Yes, at least Fishers of Men tourneys do. We will always have a cooler for dead loss.
The frozen bottles and rejuvenade work great. But if you put bagged ice in your livewell it will melt and release chlorine. I have actually had anglers kill fish doing this. They wondered what went wrong, but fish and chlorine do not mix. If you cannot get bottles, make sure that your bag doesn't break when you put it in the livewell.
I am a "tournament guy" and I want the fishery to flourish. I honestly cannot see that it hurts the fishery to have some dead fish brought in. I can see that it hurts bass fishermen's reputation when those fish are wasted. I want to see all of them swim away, but there are lots of folks who would love to make a meal from those that don't make it.
I guess what I am trying to say is that we all need to get along a little better. Geo is probably ticked off because he saw some floaters at the ramp after a weigh-in. I don't blame him. But the answer is not to ban tourneys, nor is it to ban dead fish (that would just scatter the dead loss all over the lake when the angler realizes he has one that doesn't make it). It is also foolish to suggest a ticket for a dead fish - would you ticket the guy with 5 spots on ice in his cooler? The answer is to show some good stewardship with the resource. If God didn't want us to eat a fish, He wouldn't have made them out of meat.
Try your best to keep them alive, and if you lose one, somebody take the thing home and eat it!




Reply With Quote