580 dead bass!

[biggdowgg]

http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles ... 00lead.txt

[kantuckyII]

I used to come in around 11 on Monday nights at Yatesville. Ashland had a bass tourney every Monday and they'd weigh in at dusk and be gone. When I'd get in to the ramp I'd see 1 to 3 dead bass and that is just the one's I saw. This is in the summer..I just don't think you can hold 'em in that heat like that and let 'em go. In the spring and fall, probably but not on a hot day

[Bassmaster]

That really stinks I'm a strong advocate of catch and release and have always wondered what impact some of the bigger tournaments had. Some of those fish are caught and hauled in a livewell to a weigh-in as far as 50 or more miles away from where they lived on a lake. I think they need to make some changes.

[OZZIEOHIO]

Stellner said the DNR’s methods of conducting the study may have led to higher mortality rates.

The agency put about 100 fish a day in 8-by-8-foot holding pens near Northern States Power Co. on the Black River. An equal number of tournament-caught fish and fish the agency culled from the wild using electroshocking were kept there for a side-by-side comparison.

The pens didn’t have proper current flow, which may lead to warmer water temperatures and poor oxygenation, Stellner said. In addition, the fish were held there for up to five days, another possible source of stress, he said.

But Hobbs, while confirming Stellner’s account of the holding pens, said the electroshocked fish were not among those he collected because they did not have a clipped fin.

The DNR Prob killed most of them, You cant Keep them in a tub of water after there caught like that. Im not saying tournys dont kill fish because I know they do. Our club and any I have ever fished has a Penalty for bringing in a dead fish. Most guys try hard to keep them alive. Sometime the fish swollows the hook and its going to die anyway, tourny or not and it cant be helped. Like KY said In the real HOT days you got to keep the water fresh in the live wells and oxegen flowing.

[BigOrangeOne]

Written in a response under the article, this guy may have some valid points:

Old Guide wrote on Aug 28, 2006 10:47 AM:
" Think about this! A private company, FLW, using a public resource for ecomonic gain. Yup, your tax dollars help fund the fishery used by others to gain ecomomically. Also, no matter how you look at it tournaments not only kill fish but waste them by putting them back under the guise of "catch and release". Catch an release means to put back as soon as caught not after the end of the day. "

Some of these big bass tournaments are mega buck businesses.

[kantuckyII]

yeah but Oz, swallowing a hook won't kill a fish often times as long as people don't get into their gills or try to pull their stomach inside out to start with. I have caught fish that had the leader coming out their rump and you could tell by the crimped line that it had been a knot at one time.

I really do believe that tournaments in really hot weather is very hard on the fish. That's a bunch of stress. They die hours later too as I said earlier, I have came in behind them many nights a few hours after they have left and see a few floaters.

[OZZIEOHIO]

Bigdowgg had a real good idea today. I like it. He said we should have 2 or 3 guys waiting at the end of the wiegh in line, and clean the bass after there wieghed and Have a fish fry for everyone.

[kantuckyII]

biggdowgg? you mean Big Orange One? that sounds like his idea..maybe they've teamed up now?

[OZZIEOHIO]

No I meant BIGDOWGG. He wants to run the grill!!

[BigOrangeOne]

Bigdowgg had a real good idea today. I like it. He said we should have 2 or 3 guys waiting at the end of the wiegh in line, and clean the bass after there wieghed and Have a fish fry for everyone.

A good ole fish fry sounds good to me. When and where??
(We can bring a couple dozen carp for YTB).

[kantuckyII]

That's 'Corp' not carp! YTB likes them corp, as in 'I like to have me some of them corp for my supper"

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

I USED TO CATCH CORP FOR MONEY.

THEY NEED TO COME UP WITH A WAY DURING TOURNEYS TO QUIT CLIPPING TAILS, AND HOLDING FOR HOURS IN LIVEWELLS. WEIGH, AND LOG ON FILM, THEN RELEASE. I KNOW THIS CAUSES PROBLEMS WITH CULLING, BUT JUST TAKE BEST 5 FISH LOGGED, THATS YOUR TOTAL, INSTANT RELEASE, LIVE FISH.

[BigOrangeOne]

BiggDawgg and I will show them where to release them so they won't be dying in the live well.

[OZZIEOHIO]

Nether one of you are going to get near our fish.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

this is a serious problem in tournaments. keeping fish for hours in hot livewells for hours. then tying to release them all unharmed.