I've been fishing tournaments for several years now in hot and cold weather. The hot water does stress the fish more than any other time of year because I've noticed increased mortality when returning the fish to the water after weighing (floating fish). Studies have also shown increased mortality when the fish are caught in deep cooler water and then placed in the hotter livewell water for potentially hours on end. It essentially throws them into shock. This is where cooling the water down with ice is a plus. I have never had a much of a problem as long as I use the chemicals to reduce stress and run my livewall all the time (no timer). Acutally the oxygenator is a lot better than recycling the water. If you ever notice the fish will have their noses right on the oxygenator much of the time.

I also have to believe that placing weigh-in bags full of fish on the blacktop while while waiting in line has to be hard on the fish due to the extreme heat produced during summer months. That water will heat up very fast depending on the length of time in the line. The fish also eat up a lot of oxygen in the bags very quickly while waiting in line.

My suggestions, just me personally, are as follows: use ice (non-chlorinated) in the live wells, reduce the amount of time standing in line by limiting the line to two or three bags (leaving the fish in the oxygenated live wells longer), wet the measuring board prior to measuring fish, don't leave the fish on the hot carpet for a long perioud of time after swinging a fish on board, maybe have a three fish limit tournament instead of five (reduces the amount of fish consuming oxygen) and/or eliminate summer tournaments.

Just some thoughts.

Trent D. Decker