Released Fish ???

I would like to hear what evryone thinks about fishing a release area during a tournament. I know there are alot of people including the pro's that will fish marinas or close to release areas for a tournament pattern. Lets here it..

In my opinion, if it is not made off limits then it is fair game. you still have to be able to catch them, and most of the time these fish are much harder to catch!! Usually the only people who complain about it, got beat by someone fishing one of thses areasand are sore loosers. I rartely fish these areas myself, but have in the past. Sometimes its paid off most of the time it hasnt.

In my Circuit we cannot fish the area that we launch from. Say we launch from the Ky dam, we cannot fish inside the breakwall of the dam. But, when all else fails, I begin to think of where the most tournaments were held and fish that area, because believe it or not, those fish are hungry. They were hungry when they bit the first time and ended up getting caught. after letting go, they usually stick around for a while and are still hungry and will bite readily, I have wore people out from fishing a certain technique around release areas. As stated before, these areas are legal as long as they are not off limits, and do not feel guilty because you still have to catch them, there is one very major thing wrong with this application...........there is a very very very few times a year where this will pay off, you may catch a few fish, but you will not catch the biggest bag of fish. Fun for sure, but lets keep in mind, we want to take care of the fish as much as we can, especially being caught several times a week, we do not want to lose a fish due to death of stress or what not. So handle all fish with care and DO NOT KEEP THEM OUT OF THE WATER LONG. Our last tournament, we lost a 6.89 lb LM due to a swim bladder problem, 3-5lbers. due to lack of O2, and this last tourney we lost a 2.80 due to lack of O2. It sux, and will happen more, but I hate it.

WELL BLUGIL I HATE TO ADMIT IT, BUT YES I HAVE AND YES I WILL....BUT I NORMALLY WAIT FOR ABOUT ONE WEEK BEFORE I GO TO A RELEASED AREA. SO IF THATS A NO NO TO YOU THEN IM SORRY, BUT IM GOING ANYWAY. THOSE FISH WILL BE BITING AND IM GOING TO BE THERE TO CATCH EM. BUT DONT WORRY NONE BLUGIL NO MORE THAN I GET ON THE WATER ANYMORE YOU HAVENT A THING TO WORRY ABOUT....GOOD LUCK AND BE SAFE...........SNIPER GONE

I think the tournament directors should clearly identify and enforce off limits areas. These should be expanded to a more reasonable distance from the launch/weigh points. For instance, at Guist Creek in the old Thursday night T's (not sure about the Sat nite one now), the off limits was only from the boat slips near the marina to the point just the other side of the gas pumps. At T'ville on Tue night I think it is only inside the no-wake zone at the ramp. It seems like these should be expandedto a larger area (300-500 yards?) in each direction. Just my 2 cents....I don't fish the Tuesday night at T'ville, but I have heard a lot of those T's are being moneyed by folks fishing the ramp.

All that said, if ain't against the rules of the specific T your in.....you can fish'em like anyone else. Maybe you should beat 'em at their own game.

Not trying to bash but whats causing all the dead fish your catching? I haven't lost a fish in 4 years until this weekend and we lost a 2 1/2 lb smallmouth because the swallowed a crankbait and it got hooked in both sets of gills. Even though we cut both sets of hooks and didn't jerk the hooks out the fish still bled a ton and eventually die.

Does your livewell have a pro-air or air injection system? If not I would recommend it. Once I get my livewells full I turn off the livewells, dump in the Please Release Me, and some ice. I turn the livewell off because once I put in the Please Release me and ice I don't want to dilute or warm back up the water.

Not bashing just trying to understand and help if possible.

Charlie

I guess i have always had an idea of tournament fishing as being a way to measure yourself against other fisherman and the fish. I can somewhat understand fishing close to a release area on the way in to check in to add a fish or so, but camping out on an area with hopes of cashing in on released fish.... Well it is just pathetic. I can not imagine getting a sense of satisfaction from competeing this way. I believe that FINDING FISH to catch is harder to do than catching fish that you know were put there by anglers from a tournament a week or so ago. I guess everyone has there own reasons for fishing, so each to their own.

Did anyone see Luke Clausen on Lake Cumberland FLW series fishing only 200-400 yards from the take off site and caught 4 keepers there? Has anyone watched the bassmasters on Saturday morning where they tag 3 or 4 fish and release them at different areas of te lake. Some of these fish have traveled as far as 3/4 of a mile from the release site. So, my question is, where does it end? Off limits at 100 yards, 1/2 mile or the 3/4 mile mark. Most all fish at some point and time have been caught before by someone and then released. So we all have caught a released fish at some point and time, in fact if the fish is very big, it's probably been caught and released at a tourney several times in its life---a released fish. In my opinion, Luke Clausen just played it smart and moved up the board. He didn't win but he did win more money because of his choice. At Herrington Lake, there are 3-4 tourneys a week at 3-4 different ramps. It would really cut down on the areas that could be fished if we had a 1/2-3/4 mile off limit area (which they have proved to have traveled that distance several times on the bassmaster show)
Good fishing all and good discusion.
See ya on the water,
Tim
bassmaster

If fishing the release area is a bad thing because the fish have been artificially populated there, how about fishing man made brush piles? These are generally private, unknown to the general population, and create a falsely, or unnatural concentration of fish. Pretty much the same as the idea of fishing around release areas.

Just my thoughts. I've even heard some call it pot-licking... sounds derogatory.

I personally don't see anything wrong with it at all.

Great discussion though.

Danny