Bass Derby Mortality And You

[Champ188]

Most of you here know that I am a tournament fisherman myself, so this is not a prosecution of derbies in general or of my own kind. But I feel it's something worthy of mention with hot weather coming on.

In the interest of not rambling, I'll just blurt it out — By gosh, if you kill it, keep it.

Fish should never be tossed back in the lake in a dead or dying state — not during and not after the derby. This has been done time and again by tournament groups (one particularly bad incidence comes to mind last year at the Aunt's Creek ramp). Anyone with half a brain can tell if a fish is dead or dying and at that point should take responsibility to take it home and clean it.

Furthermore, I can't find where it's explicitly stated in MDC regulations, but I know that Arkansas law prohibits throwing back a dead fish. If you are fishing a derby in Arkansas and you cull a dead fish, you have broken tournament rules and should be DQ'd because any derby worth its salt requires participants to follow all state and local laws.

This extends to recreational fishermen, too. If you kill it, eat it or give it to someone who will.

[Chief Grey Bear]

I applaud you Champ for posting this. This is very sound advice that should be practiced by all of us that fish. It is a great idea for those of us that are C&R to keep a bleeding fish, if not for ourselves then for someone that will use it.

I understand that tourny guy's will not want to do this as it could knock them out of the money but, they will just have to decide which is more important and what is best for the resource.

[eric1978]

Totally agree. And yes, it is also illegal in MO to waste the edible portion of a fish, so it's against the law to throw back a floater here, too.

[Sam]

I've got nothing against bass tourneys either, but in the summertime I like to night-fish for crappie and catfish. Quite a few times, coming back in at 2 or 3 a.m., I've come across bunches of dead bass where they've been released after a tournament weigh-in. To be fair, I've never seen this at all except in summer when the water's hot.

Several times I've scooped up a limit of bass that are belly-up but still moving a little - I figure someone might as well get some good out of them. Doing that is probably illegal, but I doubt a warden would write a ticket for it under the circumstances.

I'm telling ya, fellas - tournaments are great, but I think clubs ought to consider knocking it off when the water's hot. It's a shame to see 25 or 30 dead bass floating, some 5 or 6-pounders, and I've seen that more often than I'd like to.

[Cajunangler]

I think I remember a recently posted topic that discussed fish mortality rates due to tournaments and the overwhelming response indicated a VERY, VERY low percentage that die after being released. Surely, the fish some of you have seen close to ramps both dead and dying can't be from this type of event. I am sure they were only close to the ends of their life cycles and decided to all gather at one central location for their last gasps of water!!

I know what was discussed in that previous thread involved early spring tournaments but somehow warm water touny's got overlooked. I guess the guys in these tournaments need to keep their livewells running all day to keep the water enriched with oxygen. And I also suppose that fish mortality figures need to include all tournaments, both national and local events to get a more realistic idea of what really happens.

But I do have a serious question since a couple of you indicated keeping fish that were obviously going to die. Do you think that philosophy also applies if the fish is under the minimum keeper size. I know I recetly caught a 13 inch spot on a spook and he took it deep into the toungue. Even though he wasn't bleeding when I relesed him I knew things didn't look good for him, and sure enough within a few minutes he surfaced several yards from my boat. So, what is the rule to follow 1) leave him alone to feed the turtles and crawfish or 2) pick him up and hope the MDC officer realizes he was doomed due to an unfortunate hook placement?

[Sam]

fish that were obviously going to die. Do you think that philosophy also applies if the fish is under the minimum keeper size.

I know the answer to that, because I felt the same way and discussed it with a Conservation agent once. He explained that they have to manage for the good of the species, not the individual fish. It's a shame to waste a dying 14" bass, but they'll still write you a ticket if you're caught with it. The reason is that if they made exceptions for undersize, dying fish - some people would routinely keep short fish and then if they got caught they'd say the fish were dying. So, Conservation sticks with the law and writes citations, regardless.

[Bill P]

That's one reason I like our club's(TableRock Bassmasters)catch,measure,record and release method. It's pretty much a fair method,and I'm pretty sure it's better for the fish.....especially in the hot months. JMO.

[Sam]

especially in the hot months.

I think the problem with keeping fish alive in the summer is that hot water won't hold oxygen, and our livewells pull in water from the surface of the lake. I had some trips last year where the surface water temp was about 82, and I can't keep fish of any species alive for long when it's that hot.

Sometimes in the summer I take the grandkids fishing and they'll want to swim, so I'll beach the boat and we grab life vests and bob around in the water a while. I've noticed then that the hot water is right on top and our feet are cool. I bet there's a 10 to 15 degree difference between the surface and just five feet down, so any fish we catch aren't being caught out of 82 degree water - we're putting them in hot water after they're caught and it's no wonder they die quick.

I've thought about making a simple PVC extension for my live well intake, so it'd pull in cooler water from 4 or 5 feet down in the summer. It would be a real pain because it'd have to be stuck on the intake every time I stop and taken off every time I want to move the boat, but I bet it would keep fish alive.

[focused fishing]

There are several things tournament anglers can do in the summer to limit mortality here are a few:

1) Make sure your pumps are running all day on manual, not on a timer.

2) Keep a very close eye on the water temperature in your live weel. I use a floating pool thermometer (think I paid $4 for it at walmart) and keep the temperature at or below (not more than a couple of degrees) the surface temeperature using ice. Also, carry a white towel in your boat and cover the live well lids with it, you'll be suprised what a difference it make compared to the dark carpet on most bass boats.

3) Open the live well lids from time to time, this needs to be done all year, bass like all animals breath out carbon dioxide, if it is not vented from the live wells the fish will be oxygen deprived.

There is some debate whether to fill your livewells in the morning and periodically add fresh water or add fresh water all day, I personally add water (and oxygen) all day and rarely loose a fish, but if you are a fill it in the morning guy don't do it at take off, wait until you are out on the lake and there are less emmissions (exhaust, oil, gas, etc) in the water.

I like to use U2 additive because it helps to heal hook wounds, rebuild the slime coat and removes any clorine or nitrates from ice added to adjust the water tmeperature in the live well.

Finally, if you know you are going to fish deeper than 25' deep you better know how to fizz your fish. I can tell you how many guys bring sick fish in at a weigh in because they are fishing deep and don't know how to fizz them. Seriously, don't fish that deep if you can't take care of your fish.

A side note on night tournaments, I think a lot of the fish that die during night tournaments or after night tournament weigh ins are coming out of deeper water than the anglers realize, just because you caught that fish in 20' doesn't mean it was just in 30' or deeper and moved up shallow to feed. Fish will move up in low light rom much deeper depths and don't have the time to adjust to the depth change when caught. Again, know how to fizz your fish and this isn't a problem. And do we really need 12 hour night tournaments???

EP

[ness]

Dayum. Sure seems like a lot of trouble to go to. Can't you just release them right after you catch them? That's what I do.