Fish Kill After Stren Event

  • davenorton50
    Burlington, WI
    Posts: 1417
    #463504

    Awesome Slop…thanks.

    BTW- it was brought up in another post that the DNR must issue the permit for this tournament in the first place! Why would they intentionally issue a permit for this size of a tournament if they knew the die off would be in the 500’s? Talk about the media twisting the story! This is what I read from what Slop got from the DNR guy, The DNR issued the tournament permit expecting this number of bass to die…yet the newspaper headlines read “tournaments kill”! Something IS fishy…

    waterfowler99
    Midwest
    Posts: 1514
    #463505

    i have been on the phone for multiple hours in the past 2 days. i just havent fully compiled all my data, but shortly i will have it up and be glad to post it. you can say anything you want about me for that matter. i know who i am and what i can i do. but most important, i can admit when i’m wrong

    TBASS
    ROCKFORD,ILL
    Posts: 144
    #463509

    Slop,
    Your post has some excellent info that can help angler to try to minimize fish kills. Using bleach after each tournament to clean you livewells is a great notion. I never clean my live wells. What about temprature controlled livewells? I’m sure that can be done. My point being is this issue can be solved by tournament fishermen. With phone calls like yours I think we are headed in the right direction. Keep us informed.
    TBASS

    Jeremiah Shaver
    La Crosse, WI
    Posts: 4941
    #463510

    Quote:


    but most important, i can admit when i’m wrong


    You make it sound like I didn’t?? Why do you think I marked that sentence in RED for everyone to see.

    If that wasn’t plain enough for you:

    I WAS WRONG PEOPLE………I WAS WRONG IN MY QUESTIONING THE BLACK AND MY OPINION THAT IT MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO HANDLE THOSE EXTRA FISH…I’M SORRY

    Get over it already…Call me if you want to talk further about it. You have my number. I tried calling you, but you didn’t pick up.

    mossboss
    La Crescent, MN
    Posts: 2792
    #463511

    Thanks Slop for the info. Answered a few of the questions I had.

    jhall
    Lake City, MN
    Posts: 590
    #463547

    Excellent Job Slop…I wish that could have been shared when the paper came out.

    Ok, the black can hold the fish…but they didnt all come from there.

    amwatson
    Holmen,WI
    Posts: 5130
    #463585

    Slop-I also appreciate you taking the time to make the call and then post your findings

    That post answered and solidified some of my earlier comments on the LMBV issue. For quite a few years I was directly involved in animal health dealing directly with livestock. I would take jobs on farms that had extremally high mortality rates and bring them down to well below the “standard” percentage. This also carries over to most any living creature. Stress brings out dormant diseases and also causes increased mortality. High heat is a major factor in almost all diseases. Bio-security is also a major player in reducing mortality. In Slop’s earlier post with the DNR they stated using bleach to disinfect livewells, that is a bio-security measure. I am as guilty as the next guy when it comes to my livewell. We also have to remember these fish were brought from 3 different pools. This also increases the infection rate. Putting “clean” fish with infected fish, just transferred the disease to all of them. Now, obviously they are not all going to die or show signs of having the disease. Well, that is enough of my rambling about health issues

    g love
    La Crescent, MN
    Posts: 50
    #463604

    Great post, Slop. Thanks for the extra effort and knowledge!

    Jay Jones
    Onalaska Wi
    Posts: 107
    #463617

    Lets just for the sake of argument say these 500 bass had been speared by natives, would you still just shrug your shoulders and say “ah just a drop in the bucket”?
    Slop your post anwered alot of my questions too, maybe the Trib should hire you to do a follow up article

    flatheadwi
    La Crosse, WI
    Posts: 578
    #463618

    Quote:


    Lets just for the sake of argument say these 500 bass had been speared by natives, would you still just shrug your shoulders and say “ah just a drop in the bucket”?


    That is an excellent question.

    Also, these are the hawgs – the ones that have the best genes. Over time, continually eliminating those numbers of the biggest fish has to have some deleterious effect on the gene pool. I thought that’s what the whole catch and release movement (as championed by bass fishermen) was about?

    SLee
    Crystal,MN
    Posts: 168
    #463664

    If 500 bass had been speared? Yes. It is still a small fraction of the bass in that area.

    The most important ingredient to a quality fishery is quality habitat. Thats why last years fish kill and this years fish kill……will not make a difference in the quality of fishery that it is.

    However…..Tournaments do effect the catching. When you have that many good fisherman fishing for that many days…….they catch an incredible amount of bass. Those bass become wary of lures and become much more difficult to catch.

    I don’t buy into that the “good” gene pool is getting eliminated. If anything it is weeding out those bass who are prone to make poor food choices.

    But then again….does anyone really want a fishery that has tons of huge bass that are impossible to catch?

    B.C.
    La Crosse, WI
    Posts: 1111
    #463743

    WAX that mofo!

    garvi
    LACROSSE WI
    Posts: 1137
    #463760

    Thanks for the info slop,

    luv2fish
    Marion, IA
    Posts: 65
    #463772

    The natives spearing these bass isn’t far off…if anyone has been on any major backwater (bass wintering) area during ice-over, you’ve seen what a group of guys with tip-ups and a bucket of chubs can do for putting meat in the fryer.

    This fishery is as good as any in the country. Some fish are going to die when they are caught. It’s been this way forever.

    If the media and tree huggers spent equal time and resources covering the damaging effects of erosion and backwater siltation on the river as they have this fish kill, we wouldn’t have a problem.

    glenn-walker
    Shakopee, MN
    Posts: 858
    #463821

    Just had this sent to me:

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    FLW OUTDOORS OFFERS TO HELP FUND LMBV EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL FOR USE BY WISCONSIN DNR

    Offer comes after loss of bass in recent Wisconsin DNR study

    LA CROSSE, Wis. (July 26, 2006) – FLW Outdoors, operating according to its philosophy of leaving a fishery in better shape than it was found, has announce an offer to help fund largemouth bass virus educational material for use by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources following reports of 582 bass found dead following a study conducted by the DNR during a Stren Series tournament on the Mississippi River July 12-15.
    “We are an organization dedicated to providing communities that host our tournaments with significant economic benefits without ever causing the slightest bit of harm to our natural resources,” said Charlie Evans, president and CEO of FLW Outdoors. “Healthy fisheries are the lifeblood of our sport, and it causes us grave concern to have bass, in any quantity, turn up dead following one of our events.”
    While FLW Outdoors and its tournament anglers work diligently to curtail stress on bass by minimizing handling and using additives such as Rejuvenade and ice in well-aerated livewells and holding tanks, the fish caught during the July 12-15 tournament were subjected to the elevated stress and handling of having holes punched in their tails by DNR representatives conducting a study on mortality rates in bass-fishing tournaments. According to a DNR official, most of the 3,061 bass released during the tournament had their tails perforated using a paper punch. A procedure, DNR officials say, that is common and benign.
    “We are not saying that the added handing by DNR officials or that the tail perforation caused the bass to die, but it would be naive to discount these actions as contributing factors,” Evans said. “What we’ve learned the last two years, if anything, is that we still have a lot to learn about how to conduct these studies. At some point in the process there is a tipping point – a point of no return – where fish will not survive. Unfortunately, we’ve reached that tipping point with the handling of bass during the Wisconsin studies. The fact is, we conduct more tournaments nationwide than any other organization, and we simply don’t see fish dying off like this when released. Yet in Wisconsin, something terribly wrong has happened each of the past two years.”
    During a 2005 study held in conjunction with a Stren Series tournament held on the Mississippi River in La Crosse, the Wisconsin DNR reported an 86.8 percent mortality rate among largemouth bass held as a control group. This rate exceeded the mortality rate the department reported for tournament-caught largemouth bass by more than 11 percent. Both the 2005 study, which found a majority of the dead bass infected with the largemouth bass virus, and this year’s study were mandated by a 2003 Wisconsin law calling for an assessment of the economic, sociological and biological impacts of catch-and-release programs in bass tournaments. Final results from the assessment, which will reportedly include studies from numerous tournaments statewide, are expected in August.
    “Given the wide disparity in results gathered in La Crosse from year to year, it is clear that further study is required to make an accurate determination as to the effects of catch-and-release tournaments in this stretch of the Mississippi River,” Evans said.
    The Wisconsin studies are not the first studies aimed at accessing the success of catch-and-release tournament programs. FLW Outdoors has also recently worked with the Arizona Game and Fish Department on a study that showed an extremely low 1.3 percent mortality. The study attributed this low mortality rate, in-part, to stringent FLW Outdoors tournament regulations for holding and transporting fish and the skill of tournament operators in handling fish.
    In Wisconsin, however, the bass were subjected to additional handling by the Wisconsin DNR. The release locations in the Black River were also dictated by the DNR despite concerns expressed by FLW Outdoors officials who had proposed releasing the fish into the deeper, oxygen rich waters of the Mississippi River. No dissolved oxygen levels in the Black River were recorded by the Wisconsin DNR.
    It’s important to note that, according to David Hobbs of the Wisconsin DNR, not all of the fish found dead in the Black River had holes punched in their tails. If non-tournament bass died as well, it could be an indication of poor water conditions in at least a portion of the release site.
    “The bottom line is that there is a great deal more to learn about this subject and refinements that need to be made in how we go about collecting data,” Evans said. “As we move forward, all parties must be diligent in protecting our fisheries, and FLW Outdoors intends to do just that by continually evaluating and enhancing our industry-leading conservation practices.”
    As a separate part of the study, Wisconsin DNR officials held bass in three 12- by 12-foot pens tied to an inactive fuel dock in the Black River downstream from the release site. One pen held 100 control bass (53 largemouths and 47 smallmouths) that were collected by electrofishing prior to the tournament. Of those fish, 13 percent of the largemouths died and 6 percent of the smallmouths died for an overall mortality of 10 percent. A total of 212 bass (180 largemouths and 32 smallmouths) collected on days one and two of the tournament were divided equally in the other two pens. Of those fish, 27 percent of the largemouths and 37 percent of the smallmouths died for an overall mortality of 28 percent. The difference between the two groups, control and experimental, indicates an overall mortality of 18 percent. All of the fish were held in their respective pens, without food, for five
    days, and none of the fish in the pens had their tails perforated. Dissolved oxygen levels in the area of the holding pens were reported by the DNR at 6 to 12 parts per million. Five parts per million is generally accepted as adequate to maintain a bass.
    While pens like those used by the Wisconsin DNR are commonly used in studies of this nature, some debate exists among biologists as to how many bass should be held in a pen. One hundred bass per 12- by 12-foot pen is pushing the upper limits, particularly in hot-weather conditions, while 30 to 40 bass is considered closer to the ideal number.
    In 2000, FLW Outdoors announced its partnership with the FishAmerica Foundation, the conservation arm of the American Sportfishing Association. Since then, FLW Outdoors has directly donated more than $285,000 and helped to generate more than $1.7 million for local conservation projects.
    This year alone, FLW Outdoors has contributed more than $5,000 for FishAmerica Foundation conservation projects at each of its FLW Tour events and has committed to donating an additional $14,000 on behalf of the National Guard and leading FLW Tour pros before the end of the year. Additionally, Energizer will make a $25,000 donation to the Children’s Miracle Network during the FLW Tour Championship in Birmingham, Ala., Aug. 2-5 in honor of the tour maintaining a live-release rate in excess of 98 percent this season. In fact, the tour’s live release rate has never fallen below 98 percent.
    FLW Outdoors pros are proud to visit local schools during FLW Tour stops, meeting with children and spreading positive messages on the importance of education, conservation and the need to protect our environment. FLW Outdoors also promotes fishing skills and conservation through sponsorship of a “Master Angler” patch program for the Boy Scouts of America.
    Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers 12 tournament circuits offering combined purses exceeding $37.9 million through 249 events in 2006.
    For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.

    Jeremiah Shaver
    La Crosse, WI
    Posts: 4941
    #463849

    Have to FLW Outdoors for stepping up to the plate like this.

    eronningen
    Rochester, MN
    Posts: 1885
    #463891

    That explaine it much better. Now we are down to 18%.

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