Tournament from the Narrows at Barren this mornin

[kc]

I would love to go fishing and sort out the facts. I commend any bass fisherman tournament or not who cares enough to try and take care of our renewable resource. I am not an "authority" on anything but an observer of my surroundings. And having bass fished for the last 40 years I know how warm water and handling can harm fish. There is no way you can have tournaments in summer and not kill more fish than in the cooler months. And just because all of your released fish swam away after a tournament doesn't mean they survived. I have read studies claiming up to 70% delayed mortality after summer tournaments. All you have to do is come around the dock later in the day to see how many didn't make it.

Enough raving. My only point is summer tournaments are more hard on bass and I only wish T-fisherman could/would adjust. I hate see quality fish killed. Period.

kc

[kc]

Sorry I didn't reply sooner -- I don't check to tourney board often and when the post moved I missed it. I don't take your thoughts as picking on me at all and you make a good point that I had not considered in my handling of the fish. Since I don't keep fish for extended periods I don't carry ice or chemicals as many have explained they do. But as far as handling that 5 pounder I caught her 10 - 12 feet deep on a jig, hand landed her (I do not use nets) after a fairly vigorous fight for a greenie, quickly unhooked her and put her in the livewell. She wasn't out of the water for more than 30 seconds during unhooking. I turned on the pump and pumped fresh water in the entire time I let her settle which was somewhere around 10 minutes or so. This is the good point you made. The surface temp was 82 (it was 2:30 am and that week end was when the weather had cooled down) but that fish came out of water I am sure was 5 to 8 degrees cooler. So that "settling down" period may have stressed her some being in warmer water. To finish, I got the camera and scale ready, caught her, put her on the scale for a reading, and posed for my dad to take one quick shot. I would say that whole process took less than 2 minutes but when I put her back in the lake she wanted to roll over. After reviving her a bit she swam down so I am hopeful she survived.

My original point is how fragile these fish are and how easy they die this time of year. For the record I am not a tournament hater - I occasionally fish them - but I put the desire to renew the resource above competing. As far as tournaments and delayed mortality I believe it is much higher than you would think. Do I have a method of quantifying that belief? No I do not. I just know I have observed many dead "keeper" sized bass around marinas after tournaments have been held and can draw my own conclusions. One specific instance I remember was several years ago on Barkley they held the "Coke" tournament out of the state park in July. Hundreds of boats participated in that tournament and I was fishing that weekend with my friend and we put in later that day at the state park and fished after dark. When we came in late that night there were dozens if not hundreds of dead bass all over that marina. 3 - 6 lbers floating everywhere. That was the most sickening thing I have ever seen and there was no doubt in my mind what killed those fish. I am sure most of them swam away too.

kc