Don't shoot the messenger just sharing and making us think.

[BilletHead]

 

 

                   It will affect us someday. 

[Quillback]

Those lakes get hammered, I have not been down there for a while now, but if they saw the increase in fishing pressure like we saw here during and after Covid, then I can see why they are going to drop the number of crappie that can be kept. I'm sure they want that out of town money coming it too.  Those NW Mississippi crappie lakes are the crown jewels of their freshwater fisheries.  People go down there to catch and keep as many crappie as they can, myself included.  Those lakes kick out hundreds of thousands of crappie every year, they are flat out crappie factories, but you don't want to push them beyond the breaking point.

[Flysmallie]

Doesn’t take a genius to know it’s going to have an impact. 

[fishinwrench]

It is sickening.    Practically every boat that comes in for repairs is equipped with FFS.   Even little old tin boats with 15-30hp motors, on trailers that I wouldn't trust to go 2 miles down the road with. 

The only positive side for me is that it lets me know that I can give myself another healthy raise this year without hurting anyone's bank account too bad. 

[snagged in outlet 3]

1 hour ago, fishinwrench said:

It is sickening.    Practically every boat that comes in for repairs is equipped with FFS.   Even little old tin boats with 15-30hp motors, on trailers that I wouldn't trust to go 2 miles down the road with. 

The only positive side for me is that it lets me know that I can give myself another healthy raise this year without hurting anyone's bank account too bad. 

All the guys in my condo community bought it.   It’s not cheap either.  

[tjm]

Think it will have much impact on streams?

Do you think it might be effective enough eventually to end the bass tournaments, due to lack of fish?

[Al Agnew]

2 hours ago, tjm said:

Think it will have much impact on streams?

Do you think it might be effective enough eventually to end the bass tournaments, due to lack of fish?

I could certainly see it having an impact on winter fishing on the larger Ozark rivers.  Other than that, I don't think it could have much impact on warm weather fishing where the fish are more scattered and easier to find.  I'm especially concerned when it comes to the winter tournaments that have cropped up on streams like the Current, Meramec, and Gasconade, where the anglers carry their fish to a weigh in point and release them all there.  Moving more and bigger bass out of their wintering habitat and releasing them in a spot where they are going to have to disperse to get back to wintering habitat seems to me to be a recipe for disaster...it's happening already, and FFS will probably make it a lot worse.

I really wish that these tournaments would be required to go to a format where the fish are photographed, measured, and released immediately.

[Gavin]

Well Al, put some skin in the game and push  your river tourney friends to go to catch, photo, release. You know them all. You fish with them. 

[snagged in outlet 3]

Guys are using it on rivers in winter holes right now.   One of them posting it on YouTube.   Tournament fishing when hauling fish around do nothing but harm to our fisheries.  They should be banned.   I wrote the MDC about it during the holidays.    No answer from them yet.  

[Quillback]

This study is interesting not because of FFS but because of tournament mortality.

Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Director says bass slot limit based on scientific data

Here's an excerpt:

"When we got the preliminary results of that study, it was pretty evident that tournament mortality was extreme up and down the Coosa," said Chuck Sykes, Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Director.

"The data is showing it is tournament mortality. It is not recreational fishermen mortality," he said.

The study showed that tournament anglers seek large, fast-growing, female fish, which leads to the highest rates of tournament mortality among those groups. 45% of bass weighed in during tournaments died before or after the weigh-in. The mortality rate was estimated to be higher during hotter weather.