Dead fish during day tournaments

[Rudypoo4444]

The bass tournament angler is probably more savvy about the bass fishery overall than any other angler. I rather doubt that they want to see the demise of their sport fish.

This is just offensive and WRONG. I have never fished a tourney, but I am just as savvy as the next guy when it comes to protecting the resource. I never keep over my limit, I don't always keep fish to eat, I buy my licence every year to help fund the resource, and I stay concerned and alert to our local bass fisheries.

[Bandit1]

You all mention having the DNR at the ramp to give a ticket for dead fish weighed in. If that is the case they would have to give a ticket to every Tom, Richard, & Harry that brings in a dead bass. Weather to eat or otherwise. I am a tournament fisherman to. I don't like seeing a bunch of dead bass floating, hell, I dont like seeing a bunch of dead carp floating. If they are going to give tickets for dead fish, give it to the guys that put the dead fish back in the lake, that will eliminate alot of the floaters, but you also have the ones that hooked the fish deep & as they are trying to get the hook out the fish dies. The fish is to short to keep, do they get a ticket too? Or do they risk getting a ticket for having a short fish?

Just sayin,

Jason

[F16ENGMGR]

This is just offensive and WRONG. I have never fished a tourney, but I am just as savvy as the next guy when it comes to protecting the resource. I never keep over my limit, I don't always keep fish to eat, I buy my licence every year to help fund the resource, and I stay concerned and alert to our local bass fisheries.

RP4444 thanks for supporting the sport with your license purchase, although it may be a law if you fall into the angler age category. And did you know that a 10% fee paid by tackle mfg's for items that you purchase also goes towards the fishery?

Have you ever been to a bass tournament weigh-in? Offensive? Sorry you feel that way. Maybe with your intellect and experience you could help enlighten this monumental high dollar industry especially on a local level.

FLW just jacked up the entry fee for 2011 according to Bassfan - 40K a year. And yes they'll fish when the weather/water is warm. You may want to petition them not to hold bass tournaments during warm weather though. At this writing they're fishing Guntersville, AL. Temps are forecast to be 90 deg. I wonder how many dead fish they'll report.

[Rudypoo4444]

RP4444 thanks for supporting the sport with your license purchase, although it may be a law if you fall into the angler age category. And did you know that a 10% fee paid by tackle mfg's for items that you purchase also goes towards the fishery?

Have you ever been to a bass tournament weigh-in? Offensive? Sorry you feel that way. Maybe with your intellect and experience you could help enlighten this monumental high dollar industry especially on a local level.

FLW just jacked up the entry fee for 2011 according to Bassfan - 40K a year. And yes they'll fish when the weather/water is warm. You may want to petition them not to hold bass tournaments during warm weather though. At this writing they're fishing Guntersville, AL. Temps are forecast to be 90 deg. I wonder how many dead fish they'll report.

With my "intellect" I can tell you that stopping summer tournaments is not the answer, but making the tournament leaders and fishermen responsible for their catch is. If I bring a dead fish back to the dock with me, it really doesn't matter, because at that point, they are just riding with me on a trip to the skillet.

How about making these tourney leaders penalize the fishermen during the tournament to help raise awareness, and make the tourney owners replinish the resource by stocking "X" amount of fish for fish weighed in dead. And if you get caught throwing out a dead fish before you get to the dock, you don't get to fish tournaments anymore, EVER.

Sound fair? Hope I didn't throw too much intellect at you, LOL!

[Bandit1]

With my "intellect" I can tell you that stopping summer tournaments is not the answer, but making the tournament leaders and fishermen responsible for their catch is. If I bring a dead fish back to the dock with me, it really doesn't matter, because at that point, they are just riding with me on a trip to the skillet.

How about making these tourney leaders penalize the fishermen during the tournament to help raise awareness, and make the tourney owners replinish the resource by stocking "X" amount of fish for fish weighed in dead. And if you get caught throwing out a dead fish before you get to the dock, you don't get to fish tournaments anymore, EVER.

Sound fair? Hope I didn't throw too much intellect at you, LOL!

Hey Rudypoo,

Does that mean for every fish you take out of the lake to eat YOU will be restocking with "X" number of fish?

Just askin,

Jason

[Rudypoo4444]

Hey Rudypoo,

Does that mean for every fish you take out of the lake to eat YOU will be restocking with "X" number of fish?

Just askin,

Jason

Nope. If I put a fish in my livewell, it is going in there for a reason....For me to eat. I am not just giving it a joy-ride all day waiting for a weigh-in. This situation is a little different. The tournament guys are taking a chance on the fish dying by keeping it in the live well until weigh-in. That is why they should be held accountable, and why I said they should stock "X" number of fish if they have one die. The fish in the tournaments die for no reason. Hopefully there is someone there that will take the dead fish to eat, but I would bet most of the tournament fishermen do not, so a dead fish is just a waste in their situation.

Don't try and turn this around on the recreational fishermen. They aren't carrying around fish in the livewell just to show them off at the end of the day. People have to eat, it is not a necessity to weigh fish at the end of the day. I know some guys do the "tournament" thing for a living, but it isn't 1% of the total population of fishermen. If they are going to cart a fish around all day, with a chance of it dying, just to weigh it in at the end of the day, hold them accountable for the destruction of the resource if there is any.

I'm not against tournaments or tournament fishermen by any stretch, but they have a different situation than the REC fishermen do, so they should have to play by a different set of rules.

[psprowler]

People have to eat, it is not a necessity to weigh fish at the end of the day. I know some guys do the "tournament" thing for a living, but it isn't 1% of the total population of fishermen.

I don't have a dog in this fight but I would suspect that <1% of the total population of fisherman solely depend on lake bass for their main source of food........

[Bandit1]

My point is, is that a dead fish is a dead fish, no matter how you look at it.

That being said.

For example, lets say you have 30 boat tournament & it is a real good day and those 30 boats have 5 fish each. Of those 150 fish, let say 140 are returned to the lake alive & swim off. Thats 10 that die. At the same ramp you have 15 recreational boats with 2 fisherman per boat, they are allowed 5 fish per person. That is 150 fish that will never swim away, reproduce, of fight another day. So, I, personally, don't see where the tournament fisherman are hurting the population that much.

I am not against recreational fishing by any means. Just trying to NOT make us tournament fisherman look as bad as some people think.

I DO take the fish home, if any die, in our club tournament & give them to Mom & Dad. They love fresh fish & they are not prejustice as to what kind they are.

Jason

[offdtop]

I am a tourney director and we just fished a tourney yesterday and had 1 questionable fish out of say 10 limits, the problem there was degassing (as mentioned before) we degassed the fish and I worked him in my livewell with U2 oxygenator additive (I don't have a oxygenator just the additive) for 45 minutes cooling him down and I am happy to say he swam off will no problem.

97 degrees, tournament properly looked after, ZERO dead fish....... priceless

[Tim_T]

My point is, is that a dead fish is a dead fish, no matter how you look at it.

That being said.

For example, lets say you have 30 boat tournament & it is a real good day and those 30 boats have 5 fish each. Of those 150 fish, let say 140 are returned to the lake alive & swim off. Thats 10 that die. At the same ramp you have 15 recreational boats with 2 fisherman per boat, they are allowed 5 fish per person. That is 150 fish that will never swim away, reproduce, of fight another day. So, I, personally, don't see where the tournament fisherman are hurting the population that much.

I am not against recreational fishing by any means. Just trying to NOT make us tournament fisherman look as bad as some people think.

I DO take the fish home, if any die, in our club tournament & give them to Mom & Dad. They love fresh fish & they are not prejustice as to what kind they are.

Jason

Well said Jason. I don't fish tournaments but they seem to get the brunt of complaints every time something like this is brought up.