8/27 fish kill at SK bridge

[Pepe]

Gringo Style - At Lake Baccarac several years ago some Texas high-rollers were betting serious coin each day on largest 10 fish stringer and on single largest bass.  We were just there to enjoy a few days of fishing but witnessed all this.  The daily ante was $5k per boat with another $1k on big fish.  Last day was double pot and big fish for the trip had a seperate $5 per man pool.  There were 7 teams and the lowest scoring team had to cover transportation (charter) costs for the whole group.  Ouch! 

Breakfasts were tense.  They had a pile of digital read-out Boca-grip style scales that got calibrated every morning and then "locked".  Each team picked up a scale and a freshly-formatted camera SD card.  There was complaining and excuses at weigh-ins but the system seemed to work accurately.  

Biker Style - We have used the unique identifier and camera SD card system for Motorcycle Rally competitions for a long time, very successfully including the big one, The Iron Butt Rally.  http://www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/default.cfm?CFID=21850493&CFTOKEN=51709266 That is as competitive a bunch of people as you will ever meet.  

Boss - With respect to bass tournaments - Much like ship captains and pilots, fair or not, the responsibility for rules/actions that yield desired results rests squarely on the shoulders of each TD.  

We can save fish, stop relocating and killing them, and use creative creel limits by adopting some new ideas.  

Tournament Director is a tough job; especially tough when implementing changes, so most won't put forth the leadership to do it. but it sure would be great to see something good and innovative come from these events.  Who else has more power to implement significant changes? 

 

[bobby b.]

If the fish look like they need reviving, why not just keep them for food?

[cheesemaster]

I have never fished a tourney (other than the BEST one EVER - Ozark Angler this spring) so I dont have a lot to say but I am sure there are other methods of tracking actual weights caught and releasing the fish fast with minimal harm. I also hope it happens soon. You guys are smart - you can come up with great ideas.
You are going to get your "cheaters" in any event. They hold drug tests from the Olympics for like 20 years and check them yearly, and catch "cheaters" every year. The NFL, MLB and even NASCAR have cheaters every year. Like one of the other posts said - you just have to deal out harsh punishment when a cheater is caught.

[MOPanfisher]

Up front I am not a tournament guy. I assume there was a "dead penalty" for non surviving fish.  I would also guess that somewhere nearby in shell know is someone who likes fish, even bass, to eat.  Surely one of the guys in the tournament could be responsible for collecting any fish that don't make it, and icing them down to deliver to someone to eat, or even filleting them for those folks. 

[Quillback]

I got a laugh out of Pepe's story.  Just doesn't make any sense to me to go on a bass fishing vacation with your "friends" and end up in a high dollar fish off. 

[Rodmaker]

Pardon my French here, but anyone that "cheats" in a fishing tournament should have their rod and reel shoved up their butt. I'm sorry, but that's the way I feel.

[Tanderson15]

If they die eat them. Pretty simple 

[Mitch f]

2 hours ago, Rodmaker said:

Pardon my French here, but anyone that "cheats" in a fishing tournament should have their rod and reel shoved up their butt. I'm sorry, but that's the way I feel.

Yea, if they made the penalty swift and severe enough maybe they wouldn't risk it.

[Old plug]

I agree Mitch but there is a lot of what is wrong with society today involved in that. A lot of being number one are some kind of special person. I have nay fished about 1/2 dozen tournaments in my life. I felt very early on that I did not like the things I seen being promoted by tournament fishing. As I recall I did not do to bad for only my few attempts I think Iand my partner won twice and came in second one time. But I just did not think it was fun to compete with  that I greatly loved to do. Besides that I am much more comfortable fishing alone. My mind tends to connect with the things around me and by extension to the fish.

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

To me the solution seems very simple. Dont allow a dead fish to be weighed in. That alone would pretty much fix the problem.   Extra care would be taken to make sure the live well is clean and how people would treat a fish that might be deep hooked.  I understand a bass can just die from the stress or what not but when people are bringing 2-3 fish in belly up and other guys are weighing in a healthy limit the problem is a little deeper.