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Just wonderin who had the tournament outta the Narrows last night/this mornin?
I put my boat in (about 6;45 am) just as they were weighing in and some dude put a 5lb 8oz dead largemouth in at the ramp to float and let everyone look at. At least that's what it weighed when I got it home about 5 hours later.
I had a cooler full of ice so I took it home.
It had to be dead at weigh in as it was a bit stiff. It never should've been left floatin there.
Why they have tournaments this time of year I will never understand. The big fish are the ones that die the easiest. I was fishing late last weekend and took one over 5. I wanted to weigh it and get a picture so being careful after I hand landed it and quickly un-hooked it I put it in the live well to get her back in the water and let her settle down for a few. Five minutes or so later I took her out, weighed her, took one quick picture and she was going belly up when I put her back. I worked with her for a bit reviving her and she finally swam on down. I think she will be OK but if she were held in a livewell for any time at all (tournament) she would have died and another quality fish would be gone. Summer time tournaments are bad, bad news!!!
kc
What is your basis of authority? Have you ever fished a tournament at night or this time of year? Do you really know what the mortality rate is? We fished at Green Sat night and lost one fish for the whole tournament. At Nolin last month we lost one. At Rough in June we lost 0. Both of those fish lost were hooked too deep to survive. None were lost due to heat or poor handling. Most good tournament fishermen know how to keep fish alive. Have you ever seen a cooler in a pontoon full of dead bass? I have. Have you ever seen a stringer hanging off the side of a jon boat full of dead bass? I have. Have you ever heard someone say there's one the tounament boys won't catch, while striking the bass in the head with something heavy? I have. Have you ever seen someone setting on the bank in front of their lake house with a basket full of 10 to 11 inch bass? I have. While it is true that 5lb bass should not have been put back into the water, and shame on whoever put it back if they knew it was dead, the fact is we don't know what killed it. No tournament angler ever, ever wants to kill a bass. Not ever! It is a renewable resource. Maybe you'd like to go fishing sometimes to sort out the facts?
Released one 2 nights ago,,,nice 4.5lb. a little sluggish on the release after a couple three hours or so in the well but a good splash and it was gone. I almost cried.
We had our club tournament on Sat. night at Green River Lake and released all 18 Bass that were caught and weighed in by the members. No dead fish and every one of them swam off to be caught again another day.....:) I take great care in protecting all the fish that are caught and placed in my boats live wells. I add frozen 20 oz bottles of water to them, add relax medication and also have an additional D-Celled Battery operated aerator that puts constant oxygen into the live wells. The last thing in the world is a Tournament fisherman wants to do is have their fish die......
I agree with these guys we put on the American Heart fund tourney at Barren every July this year I had 4 in the cooler out of about 150 fish weighed in. ALL 4 were hooked deep and wasn't going to make it if they were caught in february. I have seen some new guys kill fish in their wells because of heat but this is a lesson quickly learned and corrected. I use the aerator all day or night with 1 frozen 1/2 gallon milk jugs in there to cool them off.
The real issue is not the tourney. The issue is not taking a dead fish home to clean. That is lazy boys. Barren is pretty clean so I'm not sure why you wouldn't do the right thing.
I'm glad u were on it Brutus....maybe they were just looking out for the buzzards and the turtles...lol.
[QUOTE=kc;336628]Why they have tournaments this time of year I will never understand. The big fish are the ones that die the easiest. I was fishing late last weekend and took one over 5. I wanted to weigh it and get a picture so being careful after I hand landed it and quickly un-hooked it I put it in the live well to get her back in the water and let her settle down for a few. Five minutes or so later I took her out, weighed her, took one quick picture and she was going belly up when I put her back. I worked with her for a bit reviving her and she finally swam on down. I think she will be OK but if she were held in a livewell for any time at all (tournament) she would have died and another quality fish would be gone. Summer time tournaments are bad, bad news!!!
kc[/QUOTE]
I totally agree with you but the department doesn't have the balls to address this problem and OH it is a problem. We'll get beat up for saying this kc so hang on it's coming.
[QUOTE=4given;336632]What is your basis of authority? Have you ever fished a tournament at night or this time of year? Do you really know what the mortality rate is? We fished at Green Sat night and lost one fish for the whole tournament. At Nolin last month we lost one. At Rough in June we lost 0. Both of those fish lost were hooked too deep to survive. None were lost due to heat or poor handling. Most good tournament fishermen know how to keep fish alive. Have you ever seen a cooler in a pontoon full of dead bass? I have. Have you ever seen a stringer hanging off the side of a jon boat full of dead bass? I have. Have you ever heard someone say there's one the tounament boys won't catch, while striking the bass in the head with something heavy? I have. Have you ever seen someone setting on the bank in front of their lake house with a basket full of 10 to 11 inch bass? I have. While it is true that 5lb bass should not have been put back into the water, and shame on whoever put it back if they knew it was dead, the fact is we don't know what killed it. No tournament angler ever, ever wants to kill a bass. Not ever! It is a renewable resource. Maybe you'd like to go fishing sometimes to sort out the facts?[/QUOTE]
Yes I've seen all those things and I've also seen alot of dead floaters after daytime hot temp tourneys the next day to. I'm not a tourney hater at all I've fished my share but there are way too many these days and way to many and to long of duration during the hot weather periods. You guys all say they swam off to live another day. Sure alot of them swam off but did you go back to look the next day that's when you can see the damage. I had a dock attendant at Nolin once tell me after some summer tournaments that they go around and sink dead ones to keep the smell down as the slip owners have complained about it. I'm sure most of you fine gentlemen do an outstanding job of keeping your fish alive and for that I applaud you. However there are tons of guys out there that don't give a rat's behind because it's only about the money. Moderation in the future will have to be addressed if this sport of ours is to have a prosperous future. Look at the pressure alone some lakes are recieving. For example Taylorsville, pretty much an oversized farm pond of 3000 acres that gets 4 to 8 tourneys per WEEK. Do you guys honestly think that's not hurting that fishery, just give it some thought that's all I'm asking. Oh and before you start slamming me telling me I don't know how to fish and I'm bitter because I can't catch anything, save your breath I've heard it a thousand times and I ain't listening. I catch my share and will continue to do so, I only care about the sport and it's future not about some guy winning money and chest thumping with his buddies about what a Kevin VanDam he is. Again moderation is the key.
I thought all tourney posts had to be on the tourney board?
Oh one more thing and then I'll shut up. On August the tenth the Curious Journal in Lousville printing an article from the KDFWR that was titled,'' Tournament fish are in Hot Water''. It went on to say how they are recieving an alarming amount of calls and concern from people seeing dead bass after summer tourneys. They went on to say that after some research they confirmed these concerns and allegations to have a strong basis of fact behind them. Read the article it's on their website and it's also on lakecumberland.com on the fishing forum page titled as above. It's an interesting read fellas you ought to give it a look.
[QUOTE=buzzking;336677]I thought all tourney posts had to be on the tourney board?[/QUOTE]
LOL, don't worry it will get moved as soon as the GaStoppo gets home. Just kiddin Mods don't get angry with me, lol.