Bass Tournament?!

[perry p]

I was very upset when my son and I walked over to the public access on Lake Waverly this evening. This is the spot where tournament fisherman release their catch after the event. As you can see, these are some "large" largemouth bass laying dead.

Why have a tourament in this recent heat spell? Why keep the fish in the livewell so long? I will in no way be a Kevin VanDam wannebee.

[thatoneguy]

If fish are handled properly, tournaments have little risk of mortality. Knock the individual event if you want, but don't pretend tournaments as a whole are bad.

[Jeff13]

Some of those look like walleyes to me.

[RumRiverRat]

Some of those are walleyes.

In before the Bass Tournament Bashing.

[hockeybc69]

There are no DNR permitted tournaments on Waverly in the month of August at all.

My guess is league fishing. Leagues are not managed by the DNR in any fashion.

Some leagues are simply a joke in how they handle fish. Tournaments for the most part are run pretty good in requirements to best handle the fish.

As said earlier, dont bash tournament fishing as a whole.

[UofMBASS]

I really wish more bass tournament anglers would think about releasing their fish more properly.

After weigh in put the fish back in your livewell and release them in water over 8 feet deep. They always swim straight to the cooler water on the bottom instead of being stranded in 1-2 foot of water no mans land during the hottest part of the day...

[CrowWingBasser]

thatoneguy, you are right - if fished are released properly - however there are a helluva lot of fish that are not.....and that continues to be a problem!!!

[perry p]

I must apologize to the tournament anglers. There is a difference between them and "the leagues". It was a kneejerk reaction from me because it saddened my son who is a great little angler and views Waverly lake as his home water because we live here.

Tournament anglers have helped me become the angler that I am. There needs to be something done to prevent or at least minimize this from happening again. Why damage a fishery to bolster one's ego?

[hockeybc69]

I have fished in leagues for many years.

It has nothing to do with bolstering an ego for me. I enjoy fishing, getting together with a group of guys, a little competition and good conversation at the end of the night.

You can learn a lot fishing in a league as well. So many good things can be had from a league.

But, there are many leagues that have absolutely no care for ensuring proper handling of fish.

Our league is not a weigh in. We just simply get points if you get certains species, over a certain length, bonus points for the more species you get.

Its all done on the water. Fish go from the livewell straight back to the water.

No bagging of fish on land, no standing around in a parking lot waiting to weigh your fish, no fish being dropped on the parking lot trying to get them on a scale or to rebag them after weighing them, etc.... I have seen it all, and it can be quite disgusting watching the shananigans people pull off.

I have witnessed a number of times over the years where people use their dipnet to take their fish from their boat to a scale, toss them back in the dipnet and walk them to the lake and dump them. I have seen people use bags, but for some reason dont put water in the bag. I have seen people use 5 gallon pails with fish piled to the top. I have seen people use large coolers in the boat for a livewell because there wasnt one built into the boat.

Some people just dont have any common sense I guess.

I for one, would love for the DNR to do something about leagues and set some guidelines that need to be followed by everyone.

BTW, how many of you know that there currently is a law on the books that you cannot have an onshore weighin at a public water access? I dont recall the specifics/wording of the law, but will try to find them. I just learned of it this summer in a conversation with a friend of mine in the Fisheries dept.

[perry p]

Thank you hockeybc for your insight. I have only been a serious angler for seven years now. I would join a league for the same reasons, but my work schedule prevents it.

Fishing year 'round is my life. I really respect muskie fishermen because of the hoops they jump thru to safley release their fish. As many anglers do, I have cut barbs off hooks if it's deeply embedded in the fish's mouth. I would like to think it's simple science to know if a fish is caught in deeper, cooler water that that's where it should be released. Thanks again for your great reply.

[walleye18]

question for everyone...Unless the tournament is supported/registered with the DNR- you must keep all the fish you put in the live well....right???

So technically, if the fishing league is not supported by the DNR with proper registration and so forth, all fish need to be kept once they are put in the live well.

Let me know if I'm off base here.

[thatoneguy]

That's not correct, but I can't cite the relevant regs OTTOMH. The DNR encourages permitting through them, but in many cases it's not required.

[th64]

Pretty sure culling is against the law in MN, maybe that is what you are thinking.

[smallie_hawgin]

Actually,there's a grey area when it comes to "possession". Technically a limit of fish transferred to land can be construed as in possession. In MN when a fish is reduced to possession it may not be released without a permit. Also by the letter of the law all public access areas (DNR) require a permit to hold "events". However, for some reason this is not enforced.

The league issue is one that has been raising hackles among lake associations and is of some concern to fisheries folks as well. There have been a few recent studies suggesting that mid summer mortality on bass can approach 40%. Now if this was a one time or even monthly event, might not be a big deal. But leagues that weigh-in are sometimes on lakes five or more days a week!! You do the math, it can and probably is changing size structure on some lakes. The easy way to avoid issues would be paper events only. No weigh-ins unless a permitted tournament. Don't be surprised if something along these lines comes through in the near future.

[thatoneguy]

Quote:

No weigh-ins unless a permitted tournament. Don't be surprised if something along these lines comes through in the near future.

I would have no problem with that.

[walleye18]

I thought that once you put a fish in the livewell its considered "its in your possession".....and cannot be released - - -unless your in a permitted tournament.

Thanks for the insight and clarification guys.

I think ultimately, we all have to watch and use common sense in managing the lakes in the state. I want my kids to experience the fishing I have seen (some of it will never return).

Keep a tight line!

[cruiseforever]

When most people that do not fish see a scene like that it does not matter league or tournament. To them all fisherman look and act a like.

[RK]

Hiya -

Man, this kind of stuff just gives everyone a black eye...

To most anglers - me included frankly - a 'league' vs. a 'tournament' is a distinction without a difference. As a result, they all get painted with the same brush when stuff like this happens.

A couple summers ago a bass club was having a tournament on one of the lakes close to by cabin. I was considering joining, not to fish any events or anything but just because they were a local organization doing some things in the area and I thought I should support them. So I went to their weigh-in to check things out and meet some of the members.

What I saw cured me of any interest in joining - fish in bags without a drop of water sitting on blacktop on an 85 degree day, individual fish dropped on the pavement from 3' up when they flopped off the hook while getting weighed for the 'big fish' prize, sacks of fish dumped in buckets for weighing, then carried back to the access and dumped off the dock in a shallow, stagnant bay with 80 degree water. There were bass sitting on the bottom all over and more than a few floaters, but I didn't see a single penalty for dead fish. When fish coming out of the livewells were so wild guys could barely grab them, and could barely swim off by the time they were released, you'd think someone would have stood up and said 'we have a problem with the process here...'

Besides that, during the weigh in boats and rigs were parked everywhere around the access, completely blocking the ramp for the better part of an hour. During that time, 3 trucks pulling boats came in to try to launch, gave up and left. Not one club member paid them a second's attention or even made an attempt to clear the ramp so other people could launch. It was nauseating.

I know - because I've seen them - that there are many clubs and tournament organizations who do an excellent job of caring for the fish, being conscious of other anglers and presenting a good image to the public. So it's doubly a shame that they're dragged down by those that don't. It amazes me how some orgs and anglers scratch their heads over why the public perception of tournaments is so negative among lakeshore owners and other anglers when stuff like this happens.

Fair or not, when it comes to public perception, it's very much a case of guilt by association, whether it's a league, a tournament or something in between.

This isn't a new problem for tournaments, and it isn't unique to bass events either (. I really think it has to be on anglers to demand higher standards from the organizations they fish with, and to understand why it's important. We'd all do well to remember that Ray Scott didn't make BASS tournaments catch and release way back when because he gave a dump about the fish. He did so because he understood that good PR was critical if his events were going to be welcome where he wanted to hold them. That hasn't changed a bit.