DEAD bass was up after Tourney on KY Lake.

[sweetwater]

Taking release out of catch and release would be a loss to the fisheries without question. The very small percentage that was lost at that event was offset by the the much higher percentage of fish that were released, returned to enhance the population in opposition to another option, catch , weigh and eat. Keep in mind if a tournament wanted to they could allow double the limit now brought to the scales by allowing the legal limit per angler to be brought in, weigh and fillet. So there is no question the catch and release in a benefit as compared to some other options. Is care needed to be taken in the process, of course but that's old news, debated and decided decades ago. If one wanted to try and reach perfection one could make it law that any fish hooked but not landed, came free, broke line, no matter the reason, that fish could count toward your daily limit and it would without question enhance the fisheries. Now apply it to all species, crappie, cats, whites, hybrids, sounds crazy don't it?

Yes it does.

[SLP]

one could make it law that any fish hooked but not landed, came free, broke line, no matter the reason, that fish could count toward your daily limit and it would without question enhance the fisheries. Now apply it to all species, crappie, cats, whites, hybrids, sounds crazy don't it?

So if something snaps your line, which fish species limit would it count against?

[Moveon]

[QUOTE=GeoFisher;547833]

See, we CAN agree in a few things.

I guess so.

[creekrock]

Taking release out of catch and release would be a loss to the fisheries without question. The very small percentage that was lost at that event was offset by the the much higher percentage of fish that were released, returned to enhance the population in opposition to another option, catch , weigh and eat. Keep in mind if a tournament wanted to they could allow double the limit now brought to the scales by allowing the legal limit per angler to be brought in, weigh and fillet. So there is no question the catch and release in a benefit as compared to some other options. Is care needed to be taken in the process, of course but that's old news, debated and decided decades ago. If one wanted to try and reach perfection one could make it law that any fish hooked but not landed, came free, broke line, no matter the reason, that fish could count toward your daily limit and it would without question enhance the fisheries. Now apply it to all species, crappie, cats, whites, hybrids, sounds crazy don't it?

Justifing this by using percentages is laughable to me. Even if 3 times the amount of fish were released healthy it wouldn't change the fact that bushel baskets of bass were left floating in the lake. If the tournament let the anglers clean ALL the fish,KDFW would adjust bag limits.After all,tournament anglers are licensed fisherman and have a right to their catch. It's the WASTE that bothers me. They shouldn't have the right to wantonly waste the resource.

[kc]

Taking release out of catch and release would be a loss to the fisheries without question. The very small percentage that was lost at that event was offset by the the much higher percentage of fish that were released, returned to enhance the population in opposition to another option, catch , weigh and eat. Keep in mind if a tournament wanted to they could allow double the limit now brought to the scales by allowing the legal limit per angler to be brought in, weigh and fillet. So there is no question the catch and release in a benefit as compared to some other options. Is care needed to be taken in the process, of course but that's old news, debated and decided decades ago. If one wanted to try and reach perfection one could make it law that any fish hooked but not landed, came free, broke line, no matter the reason, that fish could count toward your daily limit and it would without question enhance the fisheries. Now apply it to all species, crappie, cats, whites, hybrids, sounds crazy don't it?

It is true that tournaments and catch and release is old news. And there is no doubt that if they kept all of the fish by now our creel limit would be down to 1 or 2 with a 20 inch size limit. But this tournament as many are in the heat was a throw back to times when there were many, many fish killed by these large tournaments. It seemed with a lot of awareness by both anglers and tournament organizers that much of that improved. There is no such thing as perfection -- even a pure C&R non-tournament angler will occasionally gut hook and kill a fish but it just seems that this event was a step backward. We all care about the resource and these large tournaments - which are frequent on lakes like KY - take a toll and surely we can do better. Move away from weigh-ins - especially in the heat - or minimally keep pushing to improve handling and the successful release of these fish so that we don't have dozens of floaters washed up on the bank every weekend after tournament day...


kc

[MagikSmallie]

Bass fishing went off the rails in two key areas: one being the idea that eating your catch is some how a bad idea. Second, the tournaments/money/sponsors have taken it into a business model.

It's deviated so far from the bass fishing of yesterday and these are key reasons why I personally don't understand the logic behind it. I don't know which is more frustrating, the whole mentality of catch/release/don't eat or the big money tournaments that attract fantastic butt holes. Color me confused on bass fishing in general, but being a conservation minded person, I routinely save them when gut hooked by simply cutting the hook off instead of pulling their guts out.

I think you would be hard pressed to find a tournament angler who isn't conservation minded, lets not play holier than tho!

[MagikSmallie]

Justifing this by using percentages is laughable to me. Even if 3 times the amount of fish were released healthy it wouldn't change the fact that bushel baskets of bass were left floating in the lake. If the tournament let the anglers clean ALL the fish,KDFW would adjust bag limits.After all,tournament anglers are licensed fisherman and have a right to their catch. It's the WASTE that bothers me. They shouldn't have the right to wantonly waste the resource.

the fish weren't wantonly wasted.

[creekrock]

the fish weren't wantonly wasted.

“to intentionally waste something negligently or inappropriately.”
I think it could be argued they knew or should have known that a large amount of fish would die given the circumstances and conditions.

[MagikSmallie]

“to intentionally waste something negligently or inappropriately.”
I think it could be argued they knew or should have known that a large amount of fish would die given the circumstances and conditions.

But the term wanton means that the waste was intentional, which it was not, the intention which could be proven was to release the fish unharmed!

[365allout]

So if something snaps your line, which fish species limit would it count against?

I'd say Asian Carp, that way nobody would give *&$^ , lol

[fireman21]

Guys it's all about how you care for your fish, I personally care frozen Gatorade bottles in my cooler to cool the water in my live well, I add a please release me to my live well as well and lastly I carry a bottle of 7UP in my boat in case I have a fish bleeding simply pour a little 7UP on the area and the bleeding stops, I just fished a 23 boat tournament last week the weather was in the mid 90's just about every boat had 5 fish so roughly 115 fished weighed in and there's was 1 dead fish brought to the scales the fish was hooked deep and the guy cut the line and did everything he could but the didn't make it so 1 fish out of 115 is pretty good to me

[cghuntcms]

But the term wanton means that the waste was intentional, which it was not, the intention which could be proven was to release the fish unharmed!

I shoulda' just left this alone.

I attend an after work, office party. I very rarely drink. But this particular Friday signaled the end of a very stressful week. Its now dark. On the way home I fail to observe a pedestrian carrying a gas can on the side of the road. I strike & kill him. I can testify I didn't intend to drink more than one beer. I can testify I didn't intend on drving under the influence. I can honestly testify that I didn't intend on hitting the pedestrian. I'm charged with vehicular manslaughter. I spend 18 months in prison.

No, it didn't happen to me, but this did happen to someone I know. Intentions may be honorable, but they don't count in the final compilation of events.

I don't fish competitively. I fish for fun & for the healthy, delicious meals associated with a successful trip. I'm bothered with the photo of dead fish floating on the water. If, IF the Kentucky Fish & Wildlife department is left alone to exercise their professional knowledge on managing our lakes & fish for the general residents of KY, then I can live with that. I concentrate my fishing trips on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, & Thursdays.