Tournament from the Narrows at Barren this mornin

[Brutus]

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.

[kc]

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

[4given]

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?

[PROANGLER746]

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.

[mhall]

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?

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.

[buzzking]

I thought all tourney posts had to be on the tourney board?

[mhall]

I thought all tourney posts had to be on the tourney board?

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.

[4given]

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?

[CTFSHWHISKER]

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?

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

[mhall]

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.

[Tim_T]

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.

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.

[mhall]

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.

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.