Tournament from the Narrows at Barren this mornin

[QUOTE=mhall;336676]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.[/QUOTE]
all you have to do is go to a ramp that have a couple all nighters,i have a friend who has a houseboat at nolin,when i'd go down and stay and it was a weeend full of tournaments,100 or so total boats on a saturday and night by the time we left sunday night there would be bass everywhere,some stiff som just coming up and trying to survive.i have also fished my share of tourneys and any tx fisherman that believes the only dead count is what is at the weigh in needs to hang around a few hours..
no offense forgiven but if they are in coolers at least they're being used.

Mills your tournament came out right after ours did saturday night on green....we weighed in 81 fish...all were released off the dock....did you see any floaters?

[quote=Fishin is life;336685]Mills your tournament came out right after ours did saturday night on green....we weighed in 81 fish...all were released off the dock....did you see any floaters?[/quote]
No I didn't, but there were others fishing nearby in another tournament that might have seen them if there were any....

I was hoping there weren't any....just wasn't really sure

It is not all tourney's fault it is the fisherperson's responsibility and duty to see that his fish are ok to release. The hot summer mths do two things to fish, most are caught deep in the water column and their swim bladder does not have time to adjust, you can use a needle to release the air in their bladders and they will do fine most of the time. Also most people do not have a adequite aeration system, just pumping in warm lake water does not help these fish, I use an Oxygenator that puts in pure o2 to the fish and use ice and also the U2 formula to keep them calm and have had no fish die as of yet. Proper fish care is a must and if one is dying take it home or give it to someone who will eat it as it is better to fed someone with it than to let it float so that the fishing haters can have something else to complain about.

I had 2die this yr 1 was dead drom the deep hook(pop-r) the other from a deep hole(30ft) since then i have got me a fizz kit and have seen 1 that lived because it was fizzed.If you know how 99% will be ok.Terry Adolph:cool:

Ok this is brought up about 3 times a year and everyone has their opinion. I hate to see any bass .5 lb or 6 lbs die period. The mortality rate for fish at weigh in is low (according to which study you want to use). Cool water months it is less than 1%, hot water month (80 degrees or more) is around 3-4% at according to studies. The delayed mortality rate is higher 3-4% in cool water and 5-18% in warm water with some studies as high as 30%.

Here are the figures from one study on delayed mortality rate of largemouth bass, (this is the highest percentages I have seen on the studies)

This is what one study stated and it is from a northern state, I do remember which, these are with the surface water temperature above 80 degrees.

Timed aeration 32%
Continuous flow through 22%
Ice, salt recirculation 18%
Oxygen added 7%


Now here is where the problems begin with this discussion. We all know fish die during and from tourneys what a lot of do not want to admit fish die from just being caught period, it happens do not think it doesn't. I read a study once before that stated that 10-13% of bigger bass die just from being caught and handled for 3 minutes and released. Sorry can not find the study but is one that sticks in my mind because it shocked me the numbers that it showed.

For an example, and I am not picking on KC but that one was posted. I am just using this as an example.

If the fish was caught at 15+ the air bladder swelled, it is immediate it does not take a few minutes it starts happening as you start to bring the fish up. The fish should have been turn back into the water IMEDIANTELY or internal damage can occur or the stress which weakens the fish and it may not be able to swim back to the proper depth.

The fish was taken from 75 degree water (approximately) and hook removed and placed in a live well for five minutes. That can cause problems was the water turned on when the fish was placed in the livewell with at least 85 degree water more stress caused. If the water is already in the boat and the boat on the water in the sun the water temp in the livewell could very easily reach 100 degrees that means the fish is in severe stress and will most likely die even if released.

I know this because when I was young my father and I use to fish for channel catfish a lot. His favorite size was 2-4 pound fish. He did not like to fillet them so when we cleaned our fish we would take a large washtub fill it with hot water, from the tap not heated which would end up being around 105-115 degrees by the time we got the tub filled. We would then drop the fish in the tub. They died almost instantly, he would then take an old straw broom and swish the fish around a few times and all of the slim would come off, then rinse them and clean them. So I know water 100 degrees or above will kill fish.


With the surface water being approximately 85 degrees water the water pumped in or was the water already in the live well if so it was closer to 95 degrees because it was closed with no pump running until you placed her in there, was the pump on while the fish was in the live well,

Did you handled the fish while the picture was taken, question did you wet your hands before you touched the fish, if you did not that is a no no high rate of delayed mortality from disease is possible

Then how long did you keep her out of the water to take the picture, can you hold your breath as long as you had the bass out of the water. If you did have her out of the water longer than you can hold your breath then you caused severe stress to the fish and she has less than 50% chance.

Would a fish in the scenario I just described have been better off in my livewell during a tourney, where she would have had ice, salt or medication to reduce the stress before being placed back into the water, she would have had a better chance of than this scenario.

Again I am not saying that you did anything wrong and not saying that fish died I do not mean that at all. I also am not saying that tourneys do not cause more dead fish than a guy including me out fun fishing I do it all of the time. I really believe it does cause a higher delayed mortality rate but not that much more. All I am saying is most of the guys I know, or at least I do, go a whole lot further than most fun fishermen do the protect and take care of our fish.

I also believe that anyone including a fun fisherman that would place a dead fish back in the water, especally after a weigh-in should be fined $25 per pound, that is just stupid!!


KC I am not picking on you or fussing at you at all it was an example, I commend you efforts at trying to take care of the fish and she most likely did fine.

I fish a private lake a lot and three different times when the water temp gets really high, 90’s, I have found large bass struggling, one as large as 6 lb, I have taken them from the water place in the livewell with ice and release me with both pumps running for up to 2 hours. Two of the three made it as far as I know but the third I gave to someone to eat she was just too far gone.

Also one thing I left out is that some of the smaller tourney's do not have fish holding area's like a big tank or water trough, this is also nessasary as fish can survive better if kept in the water. Look at all the bigger circuts and you will see all these arearated water troughs. All tourneys should be required to have sufficent fish handling stations instead of bringing them from the boat to weigh in this cuts down the stress alot.

Here is a fact, tournament fishing saved our fisheries. Before tournament fishing everybody ate everything they caught. If that were still going on there would be no fish. Catch and release was started by tournament fishermen. Catching and eating bass mostly undersized fish still goes on but not by tournament anglers. Every tournament fisherman has the right to keep and eat every legal bass they catch. But they don't because of the great value of the resource. As for Taylorsville,that's a corp and kdfwr joke. There is practially no fishery there. Tournament fishing probably makes those fish harder to catch, but that is simply not a good fishery. I will admit there is some dealyed mortality but that also happens to the fish you catch this time of year. So are you part of the problem is you fish in the summer?

[QUOTE=4given;336717]Here is a fact, tournament fishing saved our fisheries. Before tournament fishing everybody ate everything they caught. If that were still going on there would be no fish. Catch and release was started by tournament fishermen. Catching and eating bass mostly undersized fish still goes on but not by tournament anglers. Every tournament fisherman has the right to keep and eat every legal bass they catch. But they don't because of the great value of the resource. As for Taylorsville,that's a corp and kdfwr joke. There is practially no fishery there. Tournament fishing probably makes those fish harder to catch, but that is simply not a good fishery. I will admit there is some dealyed mortality but that also happens to the fish you catch this time of year. So are you part of the problem is you fish in the summer?[/QUOTE]

the reason they ate most everything they caught is it was how they fed their family..

[QUOTE=mhall;336679]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]

mhall, the C-J article was written by Gary Garth, their outdoor columnist. It was not written by anyone from the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.

[QUOTE=Tim_T;336854]mhall, the C-J article was written by Gary Garth, their outdoor columnist. It was not written by anyone from the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.[/QUOTE]

Where do you think he got all his info from? All stats given were from KDFWR.Guys don't get so worked up over this it's just food for thought. The more educated we become the better off we can be. In many aspects of life a little moderation can make big differences. Would it be the end of the world if Tourny's held from say June through Aug during the day were only 4 hr's instead of 8 hours? Would it be the end of the world if a given lake was only allowed to have so many tourney's per week, month, year per it's given acreage? Would it be the end of the world if you had one bass tourney's, big bass wins all? I can keep going the ideas are endless. Also what if it was your tournament groups that help implement these great ideas that would help boost our fisheries. It's painfully obvious that's who the department of fish and wildlife pander to anyway so become a voice. Do you think it's a coincidence that some of the better bass fisheries in our state are ones that don't recieve as much tourney fishing pressure as others. Take Dale Hollow for example. When the slot was introduced there the tourney guys gave birth, they held meetings called the Department and cussed people out and so on. Guess what the TVA did it anyway because KDFW didn't have the say or the gonads to do it anyway. Did it slow the tounaments down at Dale, you bet it did, did the fishing there explode you bet it did. Have alot of the tourney guys that said, ''I'LL NEVER FISH YOUR ........LAKE AGAIN'', return and now fish it even in tournaments, they sure did. I'm done for now and I have no clue how I get myself into these things, lol. Just think about some of these things or better yet your own ideas that's all I ask. Nobody is trying to ban tournaments fellas, maybe just tweak them in a few strategic areas that's all.