Night Tournaments

[Bill Babler]

I very seldon say this, and this may be the first time, but today, I was embarrased to be a fisherman.

Got to the ramp at Aunts Creek around 5:30 the AM and when I went to back the boat in, the ramp was covered with dead floating BASS. Largemouth, and Spotted.

Our actions are viewed in these public places by hundreds if not thousands of non-fisherpersons, and fisherman alike.

This was a true abomination. Whom ever is responsible for the Night Tournament that went out of Aunts Creek, last night, SHAME!!! SHAME!!! ON YOU. That camp ground is completely full of non-fisherman, the mess you left in the dark is visible for all to see when they come to put their ski boats in.

I am 100 percent catch and release, but those fish should have been filleted and used, instead of left bloated and floating on a public ramp. Unexcusable!!!

IF you are a fisherman that particitpated in this derby, you are as guilty as SIN. It is everyones responsibility even if the fish were not yours, to have not let this happen, or to have properly taken care of it afterwards.

I am notifiying Bryant Ward about this wanton waste of wildlife.

My client and I scooped them up and took them across the lake and dumped them away from public view.

I am still sick. Both he and I wanted to throw-up, this just cannot happen.

Table Rock water temperature is over 80 degrees and I don't care if you are night fishing, you mess with these fish and they are going to die. Livewells should have been iced, and medications should have been added to the water with salt, to keep your catch alive.

We profess catch and release here, and support local events, but if this is the way its going to be handled, you can bet your last buck I will be on board to try and STOP ANY DERBYS AFTER THE FIRST OF JUNE.

I hope I never have to look at a mess like this again.

[techo]

I don't know of and can't find any tournaments being held last night. Would be a good candidate for a blanket party! I am flabbergasted! Let me know if there is anything I can do.

[mosouthpaw]

people like that shouldnt be allowed to fish.... they are an abomination to mankind for wasting like that.

[Bill Babler]

T. First thing I did was look for regatta permits. With all the ramps closed, its hard to tell where these guys came from. I just hope they were not left and refloated in from a Friday night affair. As many as we picked up, I could just imagin how many more there would have been if it had been two days ago.

Did anyone happen to launch at Aunts on Saturday? if so were there any fish floating? How about this morning, before 5:30?

Just can't understand the killing and wasting. Only lazyness and lack of caring caused this.

No, this was not every fish in the lake, but it was more than all my fingers and part of my toes. Several really nice LM.

I will bet most all these fish were dead after 15 minutes in the boats. Guys were running warm water on timers. This many fish just could not have been hooked deep.

If you know they are dead, clean them, just don't throw them to float at the ramp.

[denjac]

Bill, sounds to me like what I like to call a cheaters tournament. I have fished alot of hot summertime night tournaments with 40-60 boats and have never seen the numbers of dead you mentioned. On the other hand a tournament with say 5 or 6 cheaters weighing in frozen and then thawed fish or basket fish caught days before the tournament would have these numbers. The weigh in team for these events need to be on there toes, cool or cold dead fish need to be sliced open and checked for ice crystals inside, sometimes the cheaters dont get the thaw time down just right. Also dead or alive fish that have sores on there heads and tails are suspect (basket fish). Most of the offeneders are home lake boys, I have seen it happen lots. Another way to stop this is to have a dead fish rule that states that there weight doesnt count at all and a 2 pound deduction for your total if you present a dead fish at weigh in. Either way what ever happened was a terriable waste. Thats just my take on it.

[Bill Babler]

Den, This is not the first time for this kind of a thing on the Rock. The old Wednesday nighters out of Shell Knob, used to be a blood bath after the middle of June.

Guys would show up in rigs, I swear they had to use a stringer, cause their boats livewells were about as good as spitting in the water.

Can't even tell you how many fish I have hauled off the Shell KNob Ramp, after those tournaments. This was a big topic several years ago, on the old forum.

After one of the wednesday nighters, I measured a bunch of floaters, and found 8 or 10 K's that were not legal. I guess they shrunk an inch after they died.

Some of the boats in these tournaments just cannot maintain lights and pumps for the duration of the length of the fishing time. The pumps have to be run continusly, and med. Ice and salt have to be applied to the water.

Fill your livewells, put in a block of Ice and rejuvinate and some sea-salt, and run both pumps on recirculate for the duration of the event. Weigh in no more than a 3 fish limit, and the problems will be cut down to non-existant.

If I were directing the derbys, you would have to show me that your boat was capiable of that or you would not fish.

I agree on the fish care penilties you wish to access.

I am as careful as anyone, and I am killing fish by accident as this hot water makes them extremely sensitive. If they fight you hard and are hooked deep, in the least, you will have trouble.

If you are dropshotting K's from the thermocline and try and weigh them even with phising them, they start to turn white as soon as they hit the livewell. Water is hot, and it is going to get hotter.

[Predator1]

That's "BULL" I have fished alot of tournaments since I was 15years old in the South up until I moved here to Springfield in 2000. It was hotter than a frying pan down there in the South and if you did not have a live well that operated correctly or a way to keep your live well stable you WERE NOT ALLOWED to fish the tournament (Day or Night).

In Louisiana and Georgia, the Wildlife Game and Fisheries generally were involved in Day/Night Tournaments and every tournament had to have a Fish tank generally furnished by the WildLife Game and Fisheries to keep the bass alive throughout weighins. The Wildlife Game and Fisheries also made sure the fished were released properly from the tanks in order to sustain the life of the Fish.

I personally think that all Bass Tournaments in this region should be the same.

Two reasons I moved here to begin with. Better Education for my to Stepsons and to fish and hunt these beautiful lakes, rivers and land.

I am very, very appauled to learn of this.

This is about as bad if not worse than finding a methlab on public hunting land.

They deserve the same treatment like the guys who was caught harvesting Paddlefish Eggs and Sinking the Corpse.

Good thing I wasn't there, I'm not afraid to comfront anyone when comes that kind of sportsmanship. Hell, thats not even sportsmanship.

Some might not like what I just posted. Oh well.

[Bill Babler]

Predator, love your passion. Please, edit the post and remove the cursing, your points are very good without it. This is a family forum and we need to keep it as clean as we can. Lots of youngsters look at it.

I don't want to bleep you, and love your post, so take care of it for me, so everyone will be able to read your words and feel your passion. Thanks.

Something to remember about TR. Lots of these fish are not being caught in the 82 degree surface water shallow, they are coming from below the thermocline out to 35 ft. where the water is much cooler. You throw those fish into surface bath water with little air running into it, and they just can't make it. This makes TAble Rock and the White River Chain very different than most other lakes, where bass are taken from warm water, rather than cooler deeper water.

[ozarksfishin]

Sounds like it was a local club tourney, I haven't heard of any weekly night tourneys out of Aunts Creek. You have to cool that water down and recirculate it all night, and don't dump in fresh water, that lowers the oxygen in the water and increases the temp. I used to fish the old Thursday nighter at Cricket Creek religiously since the mid 90's, and even then Mark Bristow (owner and tourney director) reminded us before blast off to use ice and recirculate the water all night. He even had a tank of medicated, cool water to revive the fish in before releasing them. Me and my partner's job for several years, was to fizz the fish that needed it. We were also trying to teach everyone there how to do it also. It never ceased to amaze me, there were at least half a dozen people standing around to see where to fizz the bass. Mark had one of the best run night tourneys around. Despite his efforts, every week there would be a few dead fish, but he wouldn't hand out the money until someone came forward to take the dead fish home and eat them!

[bassman1308]

The bottom line is, you will lose some fish this time of year, no matter how hard you work to keep them healthy and, IMO, just because they swim off doesn't mean they will survive. Like ozarksfishin says, continiously recirculating cooled down water works best. Most of the guys I know DO make the effort to do this. Unfortunatly some don't. At the very least they should pick up any fish that oviously will not make it. FYI, the Shell Knob wednesday nighter does penalize for dead fish and is doing a better job in this regard.