The latest virus to hit the news is called the Largemouth Bass Virus.  Maybe you're heard about it.  It's a virus that can cause death when the fish is stressed.  The stress cited in the news item, which I read online last week, was a Catch and Release Tournament.

It was reported 582 dead bass that were collected from a LaCrosse, Wiscon-sin, area river gave evidence of being caught and released during a bass fishing tournament in the region.  The evidence was a clipped tail fin.  The report made me say, "Aha!  More support for what common sense has been telling me for years!"

I've been saying that catch and release fishing doesn't make sense to me.  You jerk the living daylights out of a fish, haul him into the boat or onto the ice against his will, then rip up his lips pulling out the fishhook and throw him back in the water.  How well would you continue to manage with that kind of trauma, not to mention the mangled lips? 

When I throw a fishhook out into the pages of the Gazette each month, I try not to stress or mutilate.  I hide it in a spot that doesn't hurt anyone or anything.  Last month the fishhook was hidden in the water next to an article entitled "The Edge of Drowning."  Several of you found it and had your name placed in the minnow bucket for the drawing, and it is Lucy Geiger of Waconia who wins the $10.  Congratulations, Lucy!

If you find the fishhook hidden in this issue of the Gazette, send a line telling of its location, and sinker in the mail to P.O. Box 387, Victoria, MN 55386.  And the next time you go fishing, eat your catch.