Night Tournaments

[Predator1]

Sorry bout that bill, my emotions got away with me. I thank everybody feels the same way. I'm not making excuses for my emotions, but there sure seems to be alot of mischief on TR LATELY.

We got volunteer Fire Departments.....What about volunteer Lake Patrol?

I still think MDC Should be involved in the Tournaments. You wouldn't have that problem anymore and I also thank all tournaments should be registered. Even club Tournaments. It doesn't mean you have to pay a fee. Just means Big Daddy (MDC) watching.

When the eyes upon you, you will go to whatever extent to make sure things are done right.

I'm sure everyone remembers this. "To do what is right even when nobody is watching"

It just goes without saying.

[S&M]

How much salt do you put in the livewells ?.....and why is salt used ?

[Whack'emGood]

Thats awful... they apparently aren't taking care of those fish at all. I fish the Friday night series out of Mill Creek. Joe Gettle runs the deal, and he does an outstanding job. He always reminds everyone, before blastoff, to use ice and make sure you aereate all night and use catch-n-release, rejuvenade or something similar. He always praises everyone for taking good care of their fish. They also have a great tank with medicated water that they use to revive the fish and also fizz fish that need it before returning them to the lake. There is rarely (only) a fish or two that is brought in dead. When this happens, they always set it aside and someone takes it home. There is a 1lb penalty for a dead fish. I wouldn't fish in the tourneys if I didn't think it was run top notch like Joe runs it. I am not a tourney first guy... I am a guy who's number one priority is not to harm the fish... I will only fish a tourney that makes it a priority as well.

Whack'em

[focused fishing]

Excuse me while I step on my soap box........

Well it looks like the annual slaughter has begun, every year poorly run club, marina and good ol' boy tournaments kill hundreds of bass on Table Rock lake during night tournaments. Last year I ranted and raved on the radio about a night tournament put on by a "professional" organization where three 50 gallon trash bags were filled with dead fish after the weigh in. The "professional" tournament director's response to my concern about fish care was met with "hey there just fish and we're going to eat 'em anyway, what's the big deal". Every year I show up in the morning to go to work after these "tournaments" to find dozens of fish left floating, some died in the live well some after the weigh in, all because of a "don't care about the fish attitude".

Enough is enough, here are some suggestion:

Time limits; many of these events are "all nighters", like there is something more macho about fishing all night. 12 hours in a live well is ridiculous, end night tournmants at 12:00 or 1:00 am.

Fish Care: this could be a book but, most of these events don't even have bump tanks, they make the guys stand in line with bags of fish. Ice, salt, rejuvinate, whatever needs to be added to both live wells and bump tanks. Anglers and directors both must be held accountable for not "fizzing" fish, if you are going to fish over 25' deep you must know how to care for these fish, no excuses. All tournament directors must be held responsible for improper care of the fish.

Permits: Many of these events do not have regatta permits, bust and fine every tournament that does not have a permit.

These are a few items I'm sure there are several more. I'm not bashing night tournaments, there are several that are run extremely well with little mortality (Bill's Marine weekly Friday nighter at Campbell Point for example), but the minority is going to give a black eye to night events and tournament fishing in genneral. A couple of years ago we almost lost the ability to have tournaments on Grand Lake because of a similar situation. If this continues, Table Rock may be the next to come under the assult of PETA and their ilk.

O.K., sorry about the rant.....

EP

[Whack'emGood]

You are right on Eric. It is rediculous.

There are a few things that I forgot to add about the Friday Night Mill Creek Series that I fish. It is a weigh and release only tourney... unless a fish is dead (then it must be taken home by someone and eaten) it must be cared for carefully, recessitated in the tank, fizzed, and returned to the lake. After fish are weighed, they become "property" (so to speak) of the tournament director and his staff. They then take great care to release it unharmed. I have heard of some tourneys where you can actually opt to keep your fish (alive) and take them home and eat them. This, to me, is almost as bad as mishandling them. Our tournament director (Joe Gettle) always stresses and reminds us to do all of the things necessary to keep your fish healthy, as I said before. He has also implemented a new rule that will be in effect thru July and August... he has limited us to a 4 fish limit. This is a great rule. I wouldn't mind even going to a 3 fish limit, but a 4 fish limit certainly does well to reduce the chances of killing fish. Also, our tourneys are only 6 hours long (7:30-1:30)... this, like Eric was saying, reduces the time that a fish stays in the livewell. We caught a nice smallmouth on Friday night only 10 minutes into the tourney-- we took all the precautions with it and, when it was released after the weigh in, she (and our other 3 fish) was as lively and healthy as when she was hooked and pulled out of the lake to begin with. Not only does our tourney director stress it, but there is an overwhelming attitude among all of the competitors that it is very important to make sure we take care of our fish and the fishery. It is a great bunch of guys that do a great job of it too.

It is a shame that alot of the other tourneys aren't managed the way this one is... Like I said-- I am not a tournament first fisherman. If I didn't beleive in the way it was run, I wouldn't fish in it. I would never participate in a fish slaughter tournament that cause atrocities like the one Bill ran onto Sunday morning.

Eric, you apologized about the "rant"... No need to apologize, we should all be ranting about this one!!!

Whack'em

[motoman]

Agreed Eric, don't apologize for the rant. It's gonna take people passionate about the wildlife to make a difference, and push for some serious changes.

-

Numbers of dead fish after a tourney are completely unacceptable!

[Sam]

I agree. Several times in summer when coming back late at night to a ramp that's had a weigh-in I've scooped up a limit of belly-up barely-twitching bass to take home. This is after catching and releasing my own bass all evening. I figure my family and I, instead of the turtles, might as well eat some of them.

A suggestion. Couldn't summertime tournaments each year be required to have several weigh-in stations going continuously throughout the tournament? Have one at the launch point, one a couple of miles upstream, and one a couple of miles downstream. The branch stations wouldn't even have to be on the bank - just a tied-up boat with a distinctive colored light or something. Two guys at each station would record all fish with accurate scales and a digital camera and log the weights and times. Then the fish would be released immediately.

The penalty for a boat bringing in just ONE dead fish would be disqualification. Obviously, fishermen would throw dead or dying fish away rather than bring them in and be disqualified - but that would change behavior patterns. If you kill it, you can't count it.

At the end of the tournament everybody would get together and prizes would be awarded based on the records and pictures from all weigh-in stations.

I know doing this would change tournament fishing strategies like how far to run. Rushing a fish to a weigh station would take away from fishing time and force fishermen to sometimes have to leave a hot spot and come back - but everybody would be fishing under the same limitations. It's a lot better than killing a bunch of big bass - a practice that HAS to stop.

[Whack'emGood]

Those are some pretty good ideas Sam!! I may suggest these ideas to the tournament director in the series I fish in-- although, like I said, we get very few (if any, some nights) dead fish because we all do our best to do things right. I like the floating weigh station thing. Maybe even do a mid-tourney required weigh in or something. And give bonus lbs to weigh fish at the early weigh in. This would make sure guys don't skip the early weigh in and say they had no fish-- just because they were busy fishing and didn't want to take a time out for it. This would help by not having fish in the livewell for too long.

Whack'em

[Gavin]

Live wells seem like outdated technology. Gotta be a better way.

[Trav]

  Gavin said:

Live wells seem like outdated technology. Gotta be a better way.

Dont keep them at all. There is your better way. I release right after the catch. I never put a fish in a livewell.