Damage from tournaments

[Swinghead]

So this may ruffle a feather or two but how much damage does tournament fishing do to our lakes? Specifically, during the spawn. In Kentucky and Barkley we face the Asian carp issues as well but taking these fish at the critical times has to have a huge impact I’d guess. It’s pounded hard with tournaments that move the nesting fish and males that guard them, miles away. Do we need more laws that stop tournaments during the spawn? 

[J Francho]

48 minutes ago, Swinghead said:

Do we need more laws that stop tournaments during the spawn? 

Short answer: Nope.  Any issues with population health aren't due to tournaments, even tournaments with less than stellar mortality rates.  It's more often effects from pollution, weed management, or some other man made issue.

[Jig Man]

Personally whether it has any effect on population or not I would like to see tournaments limited to non spawning times.  I would also like to make sight fishing illegal.

 

[Choporoz]

1.  If it doesn't affect population,  why do you want to regulate?

2.  I cannot imagine either suggestion being reasonable, nor viable.  Exact spawning times vary dramatically even within same body of water.   Some waters have more than one spawning in a year.  As to sight fishing,  not much sense in legislating something that would be impossible to enforce.

@Swinghead, there are a surprising number of studies readily available on the interwebs.  I haven't read them all, but I've read enough to be convinced that the answer to your question is 'no'.

[Mike L]

Short answer to OP, and ”Make sight fishing illegal”....Absolutely Not!

I could comment a lot more on both subjects but it won’t come out right. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

 

 

[roadwarrior]

 

[Junk Fisherman]

I can;t really talk about spawning fish but I've been a release boat for some Ts and it has not been good especially the up north smallmouth tournaments in the summer.  I think all of the fish had CTE from banging around in a small livewell on the choppy days on Lake Michigan.  My club now has a set of Rapala scales and we have many paper tournaments with bringing in 1 big bass only.  I realize there are many variables at play but overall I am in favor of paper tournaments as much as possible.  

[Captain Phil]

I believe tournaments help the fish population. Tournaments bring money into the local economy. They make local and State officials realize the financial benefits of recreational fishing.  Here on the Harris Chain, we have a long history of mismanaging the lakes.  Whoever had the loudest voice controlled the narrative.  Farmers and local municipalities where allowed to pollute the lake with sewage, fertilizer and pesticides.  Developers were allowed to build homes with ever increasing density.  Lakefront property owners where allowed to clear shorelines and control aquatic plants without regulation.  Most of these things have been corrected or at least improved.   In the last twenty years, fishing tournaments have brought in millions of dollars in revenue that was lost when fishing took a back seat to special interests.  Right now, the Harris Chain looks better than I have ever seen it.

 

The question of tournaments and bedding fish is something I have questioned myself.  Game officials tell me their studies have shown little long term effect on bass populations.   Bass, like most fish, overbreed.  In an environment like we have here, fish populations are limited by food supply and habitat.  Since hydrilla is being managed instead of eradicated, our fish population has increased despite an increase in tournaments. Let's hope it stays that way. 

[Dwight Hottle]

1 minute ago, Junk Fisherman said:

I can;t really talk about spawning fish but I've been a release boat for some Ts and it has not been good especially the up north smallmouth tournaments in the summer.  I think all of the fish had CTE from banging around in a small livewell on the choppy days on Lake Michigan.  My club now has a set of Rapala scales and we have many paper tournaments with bringing in 1 big bass only.  I realize there are many variables at play but overall I am in favor of paper tournaments as much as possible.  

 

Absolutely correct. My experiences with smallmouth on Lake Erie confirms that getting banged around in even big livewells because of wave action stresses the heck out of them. They act pretty feeble after a couple of miles run. 

[Tennessee Boy]

The fishing on Kentucky Lake took a big hit a few years ago.  The reasons why are debatable and off topic.  The number of tournaments on the lake has dropped as a result.   Bad fishing reduces tournaments so if tournaments hurt fishing then it would be self regulating to some degree.   I don’t think tournaments hurt fishing.  Guntersville has more tournaments big and small than any lake I have ever fished and the fishing is fantastic.

[gim]

Interesting debate.  In some water bodies here in MN, there are physical areas buoyed off while bass are spawning and it is illegal to fish there.  Its not very common, but I've seen it.

 

Our bass season here doesn't start until May but most bass haven't spawned by the time the season starts anyways so the argument that the season is closed before that is moot.  I think its just more of a technicality so that it can start the same day as walleye and pike season.

 

If tournaments are pulling spawning fish off beds then can't you simply switch to an immediate catch and release format like they are do in MLF?  Then the fish can immediately go back to its bed.

 

Whether tournaments held during spawn affect the population negatively or not, there's no doubt that the quantity of tournaments make it tougher to fish.  Angling pressure has definitely made fish smarter.  The local example here is Mille Lacs Lake.  It has gotten absolutely pounded since the Elites held 2 years of AOY in a row here.

[Captain Phil]

4 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

 

Absolutely correct. My experiences with smallmouth on Lake Erie confirms that getting banged around in even big livewells because of wave action stresses the heck out of them. They act pretty feeble after a couple of miles run. 

Excellent point.   Here in Florida, the water gets hot, especially in the summer months.  I have seen more than one big bass "cooked" in a livewell.  Handling fish and banging them around kills fish.  I would like to see tournaments adopt a three fish limit.  This would change the focus from catching a five fish limit to catching fewer bigger fish.  It would make more room in livewells and kill less fish.  Professionals and lure manufactures would team up to help anglers catch bigger fish.  Dragging a limit of 12" bass to the scales doesn't win most Florida tournaments anyway.  

[TOXIC]

Hot bed topic that gets bantered around often.  My advice is to follow the science.  Many studies have been done on Lake St Clair and they have shown that fishing during the spawn has zero effect on the smallmouth population which is why they opened up their catch and immediate release season.  We all want good fish care and to keep fish populations strong and that is why each state has their own fisheries biologists and they set things like the slot, season and bag limits.  There are a lot of factors that go into setting the regulations and it’s just not everyone should do catch and release.  

[J Francho]

We could always go back to nailing the big fish to a leader "board."

[Mike L]

3 minutes ago, Captain Phil said:

Excellent point.   Here in Florida, the water gets hot, especially in the summer months.  I have seen more than one big bass "cooked" in a livewell.  Handling fish and banging them around kills fish.  I would like to see tournaments adopt a three fish limit.  This would change the focus from catching a five fish limit to catching fewer bigger fish.  It would make more room in livewells and kill less fish.  Professionals and lure manufactures would team up to help anglers catch bigger fish.  Dragging a limit of 12" bass to the scales doesn't win most Florida tournaments anyway.  

I’ve advocated for something like this for years. 
At a BFL directors meeting it was at least listened too, but was assured it would not be a viable option. 
That was a few years ago but we’ve learned so much since, that hopefully it or something close will become reality. 
 

On the Bass Nation side there is more “sympathy” for change but who knows, 

maybe some day. 

I only hope that at some point all local and regional “5 bag limit weigh in”tournaments will adopt the MLF model. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

[Jigfishn10]

4 minutes ago, J Francho said:

We could always go back to nailing the big fish to a leader "board."

Let's not, PLEASE! ?

[J Francho]

The point is, any attempt to release a caught fish, and whatever mortality rate there is during a tournament is better than catch and kill, which didn't seem to harm the fisheries either.  A fish stands a 100% better chance releasing into the lake than into 350*F grease.

[Vilas15]

You can't convince me keeping spawning fish in a livewell all day and transporting them miles across the lake has zero effect on the health of the overall population. That part of tournaments has never made sense to me except that you had to weigh in before the invention of digital cameras and handheld scales. Catch and release is the simple solution. Just because a lake has good fishing with tournaments doesn't mean it wouldn't be even better with C&R.

[gim]

24 minutes ago, J Francho said:

The point is, any attempt to release a caught fish, and whatever mortality rate there is during a tournament is better than catch and kill, which didn't seem to harm the fisheries either.

My parents fish in an amateur walleye circuit and most of their tournaments have now gone to CPR (catch, photo, and release) for this very reason.  Mortality amongst walleyes is even worse than it is with bass (especially in the warmer summer months) and most people do not target a walleye with the intent of releasing it unless its mandatory.  Plus many of them are caught using live bait whereas bass are usually only allowed to be targeted with artificial lures.

[J Francho]

Other fish immediately attack the bed when you catch it, so by fishing, you've taken away the one in a million chance any of those eggs develops into an adult fish that is one of the 25% or so that actually spawn.

[IrishJig]

Another reason I like the MLF model, especially during the spawn.

 

[Captain Phil]

The best thing that ever happened to bass fishing has been "catch and release".  I remember club tournaments fifty years go when every fish was killed.  We hung them on stringers and took photos of them.  Our bass club even owned a fryer.  When the water was down in the Everglades, game officials removed the limits.  I remember one pile of fish that weighed over 100 pounds. Most anglers today release fish when they are caught.  I use pliers and try not to touch them at all.  In the larger tournaments, the game department provides us with tanks full of medicine to minimize disease damage.  I don't mind if someone wants to eat a bass.  Killing them out of ignorance or for bragging rights is not cool.  

 

[TnRiver46]

4 hours ago, J Francho said:

We could always go back to nailing the big fish to a leader "board."

You’d be surprised what harvest can do for a population. Just look at coyotes and rats. 
 

but seriously, what seems cool to me is one bass tournament. Biggest fish wins, easy peasy? Seems like the non existent effects would be reduced by 80% right off the bat 

[N Florida Mike]

1 hour ago, Captain Phil said:

Our bass club even owned a fryer. 

Same here...

[Sir Shamsalot]

Depends on the tournament and the lake I think. There's a local tournament where everyone lines up at the deep end of the lake. The hat goes off then all the boats make a 20 minute run to the other end of the lake where it's shallow bedding grounds. Then they make the 20 minute trip back to the deep end of the lake for weight in where the catches are released. Then they complain the lake just isn't what it used to be. Personally, I don't fish the spawn, but I don't mind if others do if they immediately release them. I do have to say that the lakes where they have a closed spawning season have been some of the funnest lakes I have ever been on.