"classic" From Lake To Weigh-In

[J Francho]

Yeah, that thought occurred to me too.  I'm thinking many pros voiced their concern over the haul being "out of their control," and this was an olive branch.  Up here, for one the opens on Oneida, they did the final weigh in at BPS in Auburn, which is quite a distance from the Oneida Shores launch.  A ton of local anglers howled about it, though I don't recall any major mortality issues after that tournament.

[Long Mike]

Although the distance is long, the great majority of the route is turnpike, with a speed limit of 75 mph.  I drive it at 80 all of the time and have never had any problem with the Authorities.  The only caveat is that there is a toll booth about half way along the route which can become very congested unless one has a "Pike-Pass," which is an electronic device that allows one to go through the booth without slowing down.  Let's hope all of the Pros have been given one.

[PABASS]

Its wasteful plain and simple how can you be PRO environment and do this, nope I don't like it one bit.

[senile1]

That sounds snotty, sorry about that.  I really don't think it's as big a deal as everyone is making it out to be.  Certainly not as big a deal as the losses on Falcon a couple years ago.  They were totally unprepared, and that was disgraceful.

 

Thanks, John. (Or is it Jon.  Sorry if I am spelling your name wrong.)  I hope I am not coming across snotty either.

 

I know this can be a touchy subject and I am not against tournaments at all.  I follow the Classic every year.  I truly believe our professional angling brethren do all in their power to protect the resource, but I also believe that asking the difficult questions and revisiting the actions we take to protect the resource are how we improve and keep something like Falcon from happening again.  I would rather ask these questions here where all of us understand that some fish die no matter our efforts, rather than asking it in front of people who don't understand why we do what we do.  We are all in this together and a black eye for any tournament is a black eye for all of us. 

[scrutch]

Leave the cull tags on the fish, throw them all in the DNR tanker trucks at the launch. Once everyone has loaded the fish, haul them to the arena, redistribute the fish and do the weigh-in.

Or weigh the fish at the launch to eliminate confusion redistributing the fish at the arena. Then have a "show" weigh-in for the crowds.

[J Francho]

Hmmm. That could be feasible. What is the cut on the final day?

[Dinky]

Just a few thoughts on this and then I'm moving on.

 

1.The idea of waiving the 'dead fish rule' due to the travel time has some merit insofar as keeping the playing field as level as possible for the competitors---though it would seem it has little merit as far as 'overall survival rate'.

 

2.The overall 'survival rate' is difficult to determine when you consider it would include fish that ultimately died -say 12 hours after being released into the lake.

 

3.The real issue will be what additional level of stress is put on the fish by transporting from the lake to the weigh in in Tulsa. This will definitley require some extensive scientific investigation(read expensive and time consuming).

 

4.Meanwhle, our complaints, unaided by unbiased scientific facts, will surley serve only to spure the radical fringe who want to do away with sport fishing all together.

 

In Germany, per a media rep from Germany at media day today ; there is no sport fishing in Germany-must eat what you catch-catch and release is a crime or soon will be in Germany.

[J Francho]

There are places in EU that are "catch and eat."  I know friends that fish there.  They catch and release.  No one is handing out citations for it.

[PondBoss]

I think waiving the penalty for dead fish at the weigh in is perfectly fine.  Check the fish before they leave for the weigh in to make sure they are alive, if they have a dead one then penalize, if one dies in transport then no penalty.  It's gonna be a tough long ride back, in my experience living in Tulsa for a couple of years you may travel 87 of the 90 mile trip in 1hr 20 minutes, but the last 3 miles when you hit Tulsa may take another hour.  Plus lets not forget the sweet cold front that has hit us here.  They will be being transported back in 8-10 inches of water at less than 45 degrees.  Granted the cold should help slow the fishes body down a bit, but I'm sure the mortality rate will be more than fine.  They are shooting for releasing 100% alive fish, that's all you can ask for.  

[OkobojiEagle]

It's a bit naive to think that the bass'  well being is of most importance to tournament fishing.

 

oe