Bass tourney this weekend?

[EBass]

I heard there's a bass tourney on P5 - does anyone know the boundries? I'm wondering if the tourney stretches to P4?

[ikeslayer]

Who is putting it on?? i know there is one next weekend on pool 4 if you really want to fish pool 4. ike

[EBass]

Actually I wanted to fish in peace w/o 100 other bass boats. If there is tourney on P4 this weekend I'll go somewhere else. That's where I was going with this.

I would like to enter a tourney as a partner as I only have a jon boat. I've never been in a tourney, but I watch bassmaster all the time. It's weird as I think fishing is a time to relax, but in a tourney there's not a moment of down time.

[TNFL]

I see what you mean. I'm kind of a little annoyed how everybody and their brother who has ever caught a bass seems to think they can be the next BASSMASTER. I personally know a few. I honestly enjoy fishing more when there is no pressure. Its just like all sports though nowadays, everyone is looking to get rich doing something they enjoy.

[lookincalifornia]

thank you, i was begining to loose a little faith in the bass fishierman

[Cabela10]

Wow, seems early for tourneys even on the River.

[ikeslayer]

yep they have begun check it out on classicbass.com

[bronzeback01]

Don't get me wrong, I'm a tourney fisherman and everything but I would have to agree that we are seeing far too much pressure on many of the lakes and rivers around the state. It used to be that you would only see one or two tourneys on the river in a month. Now there is literally one every weekend, Saturday and Sunday. With it being border waters they can pull permits from both states and double up the tournaments. I'm all for tournament fishing, I think it brings a ton of revenue to the towns that host them, but it really needs to be regulated better. I have had this discussion with other tourney anglers so I know I am not alone in my opinion.

[Deitz Dittrich]

The truth is however, even if guys were not fishing tournaments.. they would still be fishing... so lakes would still get pressure.

[Cabela10]

Bronzeback, to solve the problem you posted, a little cure would be too give control of the Mississippi River to either Minnesota or Wisconsin and let only one state give permits for fishing tournaments. Or give one state control for 5 years, then flip if over to the other state for 5 years. Or have them communicate when permits come in to fish the River. What also needs to be regulated a little more are the club events, the ones that fish on the weekends. Most the time, they don't need permits because they try to stay under 20 boats, which makes lakes/rivers double or even triple up for a particular day.

[EBass]

Yeah it was pretty busy out there this weekend. I still went to Wabasha and even though there are miles and miles of structure the backwaters were getting slammed. Every single spot we stopped someone was already there or came in behind us. It SUCKED, but what could I do.

I did find one spot that I should've hit earlier and I caught 6 small bass (well 1 went 16" or so) before dusk set in.

The thing about tourney's that chap me is that I catch said spawning bass. I put it back and it goes back to it's business. But the tourney angler catches it, puts it in the live well all day then brings it back to the weigh in that could be on Pool 5. So that bass has 0 chance of a successful spawn. Granted I could've hooked it deep and it has 0 chance as well

I guess there is no middle ground - we all want to protect the fishery - yet we beat it up every chance we get.

[Superduty]

I agree that both tournament and non tournament anglers would like to protect the fishery. I fish my share of tournaments and enjoy it. But when I want to go for a day of relaxing fishing for fun, I make sure to pick a lake without a tournament. You are right, it is not always fun trying to fish a lake with a tournament on it that day.

As far as catching spawning bass goes, you are right in stating that a bass plucked off a bed and put in a livewell will not spawn successfully. That fish will probably not reproduce that year. We need to think in terms of populations of fish and not individual fish. Bass and most other fish produce many more young than what can survive in the environment. So many in fact that the number of young produced is not a determining factor in the success of the year class. More often than not the weather is the determining factor in the success of the spawn for any population. I know it seems logical that if every fish is left alone the spawn should be more successfull. It just doesn't work that way. I know this may anger some folks but I don't mean to pick on anybody. There are some exceptions, especially when it comes to smallmouth. Not all smallmouth spawn every year. The success of the spawn in some smallmouth populations can be hurt by angling.

[lookincalifornia]

this is me with my eyes opened.

you know superduty, i have always tried to stay away from spawning bass since i was a dumb kid and left a crawlwer in the water for the night on a bed. i had it tied to a large bobber, when i got up the next day i grabbed the bobber and pulled in a large, very dead, bass

after reading your post, i now see bed fishing as a type of catch and release selective harvest. i'm not sure if that is what you were going for, but it has given me rationalization to fish for spawners once in a while

[Cabela10]

Quote:

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As far as catching spawning bass goes, you are right in stating that a bass plucked off a bed and put in a livewell will not spawn successfully. That fish will probably not reproduce that year.

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You know this as fact? As far as I read, that released fish after the weigh-in will locate a suitable bed and lay eggs. Whether or not a male comes by to do it's business is another story.

I'd like someone to place a sonar in a bass after a weigh-in and see if it attempts to make it's way back to it's original location or if it adapts to it's new location after the weigh-in.

[Superduty]

Keep in mind that the males are making the beds to begin with in hopes of attracting females. It's very unlikely a tourney released fish will be released near a bedding site but possible I suppose. Whether spawning season or not, not very many largemouth find it back to their original locaations after being relocated by boat. They are much more likely to find suitable habitat in close proximity to the release point and go on about their business. Many telemetry studies support this with numbers but I don't have the percentages in front of me to share. Smallies on the other hand have a much better chance of finding their original home area.

My point in replying to Ebass was that we don't need to get overconcerned about relocating a percentage of spawning largemouth bass during the spawn. The fish that are not relocated will produce far more young of the year than what will survive to the next spring in most years.

[eronningen]

I understand everyones concerns yet the Mississippi fishery seems to improve every year despite fishing pressure, silting issues, pollution, etc. Yanking some fish off their beds isn't going to ruin the fishery. I would also doubt that alot fewer fish come off beds into livewells than you think.

[sicheneder]

i was out on pool 4 on saturday and didn't think the boat traffic was all to bad. we got lucky and had one of the better days for numbers we have had done there for largies.

[ikeslayer]

eron great to have you on here. you fishing big tourneys this year on the river? Good luck man

welcome

ike