Major bass die-off following Potomac Tournament

[nofearengineer]

Yeah, my livewells (I only have one, but it has a divider in it...two doors) are pretty square, but I don't have an aerator per se, but my "every 10 minutes" recirculator pump is super powerful, and stirs up the water surface pretty well. I've never used it with water temps in the 90's, but I bet it would do pretty well.

I still think if I was going to design a boat, I'd make the livewells circular, or at least oval, just from what I've heard.

[3dkicker]

Originally Posted by Bryan

Thanks for the insight Smitty, it's good to hear the details from somebody who was there. Kinda makes you wonder if maybe the release boat had something to do with it?

I'm not familiar with how the release boat works or how they release the fish from this boat. I would guess that there's a trap door that releases them in the water and then they fill the tank up again and use an aerator and put the chemicals in.

Mike - First time I used one of the chems I had some fish die so I've really paid attention to limiting the use and making sure the aerator runs the entire time. Of course having a full livewell and the aerator cutting off will kill a lot of fish but they die quickly and you'd see it right away. I agree that it probably was the chems.

For those of you who haven't read Ken's articles you need to be aware of his motivations when you read his stuff "one hundred and fifty-eight boats (316 anglers), launching boats from Smallwood State Park on June 25 and 26 and left behind a conservatively estimated 1000 largemouth bass, floating in the river, a disgraceful and unforgivable result." He's very much against tournaments on the river and his conservative estimate is based on what? His own opinion? And I'm sure the 316 anglers weren't out there to kill the fish too. Here's a guy who believes that VA residents should pay a large fee/tax to fish the Potomac because the main river belongs to MD. What he forgets is that many of the major feeder streams and rivers belong to VA - like Occoquan, Aquia, and Potomac. He also wrote that the grass (milfoil and hydrilla) was going to damage the river when it first started growing . Instead it's made the river one of the best bass fisheries in the country.

[flipclip]

I was also at this tournament. Although I blew up the air compressor on my fuel injection system and lost 5 hours of the first day, I had a limit both days. I too weighed in one dead second day, gut hooked and bleeding badly when I caught it. I use Sure Life's Catch and Release, and also used ice all day. As much as I preach good fish care, it still happens and I still HATE when it does.

I believe the water temp had lots to do with any fish loss, they commented about it on the FLW website in the tournament update. You have to keep that temp down in order for the water to be able to hold enough oxygen. Even Bobby Lane, the tournament winner, had one dead on the first day that he blamed on the heat.

Fish care and conservation are really a hot topic in any of the major tournament trails. There's tons of information out there, a good, informative video for proper fish care is on Sure-Life's website. What I've found is that there are still lots of tournament anglers that are unaware of the tools available to help you keep your fish alive. Even more, they don't have the education on the proper way to maintain your fish all day.
Link to that video: http://www.sure-life.com/

I believe the major tournament trails should impose even higher penalties than half a pound for dead fish. When you are competing for 25k and a Ranger boat, (as this tournament was), and it took 17 lbs a day average to make the top ten, imposing a 1 or even 2 pound dead fish penalty would make any serious competitor find, learn and use the best practices for keeping fish alive.

Thanks for the support nofearengineer, the key in my opinion is to make proper fish care more important, (increase the "pain" to the anglers) along with tournament trails making proper fish care training part of the pre-tournament meetings.

Jimmy

www.flipclipfishing.com

[Captmikestarrett]

For those of you who haven't read Ken's articles you need to be aware of his motivations when you read his stuff


Yea he is all about that.. He does not like me and I just chuckle... please do not get me started on a public forum..


Lets just say we have HISTORY...

Capt Mike

[3dkicker]

I'll remember not to bring up the subject at the Pointe.......at least not until you've got a few drinks in you .

[Flippy]

luckly havent killed many in my linve well but other than recirculat what can u do

excuse my spelling please

[bamabassman]

haven't killed any in over 2 months. house building makes ya not kill any fish of ny kind, lol.

[MallenManson]

Originally Posted by bamabassman

haven't killed any in over 2 months. house building makes ya not kill any fish of ny kind, lol.

You'll be back out there on a regular basis before long, bama.
I am completely stoopid when it comes to aerators, livewells, weigh in bags and such.
I think the entire bass fishing community, for the most part, is apalled at the death of pretty much any bass, whether it be a tournament or not.
Sadly, we can't always prevent it. There's been plenty of times, when I crossed my fingers for one I'd just released.
With that said, hopefully the results from that tourney, conservative or not, will be looked into and corrected.