Beaver Friday Night 6/17

[RyanG]

Fished the Friday night jackpot last night out of prairie creek. Ended up with around 6 and half pounds on three fish. The fishing for us was slow. Caught a bunch of short fish but only a few keepers. My partner stuck two nice large mouth. Both about 2 and 3/4 pounds. All fish came on a Ned rig after dark. I hadn't even thought about throwing the rig after dark until my partner boated the third keeper. Ended up being a slow night, didn't stick around to see what won it. I will say this. This will probably be my last outing on beaver until closer to fall or a nice cool rainy day comes through. Water temp was 91 everywhere we went last night. Another thing to keep in mind, with these high water temps these fish don't do well in the live wells. Y'all probably know all this but what bothered me was how many fish were looking pretty bad last night at the ramp. We did everything we could to make sure ours swam away. Anyways, short report but maybe it'll help someone out. Good luck out there guys!

[Stump bumper]

I came in around 3am and the ramp was full of dead or dying bass, hey turtles got to eat too but it was a very depressing site. With striper fishermen at least they harvest the fish and don't waste them like that, I would much rather watch someone filet a bass on the dock then just discard it. 

[Dan the fisherman]

That is truly sad stump.  all the bass I've caught and release just for them to be killed like that is upsetting. There's gotta be a better way to release them unhurt.  

[Blll]

Would guys support a moratorium on bass tourneys for 100 summer days?  Makes sense if we can't keep em' healthy. We seem to have an improving bass fishery but we can sure "F" it up. And we are killing the bigger ones. Grrr.....

[Stump bumper]

It does not bother me to see fish die, it is part of life, but it just shows that the rich spoiled kids are playing in the bass clubs today. No different then the wake boaters. People who would waste a 4lb bass by throwing it dead into the lake has never been trained as a sportsman just a kid wanting to feed his over inflated ego. they have too many toys on those $100,000 boats to make room for a bag of ice. Just takes a few to give us all a bad name. If you want to change it tell Johnny and Bud what reputation the Castmaster's are getting.

If you don't have a regulator installed on your boat were you can refresh the water and don't carry ice and want to take care of fish, don't keep them in the hot weather. If you deep hook the fish, put it back or harvest it on the spot (you will still need ice). I am saying this to the lurkers, you know who you are, the people who never sign in and talk just surf here trying to get a tip to help you win the next jackpot. 

 

[RyanG]

This is kinda why I've decided to take a break for the summer. It's just too hot and I don't really care to keep fish in the boat just to have em die on me and throw em back. It just kinda struck me wrong. I mean I know the issue has existed and all but last night was the first time I experienced it like that. Didn't start this as a debate or bashing of anyone who keeps tourney fishing or not, just pointing out that it is very hard on these fish this time of year and extra care needs to be taken. 

[Stump bumper]

20 minutes ago, RyanG said:

This is kinda why I've decided to take a break for the summer. It's just too hot and I don't really care to keep fish in the boat just to have em die on me and throw em back. It just kinda struck me wrong. I mean I know the issue has existed and all but last night was the first time I experienced it like that. Didn't start this as a debate or bashing of anyone who keeps tourney fishing or not, just pointing out that it is very hard on these fish this time of year and extra care needs to be taken. 

It can be done, but it takes care and I know Johnny takes killing bass more serious than anyone. I have had my share die, but I took them home, did not disrespect the fish by wasting it. If it bellies up in the live well, get it back in the water and try to revive it or put it on ice. When I really feel bad is when I have to cut a line and let a 10 in large mouth swim off with a hook inside. That is fishing and the law but they don't always make you feel good.

 

I just get mad at people that have no feelings, sorry if I got off on a rant.

[Robert Haynes]

I grew up in a south Texas, saltwater fishing culture and bass were not a part of it. If was NEVER thought of to throw a legal fish back, regardless of what kind it was. We lived on fish, deer, wild hog, javelina, birds and frog legs. We did not waste but we did not return to live another day either. Took me years to get over that and start releasing fish. Also, helps that I don't like the taste of bass as much as I do Flounder And speckled trout. 

[Mike jones]

I just got home from the Castmasters tournament a few hours ago. As for all the dead bass, some is a combo ignorance and not coming prepared with a bottle of catch and release and lots of ice. We caught around 20 keepers last night and took second with 15 1/2 pounds. And I took over 30 pounds of ice!!  Didn't have a single bass even think about doing the belly up dance!!!

[Stump bumper]

Thank you Mike, it does not take much to plan ahead. I used to freeze gallon jugs and place one at a time in my livewell and had no problems. I did use the catch and release but still not sure if it did much but make me feel better but all my fish were always kicking hard, but then again I never had a full live well either. 3 small spots and a barely legal largemouth are easy to keep alive.

Sorry it must have been the Friday night jackpot I saw all those fish and not the Castmasters. sorry to confuse the night. Glad you were looking out for the fish. Like I said before it is just a few bad apples, but that is the pain of growth. I can remember fishing that club when we had six boats during the summer and when I took first or second how I wished there were more boats, now there are 40, I don't want to go near it, guess I am just a complainer.

I hope you placed !!!