What does your fish do?

[bigbasshunter]

Well long story short I was at Fountainhead Res. this morning/afternoon, caught 2 keepers about 2 lbs each one on 1/2oz chart. spinner the other on a junebug curl-tail worm. The thing is we watch watched the weight in for the tourney, and almost every fish we saw released look very stressed ie shedding of slime coat , swimming on their sides, gasping for air, staying close to shore. We saw 2 biggins floating belly up still breathing. Does this sound normal? Every fish I have kept longer than 1 hr has swam for its life when put back in water. Could it be the Livewells that the fish were kept in are inadequate? Or just mistreatment?

What do your fish do?

[JVM]

Its a 10hr or-so tourney, which is a long time to keep a fish, and the heat will wear them out too.  Might be inadequate livewells, no aerator, etc in some cases, but most of those guys have serious jon-boats.  Most of the fish were likely just exhausted, that'd be my guess.  I've seen fish rest a while before dashing into oblivion.  Most fish I have well'd for a long time, with a crowded well, that is how they act for a while, till rested up and then they're off???

[gar-tracker]

I fished a tourney Saturday were they lost a 9 3/4 lber at the weigh in, several other bags had a dead fish, in the summer I keep two solid gallon milk jugs full of water frozen solid in each live well and i keep my aerator running all day. I seem to rarely lose fish.

Summers hard on them.