Your Fastest Derby Limit

[eric1978]

Eric1978's post almost brought a tear to my eye. The boy has grown so much.

LOL You crack me up man. You're a funny dude.

[fishinwrench]

I'd say that y'all can rest easy. I don't know what the statistics indicate but I'm somewhat "in the business" and I notice a marked reduction in tournament participation over the last 4-5 years. Interest in the B.A.S.S. and other nationally covered events seems to be falling off also I think. 10-15 years ago there were at least 2 bass clubs in every town around here, and now there is only 1 in the entire lake area and I don't even think they participate in the federation money-pit anymore.

Meanwhile I see more and more guys getting serious about catfish, walleye, stripers and hybrids. And flyfishing (especially warmwater flyfishing) is getting noticably more popular. For a long-long time I was the only flyfisherman in my extended neighborhood and now there are a dozen or more. All of a sudden it's becoming common to see flyrods, stripping baskets, downriggers and anchor systems in my customers boats, and the "fish talk" around the shop has changed (I can't even remember the last time someone sat down at the BS table to tune a box of bass jigs and/or study a topo map).

Interest in different things kinda cycles, and it seems to me that the big-mouthed green fish in the impoundments are fixin' to get a break.

[Chief Grey Bear]

I really need to just let this topic gasp its last breath but........

So this research is 15 years old. What has changed in the tournaments to lessen the problem? As you say "Tournamnet fishermen at least try to keep them alive." Really? I am trying to find some newer research to show the the mortality rates have dropped. I am still looking.

I still have not heard anything from those tourney men about this. What improvements have been made since this study was conducted? Shouldn't we be discussing what inovations can be implemented to reduce mortality rates instead of bantering back and forth about what the mortality rate is? Can't we have softer liners in the livewells to reduce the blunt trauma that these fish experience? Lets develope a solution. Or at least work towards a solution.

[SKMO]

This whole catch and release is crazy...

You all have your heads in the sand. There is a significant mortality rate with C&R. If you think that this is incorrect your silly. The reason that the Rock is more difficult to fish is due to all the tournaments in the last decade. Thousands of fish are caught, hauled in boats all day, and they DIE!!!!

Any one that thinks the bass kill from over a decade ago is why, needs mental help.

Well I guess any mortality, even 1% can be significant, depending on your definition. As someone stated C&R mortality is still always better than C&F (catch and fry).

I think one thing that happened with the dieoff a few years ago is that the LM lost some ground and were replaced by KY's. Just an opinion and it might well be incorrect.

I have another theory and that is that through fishing pressure we are all driving genetics toward fish that are hesitant to bite. I don't think any bass has a whole lot of reasoning or thought processes going on, it's all instinct and reaction.

I say this because of an observation I have made. I have had the good fortune and experience of being asked to assist the MDC fisheries biologists numerous times during their Spring electrofishing survey on TR. This is done in April when the fish are on the bank, at night. Since the mid 90's I have spent well over 20, and probably closer to 30 nights in the shocking boat, and have cruised many miles of shoreline.

Observations: 1) You would be astounded at the number of bass on the bank. There are way more than you would probably imagine. 2)When electrofishing and dipping fish into the boat for measurement there is a very small percentage that have been caught before, as evidenced by obvious fresh and healed hook scars. 3) When personally fishing this same time of year I catch a lot of previously hooked fish. Some days it seems like most every one boated is a double hairlip that has been caught recently or numerous times. The standing joke in my boat is "got another dumb one".

So my anecdotal observation or theory becomes this: many fish, perhaps the majority of fish, just don't bite well, or as instinctively as we would like, most of the time. For whatever reason. There are a lot of fish in the lake and when we trailer the boat at the end of the day with our tail between our legs it is human nature to want to identify and point to a reason, any reason, why we were not as successful as we thought we should be. Tournaments, harvest, fish kill, boat traffic, etc and more etc. The last thing we want to admit is the possibility we went toe-to-toe with a cold blooded creature with a brain the size of a pea and came up short.

Fact is the fish ARE there and the reason I'll go out tomorrow is because because I know today was not as good as I can do. Next time we'll hammer them. And sometimes it works out.

[3inonegod]

Lets be honest here:

God put the fish on the earth for us to eat. Simple fact that Stock Jockey stated.

Also, all of you tournament fisherman that feel so stongly about C&R. I am guessing you do not want the bass to die. I think you need to establish some rules. I am a fairly good fisherman. In the summer months and winter months I have to go deep to catch the 'big ones'. Last year I cought 3 over 5 pounds. They were all deeper than 40 feet. They all died due to air in their bladder. I think we need to establish that not only should we close the fishing season in the spawn (Feb - June), we also need to close the the season in the summer months (July - September) and in the winter (November - February). This would help guarantee the viability of the Bass. Looks like October may be the only month that the risk of losing fish is the lowest. This is the time that they are feeding for the winter and should be the safest. Lets see what we can do to get this accomplished.

You no what, I think for the betterment of the fish we should make fishing illegal then they would never die due to a sport.

That all sounds idiotic, doesn't it.

It is crazy that this all started with a guy who took a few fish home to feed a charity event.

You are all so locked into your views that you all sound so silly.

In fact, at this point, I think that I will make a point to keep whatever legal bass I catch and FRY them up. It is my God given right.

Yummy

[SKMO]

That all sounds idiotic, doesn't it.

Yes, most definitely. But please keep typing, I enjoy the view from a different perspective,

The cool concept of a forum is that we get to hear differing viewpoints.

[Gary Lange]

In fact, at this point, I think that I will make a point to keep whatever legal bass I catch and FRY them up. It is my God given right.

Yummy

Make sure you get pictures of them in the Fry Pan because this post is useless without pictures.

[Sam]

I have another theory and that is that through fishing pressure we are all driving genetics toward fish that are hesitant to bite. I don't think any bass has a whole lot of reasoning or thought processes going on, it s all instinct and reaction.

SKMO - That's a real, real good point. I bet natural selection is at work - bass that won't hardly bite a lure get to live and reproduce, while bass that are more prone to bite lures keep going through the C/R process until it kills them or until someone cooks them. That makes sense - and maybe that trait gets passed down to their fry!

Since I don't keep bass, I don't fish for them much. That's not because I'm a conservationist, it's because all my hobbies are acquisitive - I've got to feel like I'm gaining something. So I fish for the dinner table, I deer hunt, I play poker, I restore antique tractors, and I grow a big vegetable garden. Even back when I was golfing I didn't care much about the score, but I sure liked finding some extra golf balls and taking them home. Putting fish back in a lake that were already in the lake when I started just doesn't seem to accomplish anything.

Someone here said stats show it takes an average of 8 hours fishing to catch a keeper bass on Tablerock. I think I can generally do better than that, but even so I'm not going to get the boat wet to take 1 or 2 bass home - that's not practical, and that's why I don't mess with trout fishing (limit 4) either. I concentrate on other species where I've got a good chance of taking home a limit that'll make some meals. I don't care what those meals cost me per pound of fish, I just want to take something home.

[Whack'emGood]

Anybody that says tournament fishing is "not about the money" is full of beans.

Back in the mid-90's a multitude of bass clubs went to paper scoring and cheesy trophys for 1st thru 3rd place and only a 5.00 per person cash side pot for big bass. It only took 2 or 3 events until participation went to hell. Boaters would wake up in the morning of a tournament and if it was a yucky day or they drew a partner they didn't want they'd just pull a no-show, leaving their non-boater partner at the ramp. As soon as the weigh-in scoring and the cash payback resumed...participation and the reliability and good sportsmanship of those entered came right back up.

It is definately about the money. And I'm not pointing fingers here, because I liked the money when I was into tournament fishing too. Fun Competition is great, but once you've proven that you can beat a good percentage of guys a good percentage of the time...what's left to prove ? Trophys just gather dust...money motivates, and Money ROCKS !

The real reason I quit tournament fishing and guiding, is because I learned that I could make more consistent money working on your guys boats than I can trying to beat you fishing on a consistent basis.

When I was into it there weren't as many truly good fishermen, but everybody is a good these days. So it's a crapshoot as to who's gonna get the bigger bites on any given day.

You didn't just call me "full of beans" after reading my post did you? If so, read it again... and think again, because you would be dead wrong. If you weren't responding to my post, and if you weren't putting all tournament fisherman in the same boat (so to speak) and ignorantly generalizing about tourney fishermen... then carry on.

[Whack'emGood]

Catch and release is crazy as opposed to what? Got news for you buddy ,there are lot of catch and release fisherman that dont fish tournaments. There is hardly any mortality rates in catch and release. Now tournaments is a differant story. Guess what, we had alot more tournaments 20 years ago than we have now. I think your the one that needs mental help.

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