DEAD bass was up after Tourney on KY Lake.

[Devils Horse]

Pic you reference showed 43 dead bass. Let's assume there were 200 dead bass. That's the equivalent of 33 anglers keeping a limit of bass.

Tournament fishermen overall have done more for the economy and our lakes/rivers than any other group. If it weren't for us, commercial fishermen would be running gill nets in other lakes besides Ky/Barkley right now. I had a personal stake in keeping that from happening, along with other KBF and fishing club members across the state.

Find a new cause Geo.

[GeoFisher]

1 single tournament on 1 single weekend weighed in approximately 3,800 bass and maybe 100 of them died and were photographed floating in the marina at Paris. That is about 2.5% mortality rate....out of a 400 boat tournament which is rare to have a tournament of that size. I think this issue is waaaay overblown, it is not a problem. I agree the picture of a bunch of dead bass *****...but thousands of bass die all the time every year in every lake for a variety of reasons. Its a non issue in my opinion.

Sorry, but it is not just one tourney......and you guys know it....

[GeoFisher]

Pic you reference showed 43 dead bass. Let's assume there were 200 dead bass. That's the equivalent of 33 anglers keeping a limit of bass.

Tournament fishermen overall have done more for the economy and our lakes/rivers than any other group. If it weren't for us, commercial fishermen would be running gill nets in other lakes besides Ky/Barkley right now. I had a personal stake in keeping that from happening, along with other KBF and fishing club members across the state.

Find a new cause Geo.

I will be the first to state that tourney fishing has done a TON to help the sport fisherman. Better equipment, better boats, better management, better, all around........

It doesn't change the fact that fishing tourneys this time of year leads to a lot of DEAD fish. And I GUARANTEE that the 43 floaters was a fraction of the dead loss from this tourney. We will never know......which is unfortunate.

Oh, and there is nothing wrong with raising awareness to this issue....It is an issue and as a concerned citizen I'm ALLOWED to have my opinion.....

[NKYFISHING]

I think we should hear from Tim Farmer from the Kentucky fish and Wildlife on what he thinks about these big Bass kills that go on during these BIG summer tournaments. If you want to kill a bunch of fish go kill some Asian carp.

[bassfisherman99]

Geo it wouldn't matter if every person that responded was against your opinion. You would still say your opinion was the right. You have proved that before!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Duayne]

With all the innovations Bass boats have made, I am SHOCKED they are still in the stone ages when it comes to keeping Bass alive in those antiquated livewells. If Striper fishermen can keep a tank full of delicate bait fish alive on a summer day then Bass boats should be able to design systems to keep five Bass in great shape. I am sure many of the same rules could apply.
Keep the water a few degrees cooler than the lake temp. Maybe add a temp gauge to warn if the livewell temp is approaching the lake temp. Add something to the water to make it slightly more dense which helps the water to hold dissolved oxygen. We use salt. Lots of stuff could work. Add an air system to the livewells. It doesn't have to be oxygen and it's better if its just air just as long as the bubbles are as small as possible (small bubbles help remove carbon dioxide from the water). Insulate the livewell and use a closed system. Add something to block ammonia if needed or change out some of the water just a few times during the day then bring it back to the desired temp.

It isn't rocket science keeping fish alive in a boat and bass are actually much more hardy than most fish. If you strictly leave it up to weekend warriors then get used to this pic. Make it more idiot proof and you will see better results.

[kc]

Pic you reference showed 43 dead bass. Let's assume there were 200 dead bass. That's the equivalent of 33 anglers keeping a limit of bass.

Tournament fishermen overall have done more for the economy and our lakes/rivers than any other group. If it weren't for us, commercial fishermen would be running gill nets in other lakes besides Ky/Barkley right now. I had a personal stake in keeping that from happening, along with other KBF and fishing club members across the state.

Find a new cause Geo.

I agree with you that tournament fishing and the money associated helps the lake economies and in some positive ways also help the fisheries. But do you see the hypocracy in your statement about gill netting? You are stating that tournament fishermen including yourself cared enough to push for regulations to limit gill netting to help bass fisheries across the state. But where is that same level of care in terms of these fish caught and killed in the Triton Owner's Tournament? These fish died needlessly - not any different in my mind as if they were caught in a gill net -- but the pro-tournament angler are like - move along now there is nothing to see here we do good in other ways so when we abuse the fishery it is ok. We are the ones who feel like you did on the gill netting subject -- we are appalled at the fish that die needlessly and believe there is something that can be done -- without big regulation -- to ensure such things don't happen. I don't want to push for regulations limiting tournaments but if the tournament industry keeps on ignoring the obvious then that is what will happen...

kc

[kc]

1 single tournament on 1 single weekend weighed in approximately 3,800 bass and maybe 100 of them died and were photographed floating in the marina at Paris. That is about 2.5% mortality rate....out of a 400 boat tournament which is rare to have a tournament of that size. I think this issue is waaaay overblown, it is not a problem. I agree the picture of a bunch of dead bass *****...but thousands of bass die all the time every year in every lake for a variety of reasons. Its a non issue in my opinion.

Let's re-visit your numbers and the knee jerk reaction. According to the article 43 bass washed up in one area estimated from 3 to 7 lbs. 3800 pounds of bass were caught in this tournament. 43 is not the total number of bass that died. No one will truly know how many died but let's say conservatively 200 fish died. Now let's also conservatively say there was a 3 pound average to the fish caught as a whole. 3800/3 = 1266 total fish caught which if 200 died now we are at a 16% mortality rate. I don't see this a non-issue in the slightest. I see this as the usual pro-tournament response that they don't care what happens to the fish as long as they can do whatever they want to do. Do some more math and calculate the number of fish killed every year with the hundreds of tournaments that pound our lakes non-stop. This is why us non-tournament anglers who truly care about the fishery get so wound up by the love of competition and money out weighing the love for the fish. As for KY lake and the fishery doing "better than ever" -- it is true that the fishery is not down as a whole but can you imagine how it could be if these fish weren't senselessly killed? Your handle is MagikSmallie denoting your love for my favorite fish. But the numbers of smallies -- particularly big smallies are down on Ky lake. Makes me wonder what the impact of tournaments has been as tournaments target the bigger fish and the bigger fish are the easiest to die from mis-handling...


kc

[GeoFisher]

Let's re-visit your numbers and the knee jerk reaction. According to the article 43 bass washed up in one area estimated from 3 to 7 lbs. 3800 pounds of bass were caught in this tournament. 43 is not the total number of bass that died. No one will truly know how many died but let's say conservatively 200 fish died. Now let's also conservatively say there was a 3 pound average to the fish caught as a whole. 3800/3 = 1266 total fish caught which if 200 died now we are at a 16% mortality rate. I don't see this a non-issue in the slightest. I see this as the usual pro-tournament response that they don't care what happens to the fish as long as they can do whatever they want to do. Do some more math and calculate the number of fish killed every year with the hundreds of tournaments that pound our lakes non-stop. This is why us non-tournament anglers who truly care about the fishery get so wound up by the love of competition and money out weighing the love for the fish. As for KY lake and the fishery doing "better than ever" -- it is true that the fishery is not down as a whole but can you imagine how it could be if these fish weren't senselessly killed? Your handle is MagikSmallie denoting your love for my favorite fish. But the numbers of smallies -- particularly big smallies are down on Ky lake. Makes me wonder what the impact of tournaments has been as tournaments target the bigger fish and the bigger fish are the easiest to die from mis-handling...


kc

Incoming............Ka, Ka, Ka, Ka BOOM...............

Well stated.

[kyriverblues]

I don't mind waiting on tourney fisherman at the ramp. A tourney of 50 bass boats can be loaded and off the ramp in less time than one city boy with a pontoon boat can. Also, the vast majority of bass fisherman are respectful of a persons place in line.

We must fish deferent lakes. Hell at Taylorsville I saw some tourney guys parked and waiting for the weigh in setting in the tie down places right off the ramp. I call that disrespectful. I guess I ain't part of the right click.

[kc]

As usual these tournament threads end up in the us vs them mentality but truth is we are all anglers wanting the same - good fishing albeit for different reasons. So instead of the ongoing whoa is me and you are wrong - no matter which side you see clearest -- what can we learn from this event to help us better preserve the catch from tournaments? In this situation I believe it comes down to handling in the heat. I read somewhere that it took 4 hours to weigh in all the fish brought in. I don't know the details of how big money tournaments are organized in terms of weigh-in logistics but I sense this was a major issue. Does anybody know how this weigh in was run? What can be done differently to make the weigh in process less impactful on the fish in this heat? How can we get a message across to the tournament organizers of next year's event that better handling procedures will make a difference (and the negative effect this has on their event and product)? Let's take this lemon and make some lemonade for a change instead of simply defending a position...


kc

[kc]

Incoming............Ka, Ka, Ka, Ka BOOM...............

Well stated.

What can I say? I just hope the shell shock doesn't kill the thread before we can have more constructive ideas. Tournaments are here to stay and we need to keep moving in the right direction and minimize the needless waste. "Save the Hawgs" !


kc