Catch And Release Survival Rate

[WRB]

Better do another google search!

Today's bass boats have far better live wells than those of your tournament fishing days!

I've seen mortality rates of 83.67-92.88% in small local tournaments

Best case 7% died worse case 26% a little over 1 out 4 of died and that is good livewell management! You flipped your numbers.

The Falcon fiasco was the low point for B.A.S.S. managed pro bass events for a few reasons, warm weather, big bass, poor livewell and weigh in procedures.

Tom

[hoosierbass07]

Well bass sure are more hardy than trout. In the early spring I went trout fishing and caught my first ever trout. Cool I thought. But it fell out of my hands and flopped on the ground a few times. I then grab it again and released it in the water. It turned upside down and sank. I picked it up and set right side up again. It swam a foot out, turned upside down, and sank again. Thank goodness I've never seen a bass do that.

[Goaltender]

I am actually doing a "teach the club" this month on this topic. Bass mortality increases greatly from stress. Stress can be caused during the fight/landing the fish - by this I mean taking too long to land the fish. Improper handling by removing slime coat or by holding the fish from the jaw incorrectly will increase mortality. You can break a bass' jaw (and not even know it) by holding them from the jaw without supporting them from their belly/tail causing them to not be able to feed. Stress within the livewell also increase mortality. Low oxygen levels is the biggest contributor. Saturated oxygen levels in water drop considerably as the water warms. Dropping livewell temps 10 degree's increase oxygen levels. That's why ice is recommended once surface water temps reach 75 degrees.Other tricks include installing an aerator, adding hydrogen peroxide, and there are oxygen pellets you can buy to drop in your tank that will release oxygen into the water for up to 9 hours. Studies show highly stressed fish may live 6 days or more before finally perishing. Amonia levels within the livewell also contribute. I learned water should be changed 2-3 during an 8 hour tourney. University of WI did a study following six bass tournaments and saw mortlaity after 6 days of up to 35% on poorly treated fish that were caught, kept in a livewell, and eventlaully released.

 

There is some GREAT reading throughout Bass Resource on this subject!

[Glenn]

Speaking of which, here's a start (there's tons more)

 

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/catch_release_bass.html

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/livewell1b.html

http://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/caring_for_bass.html

http://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/reducing_bass_mortality.html

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing_lures/preserving_the_resource.html

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/fish1.html

http://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/handling_summer_bass.html

http://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/handling-bass.html

 

Enjoy!

[Catch and Grease]

Wow thanks for all the links I enjoy reading this stuff

[RoLo]

With today's technology an easy solution in my opinion is video recording, weighing and

immediate release. The weigh-in could be staged like a rock concert with all the bells and

whistles.

 

BULLSEYE!

 

In today's computer age, there's no excuse for hauling bass several miles to a Bass Pro Shops photo-op weigh-in,

showboating them in the atmosphere, then hauling them back to a random spot far from their home.

Delayed mortality cannot be accurately assessed, but is generally worse than projected. 

 

Last year, Marty Stone hosted a unique tournament on Lake Istokpoga, FL, which I thought was the cat's meow.

Every boat had a weighmaster, where each bass was photographed, weighed then immediately released.

If the bass was permitted to contact the boat's deck, the angler was imposed a time penalty during which he couldn't fish.

Add "barbless hooks" to this scenario and we're cooking with gas.

Provided a rule applies equally to all participants, it poses no hardship or disadvantage to anyone.

 

Roger

[F14A-B]

Yea it sounds good.... And with tournament officials in B.A.S.S tourneys (Boats) already... Seems like a logical route to me.. I suppose FLW has officials in the Boat w/ Anglers? Idk... I don't keep up with the tourneys much anymore. However, I do believe it's a great ideal.

[FrankW]

Major Bass tournaments can be very hard on Bass.  Just think about a big bass caught first thing in the morning and is beat up in a live well all day and the temps soar.  Then they race back to the launch and motor forty to seventy miles to a convention center.  They finally get to weigh-in then the fish are transported back to the lake and released.  Now add in that the tournament is held during the spawn with that added stress.  The major Bass organizations are concerned with TV and money and have little concern that they are killing a percentage of Bass every tournament.  Lets remember that during the spawn the very biggest and most important bass are caught and a percentage of these fish die.

 

Frank

[Montanaro]

The major Bass organizations have little concern that they are killing a percentage of Bass every tournament.

Frank

B.A.S.S. have specialized boats that release bass back to near the areas of where they were caught and they document and post pictures to show they care.

Saying they have little concern is simply untrue.

[Catch and Grease]

BASS is deeply concerned and constantly improving release techniques.

[RoLo]

B.A.S.S. have specialized boats that release bass back to near the areas of where they were caught and they document and post pictures to show they care.

Saying they have little concern is simply untrue.

 

The token care given to bass is driven by pressure from concerned sportsman and groups.

Indeed we do see a belated expression of concern, but their concern is driven by the profit motive.

Regrettably, delayed mortality from traumatic degradation can occur several weeks after the release

 

Roger

[Catch and Grease]

Does whether or not its driven by profit matter? Profit or not they are still doing their best to give the bass the best chance of survival while still putting on a good show.

[Catt]

The token care given to bass is driven by pressure from concerned sportsman and groups.

Indeed we do see a belated expression of concern, but their concern is driven by the profit motive.

Regrettably, delayed mortality from traumatic degradation can occur several weeks after the release

 

Roger

 

The entire bass fishing industry is profit driven!

 

The tournament anglers have done more to educate the public than all other groups combined

 

How does one prove delayed mortality that occurs several weeks later was from catch & release?

[SPEEDBEAD.]

How does one disprove it?

[F14A-B]

There's nothing overly wrong with {profit} or {Non- profit}.....I just don't understand this perceived notion that a for { Profit } ideal is wrong...

[Catt]

How does one disprove it?

 

By trying to prove it

[SPEEDBEAD.]

Makes sense.

[tatertester]

RATIONALIZE: To devise plausible explanations  for ones acts , beliefs , etc , usually in self-deception.

[WRB]

The Sure-Life Labs products Catch & Release and Please Release Me are both excellent livewell additives, Tony and Lane Gergely are experts n this field.

When the Falcon lake B.A.S.S. event had high mortality rates do to mismanagement the Gergely's were vocal about the poor protocols being used at this event. As I recall Gene Gilliland was B.A.S.S. consultant at that time. The Gergely's and Doug Hannon came out promoting the use of ice and H2O2 3% hydrogen peroixed to help manage livewell temps in the 70's and use 1/2 cup of 3% H2O2 to 15 gallons of livewell water.

Gene Gilliland at the same time was writing articles in Bassmaster discouraging 3% H2O2 as being harmful to bass.

I believed Sure-Life, yes they have a dog in this hunt with their products and something to gain with promoting good livewell management, they are also experts in this field and looking at the health of the bass.

Check out the vedio's, I believe there is a link on this site.

Tom

[merc1997]

B.A.S.S. have specialized boats that release bass back to near the areas of where they were caught and they document and post pictures to show they care.

Saying they have little concern is simply untrue.

how is it that they know where the bass came from???

bo

[roadwarrior]

The Sure-Life Labs products Catch & Release and Please Release Me are both excellent livewell additives, Tony and Lane Gergely are experts n this field.

When the Falcon lake B.A.S.S. event had high mortality rates do to mismanagement the Gergely's were vocal about the poor protocols being used at this event. As I recall Gene Gilliland was B.A.S.S. consultant at that time. The Gergely's and Doug Hannon came out promoting the use of ice and H2O2 3% hydrogen peroixed to help manage livewell temps in the 70's and use 1/2 cup of 3% H2O2 to 15 gallons of livewell water.

Gene Gilliland at the same time was writing articles in Bassmaster discouraging 3% H2O2 as being harmful to bass.

I believed Sure-Life, yes they have a dog in this hunt with their products and something to gain with promoting good livewell management, they are also experts in this field and looking at the health of the bass.

Check out the vedio's, I believe there is a link on this site.

Tom

 

They are a sponsor:  http://www.sure-life.com/

[merc1997]

someone had good thoughts about weighing the bass on the water and immediately release instead of hauling them around in the livewell. one of the drawbacks to that would be during spawning season, and most are caught sight fishing. a lot of times, the same bass can be caught over and over. not really quite right, and it is hard on the bass. perhaps there could be a way around that point. weighing and immediate release would be good, but the public weigh-ins are another source of revenue and exposure for the tournament and contestants. got to push the sponsors names somehow.

bo

[merc1997]

i might add that i have used catch and release for years, and it definitely helps keep your bass in good shape while in the livewell, providing you handle your water temps and o2 levels properly.

bo

[Dwight Hottle]

Easy solution is for the state to ban all tournaments during spawning season like PA does. I also like the catch, weigh & release concept for tournaments.

[WRB]

The goal for most states is to provide a renewable resource for public waters and regulate those waters for the health of the fish population. Catch and release isn't the goal, catch and harvest within regulations is the goal.

How many top level professional bass anglers are there? Maybe 200, nation wide. The number of local weekend tournament anglers number well over 10,000 and this is what can impacts the local fishery depending on the size and health of that fishery that are being managed for catch and harvest by the recreational anglers.

Along came cast for cash bass tournaments with rules to prevent or try reduce cheating. Catch and Release was fought by Ray Scott, now he is considered the father of C & R, how ironic! C. & R was done to promote the sports image and it had some positive benefits,now it's become a cult by it's purist followers.

Mortality rates happen, some bass die as a result of being caught and a higher % die when placed in a livewell. I can't see how on the water self regulation will prevent cheating when money is the reward.

The catch needs to be validated quickly by impartial referee on the water, can't be your partner or yourself!

Some tournaments tried catch and release boats for on the water validation and that doesn't work because of the nature of bass fishing itself is impossible to keep a boat close enough to the anglers without shutting off the bite. All this can work for 200 pros nation wide, not over 10,000. Education is the key for the local anglers and few anglers agree there is a problem.

Tom