Polite Scientific Question

Hi all,

I know I haven't posted in ages--because science--but I have a question for the community. I've had a couple of good ideas for research projects lately that could potentially be really awesome, and possibly interesting to the public, looking at fish adaptation to different habitats in MA. The catch is, to get as much data as I'd really want, I'd need your help. (And I really couldn't tell you more details until I knew if it were feasible... hence the asking).

So here's the question:

If I were to go out to a bunch of tournaments, and distribute plastic corners (small, light, waterproof, needed for size calibrations) to as many of you as I could, would you be willing to take photographs of your catches with the plastic corners in the frame, and send them to me, along with where you were (in as much detail as reasonable)? I'd need the locality data for the project, but can guarantee that I would not share your honey holes.

If I decide from your responses that this might work, of course I will share what this study is all about.

What do you all think? Does this seem like too much trouble? (I'm figuring so many people take pictures of their catches anyway, that maybe adding a scale bar wouldn't be too much trouble.)

I don't fish tournaments, but if I could somehow receive one of the clear plastic corners, I'd be happy to take and send you pics of the bass I catch.

Would you only want pictures of the decent sized bass, or everything? I fish a lot of ponds overpopulated with 5-12 inch bass.

i dont fish tournaments much but when the season starts i do fish 3+ times a week. i wouldnt mind helping out

I don't fish tournaments either, but when the season starts I do go almost every weekend. I try to go to a lot of different bodies of water and have quite a few already identified to fish this year. I wouldn't mind helping you out if you want.
Send me a PM if you want me to help.

Hi again,

I'm glad some of you might be interested! Perhaps I wasn't clear on the type of fish--I'm interested in everything of a good adult size, not just bass. I study body shape evolution, and one of the things I'm interested in is whether or not faster flowing water causes differences in body shape within and across species.

Maybe I should wait until it's a bit warmer before giving more details? Though, today is so nice that I kind of want to go fishing now...

I can help you with this one.. I fish allover the Northeast region. So, I fish multi-species whatever when they are in feeding mode.

Can't promise that I will sent whole catches but will being select bigger size fish for your datas.

So you are only interested in freshwater species?

For the moment, yes. The reason being that my research is largely in the laboratory, and keeping marine fishes is a whole other level of trouble. I have enough to do with my freshwater species!