DEAD bass was up after Tourney on KY Lake.

[NKYFISHING]

Yes, Frank is wrong.

No................. I believe Frank is right and you have second hand info!!!!!!!

[SLP]

I have never fished a tournament so I'll ask. Would it really be substantially less fun to go with total inches instead of total pounds?

Sure you wouldn't have guys picking up and holding their catch for spectators but you could have a giant screen of some sort set up where they would show the pictures of the fish for each contestant with some big graphics off to the side with where the inches totaled and compared to the current leaders. Done up right and I imagine it could even be more dramatic of an event.

Or another question. For the very largest of tournaments with more resources, how hard would it be to get volunteers to ride along in the boats to verify the weight of fish if they wanted to use the traditional poundage method and still could take pictures to display on a big screen.

[fishin350]

You all have deep hooked a fish at some point. If you don't like tourneys don't fish them. I fish a small club for ten years now. I have lost a few bass. They were eaten. I don't like how everyone fishing a tournament is labeled a bad guy. I'm not busting on fun fishermen or meat fishermen. But I have dealt with some idiots fun fishing. Does that make them all bad? No makes the ones acting like idiots. Idiots.

[kc]

You all have deep hooked a fish at some point. If you don't like tourneys don't fish them. I fish a small club for ten years now. I have lost a few bass. They were eaten. I don't like how everyone fishing a tournament is labeled a bad guy. I'm not busting on fun fishermen or meat fishermen. But I have dealt with some idiots fun fishing. Does that make them all bad? No makes the ones acting like idiots. Idiots.

I don't fish tournaments these days - have in the past for fun but just doesn't appeal to me these days and everyone who fishes much knows an occasional fish gets killed by the hook. I surely don't think everyone who fishes tournaments is a bad guy by a long stretch even on the threads where the focus is on the rudeness exhibited by many obvious tournament anglers on tournament day. But this is not that thread. The concern is having these large tournaments ending up killing a significant portion of their catch. Surely there is a way to better manage tournaments to minimize the waste. And I am with you - if a fish dies better to eat them than to let them rot on the bank...

kc

[kc]

for the 2nd time....it wasn't 3800 pounds.....it was 3,800 individual fish...read folks!!!!http://www.scout.com/outdoors/wired2...n-to-dead-bass

and for the record the tournaments that I fish are strict Catch, Photo & Immediate Release and are based on total inches...

I like your style of tournaments...


kc

[kc]

Agree. Well stated.

Amen. I think SLP is right on that it will be much better if tournament organizers and anglers take the lead on this image issue rather than have a solution forced on them. We don't need more rules, regulations, fees, and taxes which usually don't get the desired results any way...


kc

[kc]

I agree with what you're saying until part about blaming Triton for the lost fish. I have a Skeeter so I'm not defending Triton based on the brand of boat I have, I'm just saying that it could have easily been a Skeeter or Ranger tourney instead of Triton. I'm still trying to figure out why there can't be a rule where the boats are required to weigh-in more than one time during the course of the day.

Maybe the part about not purchasing at Triton was somewhat of a stretch but I am having an image problem with that manufacturer now as that tournament was all about owning a Triton and they should know better than to run an event and leave this kind of image in the public's eyes. That should come from the top...


kc

[MagikSmallie]

That article says "3800 fish I heard". You are posting third hand information as fact and you are wrong. Simple math shows what you claims is false. 3800/400 = 9.5. No way almost every boat brought in a 5 fish limit two days in a row.

A quick Google search returned the real data.
1,924 bass were weighed in with 1,881 released alive, according to the official standings posted on the website of American Bass Anglers (ABA), which has assisted Triton in operating the owners event for the past 16 years.

Alright, I was there that weekend and witnessed it firsthand. But lets go ahead and say I was wrong about the number of bass weighed in....The numbers you stated prove the overall point even further...if those numbers are correct then that means they had a 98% live release rate with a 2% mortality rate.....NON issue!!

[kyriverblues]

As usual these tournament threads end up in the us vs them mentality but truth is we are all anglers wanting the same - good fishing albeit for different reasons. So instead of the ongoing whoa is me and you are wrong - no matter which side you see clearest -- what can we learn from this event to help us better preserve the catch from tournaments? In this situation I believe it comes down to handling in the heat. I read somewhere that it took 4 hours to weigh in all the fish brought in. I don't know the details of how big money tournaments are organized in terms of weigh-in logistics but I sense this was a major issue. Does anybody know how this weigh in was run? What can be done differently to make the weigh in process less impactful on the fish in this heat? How can we get a message across to the tournament organizers of next year's event that better handling procedures will make a difference (and the negative effect this has on their event and product)? Let's take this lemon and make some lemonade for a change instead of simply defending a position...


kc

I agree 100%. Just an idea but Is there maybe a way where some tourney officials could be placed in different areas of the lake being fished and when a guy has a fish to be weighed he or she could use a VHF radio to call the nearest official to come and weigh the fish and it can be released quick. This way a fish would only be in live well minuets instead of hours and not be hauled all over the lake.

[MagikSmallie]

I like your style of tournaments...


kc

www.yakmasters.com

[kc]

I agree 100%. Just an idea but Is there maybe a way where some tourney officials could be placed in different areas of the lake being fished and when a guy has a fish to be weighed he or she could use a VHF radio to call the nearest official to come and weigh the fish and it can be released quick. This way a fish would only be in live well minuets instead of hours and not be hauled all over the lake.

I think the bottom line is we are past the age of the catch, hold in a live well all day, weigh in, parade around on stage, then release model of tournament fishing. Muskie tournaments have adopted what you describe and its a good thing because muskies would never survive what many tournament caught bass go through and their numbers are lower to begin with. I personally like the MLF-style of tournaments but that would not fly for a large tournament like the TOT. Imagine coming up with 400 boat officials for such a large tournament. Minimally if tournaments are going to continue with a central weigh-in then they must evolve to better care for the fish. There is a level of care exercised but the results from this tournament demonstrate there is much room to improve.

But I think the way forward is to find a tournament format that supports catch, measure, photograph, and release. One reason I like the MLF format it changes the game in terms of how you score. The 5 fish limit in tournaments is directly related to possession limits and the understanding that keeping too many and hauling them around is detrimental. So that lends to a strategy of culling and having to target larger fish but in MLF you can score significantly with numbers which changes strategy. Surely with technology we can come up with a tournament format of capturing each catch digitally to verify inches or weight and use that information as the basis for the results. GoPro style cameras could even catch some of the live action. Instead of keeping fish all day and parading them around on stage images or videos could be shared from each contestant as the top individuals / teams are presented. This could actually be a interesting business opportunity for those with the fortitude to develop this model and make it successful...

kc

[know1]

One related issue that I find interesting is that there are anglers who aren't fishing in a tournament who will still put the bass in the livewell and run it around all day, take some pictures back at the ramp (or at least later in the day) and then attempt to release. I don't understand the point of it.