robdar

The wife and I had a fish die on us at a tournament on Potato Creek on Saturday. This in itself is not suspicious, but at the end of the tournament we spoke to a few other boats that had fish die or were acting as if they would any moment. I have never seen a tourney with more than one dead fish, maybe two in a real big tourney...several in one small tourney is very odd.
Is it possible that the fish, close to post spawn, were already exhausted and the aded stress of capture sent them over the edge?
I do not fish to kill fish, if this is the case, I just wont fish post spawn.

I have since heard from others at other tournaments that they had dead fish and replies from other boards marks several dead Bass at Lake Geneva and at Fox River Area.

HighDesertWolf

Lack of oxygen, thats why its important to recirculate your live well water about every 15 to 20 minutes, especially on hot days.

Allseasonhunter7

alot of the fish caght in tournaments die or almost imo

James B

Not suprised that they died. I have read reports in Bass and In-Fisherman that a good percentage of the releases fish die. At one Bass tourney I read that 80 percent of the fish died. Its not always that high but I have noticed while fishing in days following Walleye tourneys that there are quite a few floaters in the weigh in area. For this reason, I really don't like touraments. I am not a tree hugger or anything like that. In fact I am a life long hunter anf fisherman. I don't release many fish and when I do, I know there is a good chance they won't make it. I hate the minumum size lim,it on Walleye. I see to many of those under 14 inch walleye floating around dead. Walleyes are most often caught on live bait and often take the hook to deep. The game and fish says just cut the line and release them but I think its bunk.

Chuck7

I feel bad too about the dead fish. Alot of rubber worm sets are gut sets that kill fish. I'm guilty at that. I fish alot for the challenge. The southern fish do not taste like the northern fish I'm used to so I don't keep them. Thanks for the post..I may go back to lures that catch bass in the mouth instead of the gut. I lost a big one today on top water. I'm a Christian fishermen and I think we should have some feelings for the bass. I may start leaving the worms home.Fact ,I will.Thanks for posting. The other lures work fine for me. I need to be flexable anyway.
Thinking about the pain ,
Chuck

robdar

My live well recirculates auto matically and it is alot more often that 15 to 20 minutes.

I also run a secondary oxygen pump to keep the water well oxygenated

we usually do not see five dead fish in a whole season (at weigh in, what happens to them after I cannot say). 5 in one day is unprecedented.

an 80% death rate is unacceptable!

DNR, who were very helpful, did shown some concern about LMBV and said they were going to start collecting data.

The also said that after each fishing trip you should wash your boat and trailer and flush both your live well and your bilge system...not just because of LMBV, but for a host or reasons...a practice I plan to follow.

Deerslayer_37

i dont think 80% for every tourney die, maybe a handful. i'd accept 50% though. Probably just spawned out and the fish got overstressed. livewell water should be recirculated to stay cool and oxygenated. I hadnt heard anything about Geneva and that part of the state, and I havent heard about any excessive deaths in this area. LMBV almost destroyed Lake Fork, TX. Hopefully it stays down there. When we pulled our boat out of the Mississippi for the last time this spring before we took it to our cabin up north, we flushed the wells out with hot soapy water and washed everythign out. Ran the motor in a garbage can to get some water through the intake. Just to make sure we didnt take any zebra mussels up there with us.

slayer

JoshKeller

depending on the temperature, you may need to bring a cooler along with ice to keep the water cool. I have a thermometer on my fiberglass boat, and its not uncommon for temps to reach 110 - 115 degrees on a warm sunny day inside the boat!

farmcntry

Right on Josh. Throw some ice in the live well.

RedAllison

ABSOLUTELY NO WAY, SHOW ME YOUR DATA! 80% mortality rate on released fish from most tournaments? BOOSHEUT!!! The national average is well below 10% with many tournaments having practically 0 mortalities. Typically only the guthooked or already injured fish are the ones to parrish while being held during a tournament. Anything above that is simply unacceptable for ALL sportsmen. The modern bassboat has come along way in many respects but nothing has been so "modernized" as the livewell and oxygen blending systems contained therein. And over the last 20-25 years themost important tool, angler attitudes, has been changed toward maintaining valuable water resources.

My own boat recirculates water constantly unless switched too automatic which then recirculates each 5 minutes. I also add freshwater by the hour and when the temperature climbs over 85 I will also add chemical treatments that replace the slimecoating on the fish and induce a calming affect on them to prevent shock. And absolutely do NOT handle the fish anymore than absolutely necessary. My sentiments are duplicated by most other tournament anglers as well.

I hate that ANYONE feels tournaments are a bad thing. As a group we have probably had more impact on the evolution of equipment (with respect too both fishing tackle ANDboating and livewellsystems) than anyother group of anglers. Just because you either don't understand tournaments, choose not too participate or can't, doesn't make it right for you to badmouth those of us who choose to. I can assure you that NO OTHER SINGLE GROUP is more concerned for the health and longterm survival of the fish than those of us who seek them harder than anyothers on the water. We are concerned for their return and with imparting as little stress as possible on those fish. The average "yank and clean" livebait fishermen is typically out for whatever bites and won't think twice about putting fish on a stringer and then later releasing them at the ramp after he showed everyone what he caught!

Just had to clear a few things up, [:@]
RA