Keepin' Bass Alive During Weigh In

[jglassguy]

Ya know, lots has changed in the BASS world, and then again some things have stayed the same
Back when I was in high school the normal routine for a bass tournament was bringing a stringer of bass in to the scales and weigh them, then nail them to the board and show them off in a picture. Sure, some locals would ask for some to fillet, but during those hot summer months a fish in the sun can be really 'fishy" tasting if your into eating bass.
One big disadvantage to a dead fish at weigh in is BASS will take a ounce off the wieght or will not count dead fish at all (in some cases)
Plus a dry fish looses weight, which doesnt sound like much but you have no idea how many tournies are won by just a few ounces when you are talkin' bout hundreds of anglers wieghing in and the average Joe has 2-3 fish
I guess early 80's I remember the weigh in bag,
Theres nothing better than standing in line with a bag of fish when you see half the field packing up the boat cus of no fish, but even with those bass in the bag and using your live well water, the amount of oxygen in that bag only last about 6 minutes..the result? a brain dead fish that can be released and swims away but prob. wont ever spawn again.
Over time we saw that the better tournies would have water trough tanks to keep the bag in as you stand in line, but even then the bag didnt have any holes to airate the fish.
Now the trend it a bag with holes in it above the water line and then let it soak in the tank as you move along.
Weigh in s can take forever, keep in mind that once a bass is out of the water in your hand or laying in the weigh in basket it can only have oxygen about as long as you can hold your breath.
The new holding tupaware tubs have fresh water and help alot to keeping the fish alive.

[don_P]

Nice topic JB. I didnt know all that. That's a shame all the
dead Bass :-[. But there are ways now (thank GOD) to
keep our buddy's alive ;D
Denny

[Mrock]

Totally agree with your post. I saw the new Shimano wet weigh in system looks like it will work well. They do admit that it's not perfect but works well.

1, They put your fish in a plastic tote with holes. (all the totes are the same weight)
2, The tote stays in a tank full of water.
3, The fish are weighed in that tote which they place in a tote full of water on the scale. The water weight and tote weight stay the same so the only thing that changes is the weight of the fish.

Let's hope that BASS looks at this very soon.

[OKie]

Great post. I never knew this info.

[macgyver]

The weigh in line I was just at not only had the tanks, but aerating hoses that were free to put into your weigh bag as you're standing there. One thing that I found strange, especially after posting the question here, was that the tournament director told folks to get bags of ice for the fish. I believe it was Cajun, who stated that the flouride, and other things in the PURE water could hurt the fish. Not one person blinked or questions this method. I would prefer to put Ice Bottles in, instead of ice directly do to the fact that it's always better to be safe than sorry. I did see very few bass that looked in poor shape after weight though, maybe 2 or three out of a couple hundred I saw.

Lizards

[bronzebackguy]

last tourney i was in, i had a problem with my fish bloating up and dying in the livewell, then the pro i was fishing with gave me a needle and told me to just give their stomach a small hole so they can deflate, it worked wonders no more dead fish, and our club does the water troughs and bags but i think the areated hoses are a great idea

[jglassguy]

They sell this blue liquid that you add to your livewell and it does wonders on the bass to keep the slim on them and alive..
Alot of boats have live wells that empty when you gun n run, unless you reach in there and put the plug in every time ya wanna move, but not many do that, And I am sure we've all seen a live well airater over flow the well lol onto the boats bottom..
Lot of time people forget about the well draining as you run and you can hear the bass beatin' the walls of the livewell as they flop.
Not airating and having lack of oxygen is what kills lot of bass during the day..I know if you catch a bass early on a hot day it looses a few ounces by weighin at 4
ya know what i mean vern?