Hooks Are Barely a Nuisance for Bass, and Other Tall Tales

In Big Bucks on the Horizon for Bass Fishermen? on NPR’s All Things Considered, we learn that tournaments can pay $500,000 for first place. The fish killers are garnering increasing corporate sponsorship, even from outside the industry, from companies like GE.

Let’s go to the segment/article:

One of the contestants, Florida’s Pete Ponds, says that, to be successful, anglers have to be focused.

‘I don’t think about baseball,’ Ponds says. ‘I don’t thing about football. I don’t think about golf. I don’t think about racing. I think about bass fishing, and that’s all I do. It’s an obsession.’

An obsession that, for the moment, doesn’t pay nearly as well as any of those other sports. . . .

‘It’s truly an endurance sport,’ says Brent Chapman, another tournament pro.

Can you guess what I’m going to write about? The comparison between fishing and golf or racing is genius. If you’re not paying attention, you just might think that fishing is similar to golf or racing, just because of the juxtaposition.

But the fact is, fishing (and hunting) has a component that separates it from other competitive "sports:" somebody dies. There is stalking, chasing, terrorizing, tormenting, intense struggle, and finally, slaughter.

I decided to try to get into the minds of people who hunt and kill bass and other fish; I think it’s a must for anyone who feels strongly about something to read about how strongly the opposing side feels, and why.

I found only one profoundly-uninformed man, Ralph Manns, who insists that fish "likely do not suffer," and that "Bass apparently feel hooks as something equivalent to a human itch rather than a source of constant pain." Perhaps he isn’t current on his research (if he has ever done any). According to Dr. Tom Hopkins, professor of marine science at the University of Alabama, the pain a fish feels when she’s hooked, "is like dentistry without Novocaine, drilling into exposed areas."

Attached is an annotated report that attests to the pain fish feel; it’s just like the pain birds and mammals feel. It’s just like the pain we feel.

The other disturbing tidbit I found was an article by Craig DeFronzo, who can be seen smiling, while holding a dead fish. He’s of the camp that believes that if it’s legal, it doesn’t matter if it’s ethical or causes pain. He has the right to hunt and kill fish, so there’s nothing wrong with what he’s doing. In addition, he attacks PETA, who is also doing something that is legal: educating people and demonstrating against cruelty. It’s an interesting double standard he’s got.

My favorite part of his argument is about children, which is where he "draws the line." "Get my children involved and try to turn them against me and you might find yourself looking down the business end of a 12-gauge." As you may know PETA has some eye-catching demonstrations that get lots of attention, and some are geared toward children.

But I ask Mr. DeFronzo: What kind of message are YOU sending to your children? That it’s okay to brutalize other sentient beings for no other reason than . . . fun?