Inner Boston Harbor Bass with Sea Lice

[killerlexus]

i have seen carp and large mouths with red spots called lice, i doubt they go to the open ocean, especially in the upper parts of the rivers like the mystic and charles,

[ridler72]

I am going to stick to sea lice on Stripers= fresh bass. Maybe my excuse to fish more. Routine and it feels like Christmas.

I have been into holdovers on both salt and fresh in and around areas of Metro Boston since the first day of spring for years now. I believe they spawn in the Mystic River. Wish I could witness a spawn to confirm. None of these fish had a smidge of sea lice. Now we have a school that has come covered in Sea Lice. I dont think they picked it up in the Mystic, Boston Haba or other. Who knows where they pick it up. I just know that they are new to the area. Signifies a migrating fish from somewhere. Maybe I might get a tagged one to help find out.

[dragnfly14]

Hi Guys,

I can't weigh in here with any scientic knowledge on Sea Lice but it seems to me that most all the fish I've caught with Sea Lice on them were holding in or very near Eel grass. That's why I always figured the fish picked up the lice. I'm only guessing from my experience.

[Flaptail]

There is only one thing you can be sure of when you get sea lice and that is that there are a lot of fish holdover or fresh. Sea Lice are prolific on fish in tightly packed or large schools. They need a host and bass are one of the many species that they can be found on. I have seen schools of freshly arrived fish though on the Monomoy flats which have literally numbered in the thousands all rolling on the bottom in an effort to rid themselves of these pests. Fish we caught that day could be wiped of them and you would have half a handfull. Sea Lice, as far as my experience goes, mean a good number of fish are present, meaning a large school, that's all.

[Karl F]

Flap, and Patrick... whats your take on "bright" fish.. (I don't mean their IQ).... I don't take too much stock in the sea lice =fresh arrivals, but I do in the color of the fish... I think the ones that are almost black backed with dull sides are holdovers the lighter colored (or "bright") ones (just starting to see more) are fresh.... they also seem to have a little more "ooomph" while on the line....

what do you think Flap, and BP?


whaddoIknow, .... I sell hooch for a livin'

[seadogface]

Riddler You just made my spring. Thanks

[Flaptail]

Holdover fish suffer from lack of nutrients needed in sufficient levels to keep a fish healthy. The results of this are quite evident on the fish. Some people report "dull" coloration, lesions, and in extreme cases, as evident in fish we have taken during the winter months, the "ick". "Ick" is a white-ish coating that covers the fish. Lack of proper nutrition affects the fish in many ways as does thier slowed metabolism. If the metabolism rate is slowed but the fish finds, when they need it, food, the fish will thin and the overall coloration will dull as a result but overall thier physical health will not be drastically affected. ( bass change in coloration moderately to match thier environment whether healthy or not but loss of body fat through a slowed metabolism is a noticeably different condition). When they experience both the slowing of thier metabolism and insufficient food when it is needed ( they might only feed once a week in mid winter with water surface temps below 45 degrees or maybe once every couple when the surface temps get to or below freezing.)

The "ick) results from those conditions, near freezing temperatures and the lack of food. Usually these conditions occur in esturaies, salt creeks etc as opposed to larger river systems and bays where water depths can reach 30 or more feet. The fishes physical health deteriorates to the point where the body, not having any new nutritional source, loses it's ability to produce slime and add additional fat reserves so muscle is absorbed. It litterally starts to feed on itself in it's struggle to survive even though it's physical activity and movements may be limited to staying stationary in a tidal flow and turning to face which ever way the current flows. Fin rot sets in and the membrane between the fin rays disolves.

Dull fish display a grayish semi transparent sheen and thier muscular structure is slightly atrophic, soft, though they are healthy, a valid sign that they may have held over. Bright fish are just that, bright silvery and high gloss. They are usually hard when held prior to release, muscular and vibrant after swimming almost 1000 miles and feeding all the way. Lice can be found on either holdover or newly arrived fish and are transmitted by each other though the newly migrated fish stand a better chance of having them as the schools they travel in will be of bigger numbers than the holdover fish.

Come April the early arrivals mix with the holdover fish and every cast can bring either fish to hand. Once the crabs leave the mud and the baitfish show the holdover fish revive to the condition of their newly arrived migrating brothers and sisters. By May all bets are off as to whose who except those rare fish that held over in the small creeks and estuaries and made it through the freezes and the kills that resulted of those freezes.

I once went 22 months straight catching bass on the Cape and in those 22 months I found I had a lot of time to speculate on why certain fish in certain locations faired better than others ( mainly because I was the only nut out trying in most places). All of the above was the result of my time on the water in frigid January snow squalls, bone chilling nortwest winds in February and drizzly cold dyas in March. As cast after cast was made I was given to thinking why I was there and why the fish were there and what was happening to them in those conditions. I caught fish after fish one day in Barnstable Harbor in February with Dave LaPorte in 26 degrees and spitting snow that were fat and happy and other days I caught fish in tidal creeks that looked like they came out of a Hollywood horror flick and was afraid to even touch them as I released them. I learned an awful lot about them and myself.

[BasicPatrick]

Originally Posted by Karl F

Flap, and Patrick... whats your take on "bright" fish.. (I don't mean their IQ).... I don't take too much stock in the sea lice =fresh arrivals, but I do in the color of the fish... I think the ones that are almost black backed with dull sides are holdovers the lighter colored (or "bright") ones (just starting to see more) are fresh.... they also seem to have a little more "ooomph" while on the line....

Karl,
Once again I am not scientist. I will add that I have never asked one about the "bright" fish theory....

However, my experience leads me to believe more in this as an indicator of a recently arriving migrating Bass.

I would think that migrating fish have a much higher metabolism than holdovers. I think it is accepted that holdovers slow their metabolism down to survive in the cold and food scarce waters during the winter. I figure that the higher metabolism equals more blood flowing, more oxygen flowing and just like most other living things this leads to healthier skin, skin color etc. Makes sense to me that a SB arriving during the migration will be at a much higher metabolism than a SB just "waking" up from the holdover or slower metabolic rate.

Ridler, I am not disagreeing with your call on the new fish. I think that as a fisherman that has been catching holdover bass and is used to seeing the condition of them, you are able to notice when a new group arrives. I was just commenting on using Sea Lice exclusively as a firm indicator of new fish. Energy levels, size, color, & behavior are also part of what I pay attention to when expecting those first migrating Bass.

I also an absolutely sure that there are new fish in the HABA

But what do I know...I can't even drink the hooch Karl sells without getting in trouble

[pete santini]

They were hitting good last night on the freshwater side of the dam biggest was a 34 inch pete