the water is hot...use a frozen ice bottle or at least cubes. Not too much just enough to keep it cooler as it melts the ice will release oxygen.

 Keep them as still as you can..don't put the cooler in the trunk and go bouncing around. 

When you get to your pond, don't touch them! Just try to slide em out head first. 

Now all that being said, I'm assuming it's legal, the pond has the same kind of water quality and habitat they came out of. Theres no guarantee they will suvive but at the very least do everything you can to minimize thier stress and hope for the best. 

 

Mike 

12 hours ago, BassinHidalgo said:

I am trying to find out if it is possible to transfer bass from a boat livewell to my lake in a cooler?

Transporting live game fish of any type including bass is illegal in California.

The oxygen must be dissolved into the water for fish to breath, they don't breath air above the water.

Tom

 

Get a little battery powered aerator and give them fresh water right before you leave the lake. They can last quite a while like this, I do it with trout.

A lot longer than they can live in one without water.

If your stocking a private pond, buy some bass from a hatchery. Don't take ones public fishery and take from it to benefit yourself. It's also pretty cheap to stock a pond yourself, and you know the strain of the bass. I mean unless your stocking a coi pond.. Just my 2cents. 

1 hour ago, Jonister said:

If your stocking a private pond, buy some bass from a hatchery. Don't take ones public fishery and take from it to benefit yourself. It's also pretty cheap to stock a pond yourself, and you know the strain of the bass. I mean unless your stocking a coi pond.. Just my 2cents. 

California doesn't have any hatcheries for bass. All our fresh water bass are self sustaining populations in lakes. 

Tom

I recommend getting a forage COMPLETELY established before you add bass ! Or you'll end up with skinny stunted bass! Trust me ! 

32 minutes ago, WRB said:

California doesn't have any hatcheries for bass. All our fresh water bass are self sustaining populations in lakes. 

Tom

They take bass from upper Otay and Barrett and plant them in lakes. The fingerlings don't have to come CA, there are a few private lakes around that get them from out of state when they do plants.

4 hours ago, WRB said:

Transporting live game fish of any type including bass is illegal in California...

The guy who took a couple dozen spotted bass from Lake Perris and released them into Canyon Lake (where he lived) back in the late 70's ignored this law.  

The spots adapted well to the rocky structure & good shad population initially, but I haven't fished Canyon Lake in decades so I don't know if they reproduced, mixed with the largemouth or disappeared completely.

Bass get moved around by anglers all the time doesn't make legal or good for some fisheries.

Lake Casitas has a Smallmouth population now, they were transplanted by some unknown anglers.

Tom

You are correct that those anglers moving bass doesn't make it legal or good.  My anecdote was more a comment of how people ignore such laws and my personal experience with one such incident.

I was a teenager fishing with one of the "veterans" of Canyon Lake on his boat and hooked a bass near the rock laden lighthouse.  As I landed it, I looked it over and commented that the mouth & head looked smaller than normal.  The "criminal" in question got a smirk on his face and cracked "heck, it even looks like it has spots on it".  Being a youngster, it took me about 5 minutes to understand what he was getting at... 

On 10/17/2016 at 10:34 AM, WRB said:

Transporting live game fish of any type including bass is illegal in California.

The oxygen must be dissolved into the water for fish to breath, they don't breath air above the water.

Tom

 

Just about everything is illegal in California.. What will they think of next.

Big cooler with water from the lake they are being taken out of. Bass pro sells cheap aerators and you could invest in two of those to keep oxygen in the water. Frozen water bottles will be better than ice cubes from what I've told our drinking water has small amounts of chemicals that are bad for fish. Cool oxygenated water would make it reasonable to transport them from a lake to your private pond as long as they don't get beat up too bad by the road and you aren't trying to transport a lot at once. Also, as I've seen it is illegal to transport them in California. Here in NC we have guys try to stock lakes with spots from the Bama River as well as the Cape Fear and Norman every now and then and I personally think its a bad idea, even if it is for your own private pond all the water runs somewhere and you could screw something up.

On 10/16/2016 at 10:22 PM, Kyhokie said:

You have a lake in a cooler?

 

On 10/16/2016 at 10:35 PM, BassinHidalgo said:

It's a REALY big cooler

 

Sounds like a high capacity cooler (aka. Assault cooler). Those have to be illegal in California by now...

On 10/17/2016 at 0:53 PM, Jonister said:

If your stocking a private pond, buy some bass from a hatchery. Don't take ones public fishery and take from it to benefit yourself. It's also pretty cheap to stock a pond yourself, and you know the strain of the bass. I mean unless your stocking a coi pond.. Just my 2cents. 

edit

You might be able to buy bass from local pet/fish store, illigal of course. I think I saw live bass sold in asian market once.

Btw I have never once got check on my livewell, Perris, DVL, Skinner and lake henshaw.

16 hours ago, the reel ess said:

If he doesn't take more than the limit, I see no issue with doing this. What would be the difference as far as donor the lake is concerned with him keeping a limit to eat? As far as it being illegal to move live fish, how do you take fish home to eat? Must you kill them first? Can't you just take some home in the livewell? Cali sux.

You need to ensure that there's some forage for the fish.

I think that the transfer of fish is illegal in just about every state. Even such things as taking bait fish across state lines is illegal, at least where I live. The moving of fish from one body of water to another does a lot more damage than you may think. Snakeheads being a prime example of the damage that can be a result of the transfer. The spread of golden shiners being another.

The laws are there to prevent such things from happening. They're not made because Farmer Joe transferred a couple bass from his pond to Farmer bob's pond, although that does fall under the law. If you take into account the bigger picture, the law makes complete sense.

cant believe this thread hasnt been shut down if it is indeed illegal to transfer bass in california. thought bass resource didnt allow the discussion of illegal activities..

1 hour ago, fishblitzer said:

I think that the transfer of fish is illegal in just about every state. Even such things as taking bait fish across state lines is illegal, at least where I live. The moving of fish from one body of water to another does a lot more damage than you may think. Snakeheads being a prime example of the damage that can be a result of the transfer. The spread of golden shiners being another.

The laws are there to prevent such things from happening. They're not made because Farmer Joe transferred a couple bass from his pond to Farmer bob's pond, although that does fall under the law. If you take into account the bigger picture, the law makes complete sense.

I retract my statement. Don't kick me off, mods!

2 hours ago, Red Bear said:

cant believe this thread hasnt been shut down if it is indeed illegal to transfer bass in california. thought bass resource didnt allow the discussion of illegal activities..

You are correct.

Discussing illegal activities?

Not in my town!