"The reason for not allowing dead fish to be weighed in is simple really, it makes us really be sure that we are doing everything possible during the tournament to keep our fish as healthy as we can. I have seen to many weigh-ins with dead fish during my time and its very avoidable most times. I know fish will be hooked deep and thats part of it, but fish dying from simply not running your livewells at all times is just a shame. There are good products out there to add to your livewells for fish care and most of todays boats have excellent livewells that are fully capable of keeping fish healthy for a mere 5 to 8 hours. I have considered making it just a penalty of a 1/2 pound but decided against it, I just hate seeing a nice bag of fish with 2 or 3 dead ones in it when there is no reason for it.

Just last weekend during my club tourney at Morse I had one die on me that I caught earlier in the day. I was really concerned that I had a problem with my livewell until I looked in the fishes gullet and discovered a Tru-Turn that had the fishes throat pretty much closed. My club allows dead fish with a 1/4 pound penalty but it still made me feel bad even though it wasnt my hook in its gullet. That stuff happens to all of us at some point in time, but you will never see a fish die in my livewell due to improper care." - Josh McDermott