Dead or alive bass derby is back :(

[ErieCan]

The local bass derby is back up and running this year. I'm a bit annoyed to say the least.  The bass can be dead or alive. Prizes are for the biggest largemouth and smallmouth. So you can imagine how many big bass are going to die.

 

I usually skip bass opener here and try to fish the Monday after it opens. On the opener (Saturday) that derby usually turns the place into bumper boats.  And unfortunately, people up here still measure their success by the fish on thier stringer..... And the bass limit is 6 fish per angler.  

[GetFishorDieTryin]

Eww

[Bluebasser86]

Sounds like a tournament set up by someone who doesn't like bass. 

[DitchPanda]

That's disgusting

[Aaron_H]

40 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Sounds like a tournament set up by someone who doesn't like bass. 

 

Whole tournament is just a 4D chess move by the walleye anglers.

 

[Bluebasser86]

7 minutes ago, Aaron_H said:

 

Whole tournament is just a 4D chess move by the walleye anglers.

 

That would be my guess, but I don't want to point fingers when I'm outside the situation. 

[ErieCan]

44 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Sounds like a tournament set up by someone who doesn't like bass. 

 

I found a reply from the Anglers group running it from a few years ago. They were being criticized for allowing dead or live entries. They said this. 

 

"When the ***** Bassmasters and the ***** took over the Bass Open Derby, we knew we could not expect tournament standards and still host a derby. This would not fly with family and folks that are just out to fish and compete for some cash and awesome prizes. We wanted this to be the opportunity for anyone to enter at any skill level or age and partake of the bounty that we all enjoy in ***. From what I see so far I think for our first year was a success."

 

So, I get it. They want everyone to have a chance to compete. But I'd go with a other option. And that's not holding the derby at all. Or make it a live release only tournament.  

 

13 minutes ago, Aaron_H said:

 

Whole tournament is just a 4D chess move by the walleye anglers.

 

 

Walleye don't spawn in this bay.  The lake Erie walleye stocks spawn mostly in the Detroit River and Upper Niagara (generally speaking).  

[Sphynx]

Seems that a number of less lethal options exist for tournaments these days, on private waters it's a different thing, there's a management component, but then again I'm not there, don't have any data to suggest that the mortality here is any higher than other tournaments, or not, and can't really give a strong opinion. 

[Finessegenics]

I get their explanation. I’d hope those with the means to do so would bring in their fish alive, and I think they would but I’m not from your neck of the woods. Creel limits are there for a reason, if the fishery could not handle it, they’d change them. It sucks in our view, but it is what it is. 

[Captain Phil]

When you allow dead bass to be entered in a tournament, you open the door to cheating.  Our club ran a big bass tournament for some years. Two guys attempted to win it with a dead bass full of lead sinkers.  We denied their win and had them arrested.  Three years later a judge banned them from all tournaments.  Back in the seventies a B.A.S.S. rival ran a big tournament on the Clermont Chain in Central Florida.  The winning bass turned out not to come from the lakes we were fishing.  After that, tournaments started penalizing or disallowing dead bass.  No one I know would fish a tournament that allows dead bass to be entered.

[J Francho]

1 hour ago, Captain Phil said:

When you allow dead bass to be entered in a tournament, you open the door to cheating.

This.

[TcRoc]

Is this a common thing is some areas?

[ErieCan]

38 minutes ago, TcRoc said:

Is this a common thing is some areas?

 

I don't think so.  I'm sure there is the odd "derby" that goes on north of here. 

They don't open our season until the bass are done spawning (last Saturday of June). And on top of that, a large part of the bay (about 23 square miles) is a sanctuary (no fishing at all) from mid May until bass opener.

 

It used to be packed with Smallmouth bass in the early season. Those numbers have dwindled. Whether that's due to 6 fish catch and keep, or changing habitat, I can't say for sure. But the smallmouth don't stay in the bay nearly as long anymore either.