BASS Elite Series - Catch, Weigh, Release Tournament

[Ketchup]

 

And your point? 

Obviously it was in my post. 

[shrapnel]

 

Obviously it was in my post. 

I misread it, my apologies.

[Krazo]

I like the concept. Don't know enough about it to really form a strong opinion. If the elite series is doing it maybe it's not all bad. Scaling it down to amateur/semi pro seems workable. Unfortunately guys being honest in any sport will always be an issue at all levels.

[Walleye13]

Been following the Elite tourney in TX. Nice to see them are trying a different format. I would really support scaling it down in some fashion to the amateur level. Some good ideas on here from concerned anglers. Maybe some of the bigger events on LOZ could up the entry fee enough to cover a Polaroid Instamatic and standardized measuring tool for each boat? Include a token like Shrapnel mentioned. Total length rather than weight would be best for fish handling and care.  

[redshad]

With a total length tourney and the anglers honor.  I am sure we would all be surprised to see how long the Lake O bass get to be.    I love the thought of recording the fish and releasing it back where it was caught.  Hopefully with MLF and BASS being the trend setters it will eventually funnel down to manageable system for the amateur tournament directors to use.  It is a much better way to treat our fish than dragging them around in a box of water all day. 

[Flysmallie]

 

Hopefully with MLF and BASS being the trend setters it will eventually funnel down to manageable system for the amateur tournament directors to use.  

It's manageable for them now. The kayakers have been doing it for a while and have a good system in place.  

[Harps]

Some buddies and I have been doing a 'tournament' amongst ourselves for close to 20 years now on Stockton. We have always used total inches of gamefish (no drum, bluegill, green sunnys, etc.). It has worked well for us even though we're just having fun. "He who has most inches wins!"

[Flysmallie]

14 minutes ago, Harps said:

Some buddies and I have been doing a 'tournament' amongst ourselves for close to 20 years now on Stockton. We have always used total inches of gamefish (no drum, bluegill, green sunnys, etc.). It has worked well for us even though we're just having fun. "He who has most inches wins!"

I got a sammich that says I win that contest tonight. 

[Harps]

10 minutes ago, Flysmallie said:

I got a sammich that says I win that contest tonight. 

We'll just see about that!

[GSPHUNTER]

I'm all for progress and think people get stuck in their ways far too often, but what is the realistic damage caused by tournament fishing?  If there was ever a lake that would be a good case study, it would be Lake O.  Every single weekend day from February through May, there is some kind of tournament on the lake.  Just a completely uninformed guess, but I would be willing to guess that 50% of those boats/anglers/fish are out of PB2.  The only reason I mention that is that guys still run all the way to the dam and catch big sacks of fish.

In every one of those events, it takes 20 plus lbs to win and often times close to that to even get a check.  That tells me that there are not only big fish, but big numbers of those big fish that have most likely seen weigh in scales at least a few times in their life.

Nothing drives me more crazy than watching guys walk down a cat walk after they weigh their fish and just give them a dump back in the lake and turn around to walk away.  I always bend down and pretty much let the fish swim out of the bag.  Last tournament I fished, I put a fish back in the back to return to the live well to sit for about 15 minutes in some heavily oxygenated water before releasing it.

Overall though, what is the real effect of the tournaments on the lake?  Bags are huge for an Ozark fishery, big bags are plentiful, and there are still a lot of these big fish spread around the lake.

Is it an ethical thing of keeping fish in the box all day or are there more concrete examples of problems?

 

I watch MLF and I'm a fan of the system they use, but like others, wonder how you trickle that down to amateur events.