Largemouth bass died.

[papajoe222]

I'm not from VA, but that size fish was possibly well up in age. Sounds like there was more than one factor that contributed to that fish's demise. First, I never play a fish for any length of time, unless it's just a matter of her being a match for my equipment. I learned that from musky fishing and it's also one of the reasons tournament anglers bring their fish to the boat quickly. The second contributing factor has already been mentioned; too long out of the water. I add a step to CPR (catch, photo, release), I get a quick measurement. I have a tape measure decal on my gunnel and just prior to release, I get a quick measurement. Lastly, it's sad to say, more fish die from any of a number of circumstances after they are released than anglers are aware of.  In this case, it happened much sooner.

[Swinghead]

If a fish will die 30 seconds to 2 minute like you guys claim, then every bass at the tournament weigh in will all die. They hold them up and have them in a bag much longer than that. 

[Mike L]

3 hours ago, Swinghead said:

If a fish will die 30 seconds to 2 minute like you guys claim, then every bass at the tournament weigh in will all die. They hold them up and have them in a bag much longer than that. 

The bag they use to bring fish up for weigh in has enough water to keep them covered. 
Once in line the bags are put in tubs with aerator lines for each. 

The only times they are out of the water is during weigh in or for a quick picture, then they’re back in the bag to either a release boat or back in a live well to be taken immediately back to the lake for release. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

[Cdn Angler]

I always wonder about this with kayak fishing derbies where you take a photo and then release the fish. To get the bass lined up perfectly on the board, mouth shut, not moving, takes forever. And when you watch videos online they invariably jump ahead to the photo i.e. it took a long time. 

 

I don't really do derbies and try to take 1-2 photos ASAP, even if the photos are poor quality. Then get that sucker back in there. If you have to have a fish out longer because it takes a while I try to let it chill out in the net. With muskie / pike I try to never even take them out of the net, where possible. 

[OkobojiEagle]

Why do you need a picture to enjoy the experience?

[A-Jay]

 

12 minutes ago, OkobojiEagle said:

Why do you need a picture to enjoy the experience?

"I can remember my better catches and after all, I'm the only one I'm fishing to satisfy".

Seems you already answered your own question. 

Personally, I am just wired different. 

A-Jay

[WRB]

6 hours ago, Mike L said:

The bag they use to bring fish up for weigh in has enough water to keep them covered. 
Once in line the bags are put in tubs with aerator lines for each. 

The only times they are out of the water is during weigh in or for a quick picture, then they’re back in the bag to either a release boat or back in a live well to be taken immediately back to the lake for release. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

With all the care to weigh in bass, big bass are still fragile with a higher post release death rate. The highest I recall was the Lake Falcon B.A.S.S. Tournament where hundreds of big bass perished. Over crowded livewell and poor handling resulted in changes to weigh in protocols.

Tom

[Fishingmickey]

35 minutes ago, Cdn Angler said:

I always wonder about this with kayak fishing derbies where you take a photo and then release the fish. To get the bass lined up perfectly on the board, mouth shut, not moving, takes forever. And when you watch videos online they invariably jump ahead to the photo i.e. it took a long time. 

 

I don't really do derbies and try to take 1-2 photos ASAP, even if the photos are poor quality. Then get that sucker back in there. If you have to have a fish out longer because it takes a while I try to let it chill out in the net. With muskie / pike I try to never even take them out of the net, where possible. 

Cdn,

     It doesn't take forever. It's pretty much net the fish. leave fish in net in water, get camera in position. Wet the measuring board. Remove the fish from net lay it flat, take pic. Release fish. normally under a minute from netting to release.  I've found the best way to photograph is to be fast.  The fish will lay down much better and faster if you are quick, make sure his pectoral fin is flat and the board is wet.

    CPR - Catch Photo Release is the way to go IMHO.

FM

[gim]

19 minutes ago, Fishingmickey said:

t doesn't take forever. It's pretty much net the fish. leave fish in net in water, get camera in position. Wet the measuring board. Remove the fish from net lay it flat, take pic. Release fish. normally under a minute from netting to release. 

Rarely do fish flop around when I lay them in the hawg trough to measure them.

 

If its taking you 2-4 minutes to unhook a fish, measure/weigh it, and take a photo, you're doing something very wrong.  Or you're very unorganized.  This can be done with 95% of the bass I catch in 30 seconds or less.

 

I don't kayak fish, so I can't comment on the difficulty there may be fishing in one to do this.  Its quite easy in my bass boat though.  Everything is available within reach, even when fishing by myself.

 

My Grandfather often used to say "Get your sh** together."  Seems like this is a quote that would apply here.

[hunterPRO1]

Anything over 30 seconds is too long, especially in summer and winter.

Catch, Weigh, put back in the water for 15-30sec, pictures for 30 seconds, then release.

 

You hold your breath for 2-4 minutes heifer, go ahead I'll wait.

[Zcoker]

1 hour ago, Cdn Angler said:

I always wonder about this with kayak fishing derbies where you take a photo and then release the fish. To get the bass lined up perfectly on the board, mouth shut, not moving, takes forever.

 

Doesn't take forever, like under a minute. I measure so many fish that it's almost ridiculous. What I do is lay the fish on the board and then hold my hand on it to calm it down, which happens very quickly. When first on the board, the back of the tail is usually curling upwards and the body is taut. When that tail starts laying flat is a good indication that the fish is starting to relax. If the fish is big, I usually put her in the net (which is deep and big) and hang it over the side of my yak until I get situated. Once situated, I remove her and position the net vertically in front of the board, just in case she gets the urge. If you have a good system, the CPR process if very fast, very streamlined, and very efficient!

[Dwight Hottle]

Just remember that lipping a bass while holding it in the water to breath is not a good idea in gator land. I did that once with a PB at Stickmarsh in the heat of the moment letting her breath during pictures & weighing. Not a good idea after thinking about it. 

[OkobojiEagle]

2 hours ago, A-Jay said:

 

"I can remember my better catches and after all, I'm the only one I'm fishing to satisfy".

Seems you already answered your own question. 

Personally, I am just wired different. 

A-Jay

Apparently I'm better at remembering my fish than I am my 7 month old posts...  Some of my wires are beginning to short out.☺️

[Mike L]

49 minutes ago, WRB said:

With all the care to weigh in bass, big bass are still fragile with a higher post release death rate. The highest I recall was the Lake Falcon B.A.S.S. Tournament where hundreds of big bass perished. Over crowded livewell and poor handling resulted in changes to weigh in protocols.

Tom

Because of what happened at Falcon and other places it put a spotlight on mortality rates throughout the country.
The greater emphasis on C&R can trace their roots back to around that period. 
 

It took awhile to get anglers educated and accept the new protocols but now thankfully its mostly common practice 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike
 

 

[A-Jay]

9 minutes ago, OkobojiEagle said:

Apparently I'm better at remembering my fish than I am my 7 month old posts...  Some of my wires are beginning to short out.☺️

I've become pretty good at forgetting.

In my case it's a survival skill.

A-Jay

[TnRiver46]

I have tried to measure SMB with their mouth closed and I couldn’t get it done if you gave me a week 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

The biggest thing that irks me currently is when folks stuff 5 big fish in the livewell so they can show off their "mega bag" all at one time.   You see this all the time these days from O.H. Ivie, and we'll see it again starting in about two months.  

 

The only thing the MLF gets right imho is Catch Weigh Release format.    Moving fish and dragging them around in livewells all day has never struck me as healthy for the fish.   

[txchaser]

I rescued a fish once that had eaten a big snake, but couldn't get it all the way down. Dead middle of the summer in texas, water was about 90 degrees. Held her upright and gently rocked back and forth for about three minutes. Got her to swim away under her own power, but she came right back up and rolled on her side. Seven minutes more of just keeping upright and getting oxygen and she took off at full speed. 

 

Point being, you can keep at it until the fish is dead or swims off, and just because it rolled again doesn't mean it's dead. 

 

I probably baby them too much, but I figure I have enough accidents that are rough on them that I owe the big ones some extra attention. I'm also convinced that genetics play a part in fish size, so a big (especially overweight) fish needs to get back in there and make more big fish.

[Zcoker]

21 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

The biggest thing that irks me currently is when folks stuff 5 big fish in the livewell so they can show off their "mega bag" all at one time.   

 

Talk about "mega bags", Butch Brown did a YouTube vid promoting Huddleston baits. In it, he pulled out five fish from his live-well that weighed in at over 65lbs! The kicker fish was over 18lbs. Now, I'm quite sure that this mega catch/bag didn't happen immediately. Probably took the entire day. Yet all the fish appeared to swim off strongly. So maybe there's a right way to keep fish fresh and lively with the least amount of harm. I've even heard of additives being added to live-wells to keep things fresh. I don't use a live-well, so wouldn't know. All I know is the fish appeared spunky and ready to blast off! 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

10 minutes ago, Zcoker said:

 

Talk about "mega bags", Butch Brown did a YouTube vid promoting Huddleston baits. In it, he pulled out five fish from his live-well that weighed in at over 65lbs! The kicker fish was over 18lbs. Now, I'm quite sure that this mega catch/bag didn't happen immediately. Probably took the entire day. Yet all the fish appeared to swim off strongly. So maybe there's a right way to keep fish fresh and lively with the least amount of harm. I've even heard of additives being added to live-wells to keep things fresh. I don't use a live-well, so wouldn't know. All I know is the fish appeared spunky and ready to blast off! 

Yeah I've watched that video before, pretty wild.  

Josh Jones in a recent interview talked about the big Bass he's seen die on O.H. Ivie, he contributes a number of them to being hauled around in livewells.

 

I want to return the fish to their "homes".......not dump them all together some place 5 miles from where they were caught, most likely near a boat launch.     

 

Doug Hannon used to dunk trophy sized bass in an aerated cooler with Sure Life or similar, but immediately released them.    

 

Personally speaking, I'm not willing to risk killing big fish just for a social media post. 

[gim]

5 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I want to return the fish to their "homes".......not dump them all together some place 5 miles from where they were caught, most likely near a boat launch.     

I especially think the immediate catch and release formats are very beneficial during two times of the year: the spawning period and in midsummer heat.

 

Yanking fish from their beds, putting them in a livewell, and hauling them to a weigh in is not beneficial to the reproductive process.  If the fish are spawning, they should be returned quickly so they can continue that.

 

Its scientifically proven that warm water creates higher mortality rates and has lower levels of oxygen in the water.

 

Outside of these two periods, I am fine with most weigh in formats.  BASS is the gold standard of weigh ins and goes to great lengths to ensure high survival prior, during, and after a weigh in.  Unfortunately, not every weigh in format is up to this standard though.

[Pat Brown]

Tournaments should all be catch weigh and release.  Live wells are for bait fish.

 

OK, in all seriousness:  if your fish is suffering from barotrauma and needs to be fizzed and you have the tools and know how to give that fish a chance, I can see the live well being helpful!

 

I do think, in general, tournaments should be catch weigh and release.

 

To the anglers who keep a few for a photo at the end of the day, I just don't have enough on the water experience with it to have a 'real' opinion and I respect everyone's choices.

[Zcoker]

11 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Yeah I've watched that video before, pretty wild.  

Josh Jones in a recent interview talked about the big Bass he's seen die on O.H. Ivie, he contributes a number of them to being hauled around in livewells.

 

I want to return the fish to their "homes".......not dump them all together some place 5 miles from where they were caught, most likely near a boat launch.     

 

Doug Hannon used to dunk trophy sized bass in an aerated cooler with Sure Life or similar, but immediately released them.    

 

Personally speaking, I'm not willing to risk killing big fish just for a social media post. 

 

I think with Josh the fish are coming up from 80 or so feet and get the bends, so to speak, and never make it. I don't know exactly what the term is. I hear you, though, not a pretty picture seeing some of these big breeder fish wedged into some of these smallish tanks. Social media has given plenty of folks good reason to do what they do, I reckon. 

[Zcoker]

7 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

Tournaments should all be catch weigh and release.  Live wells are for bait fish.

 

OK, in all seriousness:  if your fish is suffering from barotrauma and needs to be fizzed and you have the tools and know how to give that fish a chance, I can see the live well being helpful!

 

I do think, in general, tournaments should be catch weigh and release.

 

To the anglers who keep a few for a photo at the end of the day, I just don't have enough on the water experience with it to have a 'real' opinion and I respect everyone's choices.

 

Kinda reminds me of the old days with tarpon fishing. A catch wasn't a catch unless it was strung up dead for a photo shoot. They killed thousands! Every tarpon met it's fate hanging from a post. Presidents fished for them. Anybody with any clout and prestige fished for them. Tournaments all the time. Hotels, clubs, and marinas built to host the anglers. It was a rich man's sport. It was defiantly a driven sport. Nowadays, there are strict rules protecting tarpon. Bass fishing was much the same years ago, and it has been a long, long journey into this new age, just like for the tarpon. Hopefully it'll all work out. 

[Darth-Baiter]

On 10/30/2023 at 10:49 AM, OkobojiEagle said:

Why do you need a picture to enjoy the experience?

I'm kinda shallow.   I do admit I snap a pic as proof.  or to showoff.

 

my friends wouldn't believe me if I got a good fish.  "sure you did.."