08-01-10, 07:40 PM | #1 |
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Question for Tournament Anglers
A question for those who fish tournaments. If you hook into a large fish which is not your targeted species (such as a pike, catfish, drum etc) during a tournament and you know it will take you several minutes to land and then release the fish, what do you do? Do you bring it in and waste the precious time or do you intentionally break off or cut your line to save the minutes?
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08-01-10, 08:19 PM | #2 |
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I would say it depends on whether the bait in the unwanted fishes mouth is producing good bass... and how many more of that particular lure do you have left in the boat... lol
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08-01-10, 08:26 PM | #3 |
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As an avid tournament angler I have faced this situation before and as a sportsman I have always done my best to safely land and return the fish.
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08-01-10, 08:46 PM | #4 |
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I agree 100%. I fish a ton of tourneys and have caught several big junk fish on tourney days and never even considered cutting the line to save time. And by the time you dig out another bait and retie then how much time would you have saved anyways.
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08-01-10, 08:54 PM | #5 |
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My partner caught a drum this past Saturday that was well over 10 pounds. By the way, he caught it on a shakey head with 6 pound line. We never even thought about cutting the line.
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08-01-10, 09:29 PM | #6 |
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Not a chance...I always land the fish and get it back ASAP!
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08-01-10, 09:42 PM | #7 |
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I had this problem at KY lake in spring slow rolling crank baits... i had one drum that had to be 20lbs... i didnt even get it in the boat... just gripped the treble hook with teh pliers and let him go... he probably would have bent the net handle...
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08-01-10, 11:01 PM | #8 |
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I couldn't imagine the time it would take to land just about any freshwater fish would be that substantial.
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08-01-10, 11:07 PM | #9 |
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Lol. Try a 25lb carp on 6lb test! It takes a while. Especially if it's snagged.
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08-02-10, 10:37 AM | #10 |
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I fish alot club tournaments and several regional tournaments around Ohio on Lake Erie, and we have to deal with Drum or sheephead as we call them around here. They are nothing but a trash fish to deal with when fishing tournaments. Some of them get quite hefty (15+ lbs) but we take the 3-5 minutes to land them. The big Erie catfish are getting to be annoying also, they will not leave Gulp alone! Not once have I thought about breaking one off just to save time, tournament or not.
Ryan
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08-02-10, 11:32 AM | #11 |
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While
Not a desired species it is part of the evironment,I always land them and release.Often drum,sauger and gar inhale even floating frogs,let alone the garilc rubber.
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08-02-10, 12:53 PM | #12 |
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I've only fished a few tournaments, but I'd have to agree with the others that no matter what the species, I'd go ahead and land and release the fish.
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08-02-10, 05:50 PM | #13 |
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get it up to the boat grap pliers and pinch the hook shake a little bit and it will come off done it a bunch of times in tournaments with catfish and muskie
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08-03-10, 12:27 PM | #14 |
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I don't do it in fresh water, but I have been a couple of large gmae salt water tournaments where this is failry common practice. Especially when you end up with a shark on the other end of the line. The only reason to do it in those cases is because you don't want to gaff a non keeper fish.
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08-03-10, 12:44 PM | #15 |
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I'm going to enjoy the fight, regardless of the type of fish. With that fight comes respect. Let them go to fight another day.
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08-04-10, 07:08 PM | #16 |
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They are all fun to catch no matter how stinky and slimy and toothy.
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08-05-10, 07:01 PM | #17 |
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I release everything except bowfin (grinnel). In Texas it was in the game rules handbook to kill the fish. After you see what one of those danged critters can do to a spinnerbait, you lose all of your release the fish to live another day attitude! They are hard fighting fish though. Just don't try to lip one of those monsters.
Everything else pretty much gets released.
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08-05-10, 07:13 PM | #18 |
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Caught a 15 pound bowfin last thursday. Didn't bother to net him just hauled him in with the 65lb braid and popped the hook right out of his mouth. Didn't waste a second that way... but, when you hook into a fish that likes to do those bulldog runs, I try to shake it off, or I'll just fight it out and see what it is. I don't know if you can really save enough time to make a difference by cutting the line. If anything it's just something else to get into your prop or hang in the middle of nowhere.
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08-11-10, 03:46 PM | #19 |
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08-22-10, 11:03 AM | #20 |
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I land the fish, release it, check my line for frays, check my hook for sharpness, and get back to fishing the tournament.
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08-22-10, 11:06 AM | #21 |
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I realize this post is regarding junk fish but once I caught an alligator while fishing Okeechoobee during a tournament. I managed to get it up to the boat but could not see my trap in its tail, where the trap was snagged, as I could not see it's head. In this case I did cut my line.
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08-31-10, 09:12 AM | #22 |
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