Bass kill on pool 10?

I heard rumor that a large number of bass turned up dead in pool 10 by PDC. Is there any truth to it?

yes there was, I’m not sure exactly what caused it though.

Great I am heading there in a couple days for a tournament. I just hope to find some fish I guess. Got to get some points to stay near the top of our AYO standings

When did this “Bass Kill” take place ?

One or two days after the BFL.

What do you suspect is gonna happen when you put fish in a box and flush em with 80+ degree water for up to 8 hours? First thing them COLD blooded fish do when released is what they are programmed to do. Find cooler water ~ which in turn shocks their system. While you don’t have a 100% mortality rate I believe it’s high enough for organizers to investigate some alternatives. Afterall, you are amBASSadors of the sport.

It is going to happen when the conditions are right regardless of the measurements taken to release healthy fish. No one likes to see floaters but I don’t think a few less Bass in the system is going to hurt anything and they will rebound without a problem. I guess the alternative would be not hold the tournaments and pass up on the revenue that each of the tournaments bring into the local areas. I guess I’d rather see the money coming to town knowing the Bass population is not in harms way right now.

Just my 2 cents worth

What is it with BFLs in Wisconsin? Does this only happen there or do we just not ever hear about it from everyplace else?

In Wisconsin it would be the Great Lakes Division I believe. You can look the schedule up on line.

The fish kill happens every now and then and it happens in all leagues.
It is all part of the game. Why do we get so upset when we see a fish kill. A lot of us must have forgot or never seen what happened in the old days after a tournament. Every fish brought in was discolored and lifeless while being toted all around for the crowds to eye over. Not a fish went back alive back in the day.
Today’s standards for tournament fishing is all about keeping fish alive. It is not like the shores are filled with rotting Bass. Some fish paid the price but in no way has your Bass population been hurt. Trust me, the Bass are the bread and butter for a lot of these tournament anglers. Do you think they are out to pick the money tree clean or do you think they are going to leave some interest on the tree for years to come?

Not that it is happening here but most complaints come from PETA….and we all know we don’t need to throw PETA a bone

Hopefully now that I have stuck my neck out some tournament guys will chime in, they know how the circuit works a lot better than myself.

Here’s my two cents, don’t be to quick to blame anyone. Often summer heat, low oxygen levels (especially from decaying Zebra Mussels) all contribute to fish kills. The fact is that up to 25% of all tournament catch, hold, weigh,and then release fish may suffer delayed or immediate mortality. Under high water temps and low oxygen more then 25% can occur. Because of this, some think the tournament bag limit should be reduced or catch/process (kill) be used or just not conduct tournaments in late July and August. I’d hate to see any of these things come about, but they are possibilities that may gain momentum.

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What do you suspect is gonna happen when you put fish in a box and flush em with 80+ degree water for up to 8 hours?

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It’s true that being in the livewell all day causes an increase in stress on the fish. However I am not so sure the anglers are to blame for this problem. Like someone already said, we shouldn’t be so quick to point fingers, but I would definitely like to see the weigh ins for both BFL and Weekend Series (BASS) tournaments be better organized and have a solid plan for releasing the fish. Usually FLW has a release boat that takes fish out to suitable release waters, but in Wabasha, MN both for the BFL in 2008 and the Weekend series this June, there was no release boat. I don’t know the scenario in Prairie, but it made me sick in Wabasha both times seeing guys chucking fish (and a lot of smallies) into the thick slop in the already stagnant lagoon. I saw a whole limit of dead smallies floating in the slop in wabasha that were swimming when they were released… If anything needs to be regulated, it is the way these weigh ins are conducted. It seems that if the director has a good plan and is organized in the distribution of bags/weighing of fish and releases the fish in a stable environment, there are no problems. Where you start to see problems is when fish are in the parking lot too long, or there isn’t a release boat.

That being said, the FLW “Stren Series” AKA the new “American Fishing Series” is an extremely organized tournament. The weigh ins were unreal. Every flight got a bag immediately when they were checked in. When the flights made it to the parking lot a man on a megaphone announced flight 1 to weigh in immediately. After everyone in flight one had gone the fish were taken out into the river and released while flight 2 was called to the scales. It kept more boats in the water fishing while the earlier flights were weighing in. With the BFL you see guys from all different flights sitting in the parking lot or at the tanks. If they create more flights and limit the ammount of people waiting in line along with a better release system I believe we could really cut down on bass mortality.
It will take a hell of a lot to patch the wounds that have already been created by tournaments. However, if we show that we care and prove it with results, maybe the economical benefits and the love for the sport will eventually override the few negatives that DNR and anti’s always seem to point out.

There was a release boat in PDC. I heard that the fish kill was just in a bay with little to no current a few hundred yards from the weigh-in.

I think Cade brought up a few very good points.

With all do respect Bret, I’m not buying the collateral damage ~ we stuff $$ in the local economy ~ blind eye approach. Methodology & practices by both anglers & organizers have improved over the years and I do believe the vast majority of both groups dread to see belly bobbers after the weigh in. And for those of you that are skeptical on tourney angling being the culprit ~ I’ve lived on the river my entire life. 1+1 = 2

Why have a 1-day ~ eight hour on the water event over a six week period stretching from mid July through August on waters that historically run above 80 degrees? Could we not split that tourney into a 2-day ~ four hour event? Fish from 6:00am 10:00am with a scale run at 10:30am. I don’t need a 6 figure cost study to tell me fish mortality rate will drop even lower.

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With all do respect Bret, I’m not buying the collateral damage ~ we stuff $$ in the local economy ~ blind eye approach.

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I’m not trying to sell it…it sells itself.

You need to spend a day in La Crosse at one of the popular bait shops then, and also check out the pumps at any Kwick Trip store the weekend before and the week of the big tournaments I know them boys are putting more than 6 gallons of gas in them rigs to run around for a weekend like I do. That’s not counting the dollars they are throwing into the trucks pulling them tubs.

Not to mention the boats on trailers at Perkins and other local diners by morning and the major motel strip here in La Crosse is busy by night

I notified the MN DNR regarding the lack of a release boat for the BWS Wabasha event and they turned a blind eye to my concern. ABA has a release boat, I suspect they just don’t want to bring it up to MN or WI.

The bass club from here has a board the has a weight associated with the lenght and that is recorded and fish is then released. Why can’t all tournaments be run this way?? I think even if one bass turns up dead that is one too many. Just my opionion

A two day 4 hours/day tourney would probobly help lower the stress a fish in the live well sees. However, who is going to show up for a two day tourney that is only 4 hours a day? You may get some local guys, but you sure as heck aren’t going to get the draw that the BFLs and weekend series type of events get. The buisness that these tournaments bring is substantial: gas, food, and lodging are all big boosts not only on tournament day but also all week leading up to it. I don’t know many guys that spend $200+ on entry fee and not pre-fish a single day. Most guys I know spend at least a couple days pre-fishing = bigger revenue kept in your local community. I’m not saying the end justifies the means, but no matter how you look at it there is a benefit to the community in having these events.

I think Cade hit the nail on the head when he said it is all about how the tournament is ran. Getting the fish out of the box and into cool deeper water as fast as possible is clearly the best thing for them and hopefully we see a better change for that in the future.

Money talks I guess. You run nets and make a mistake and kill some game fish your is in the ringer. Large tourneys like this kill boat loads of fish all over the country. Some things are more important than money. Like consistancy in the law.

I understand the economics. The boys do some pretty interesting parking jobs at local motels stetching from Stoddard down to Ferryville with limited parking space on the door step of the bluffs.
While I don’t benefit directly from a dollar spent by a tournament angler I also understand the ripple effect that dollar has on the community. It’s all good. And you are absolutely correct about the bass population TODAY. But do the combination of these factors justify the inherent risk associated with boxing fish in peek summer conditions? Inadvertily or knowingly abusing the resource is still abusing the resource. I was taught to fix problems. Not justify them. To me it’s a matter of right and wrong not dollars and cents. We both know just how complex and vulnerable a river ecosystem is. Just because bass are in abundance today certainly does not guarantee they will be tomorrow. Take for instance what has happened with the Whitetail population in WI over the last 5 years. All dictated by dollars & cents.
And you can bet your bottom dollar that when the bass are scarce for whatever reasons ~ the tournaments will follow suite.

I think Cade hit it right on the head. I believe most tourney fisherman do a great job in keeping their fish in good shape. It seems once they get to the weigh-ins everything seems to go south. Eliminating long lines at the weigh scale would probaly solve alot of the problems. Having a limit of fish sit in a bag for 10 minutes while waiting for your chance to weigh can’t be a good thing.

I disagree with release boats though, if your weighin is on the channel or on a running slough I think they ought to be released immediately after weighing into that slough. I don’t like the idea of putting all fish into a release boat. Seems like a good way to spread LMBV, and also subjects the fish to more stress. I think Cade is right about a release boat being needed in backwater tournaments though unless they know that there is plenty of Oxygen in that backwater.

If you want to see a bunch of bass being killed go down to a local and well known ice fishing spot below PDC. I’ve watched 7 guys have 21 tipups out and 30 plus bass laying on the ice for 2 days straight.

The rule book is spelled out in terms of size restrictions and bag limits. You and I may not agree with parameters set fourth but unfortunately it is their right. Violators are subject to fines.

I also don’t have a problem with tip-up fisherman keeping their limit, I just hope that they eat them and not waste them.

In regards to tournaments I just think more emphasis should be placed on fish survival so these “bass kills” are a rare occurance. Fish that end up as “floaters” are wasted which I believe is worse than tipup fisherman keeping fish.

Another thing about the bass population—
1. Its actually getting better. The weights in tournaments each year only continue to get more astronomical. Compare 2 day tournament weights from the late 90’s to two day tournament weights currently. In the 90’s you would see 10 bass weighing 25 lbs very high in the money or even in the top spot, where today you see the top 3-5 guys with 33-36 lbs and 25 might not even get you a check. It’s not just the quality that has improved either. I have seen a pretty significant increase in healthy 14-16″ fish here on pool 8 over the last 3 years. I think it is an understatement to say that the bass population is healthy and thriving, and increasing yearly.

2- Bass fishing as a sport has really evolved over the last decade or two. Granted, tons of people still eat bass- especially in the winter. However more and more anglers target bass purely for sport and practice catch and release. This is a great practice and I am all for it and practice it myself. That being said, with less people harvesting the 14-15″ fish we need to make sure that the bass population doesn’t become stunted or overpopulated where there simply isn’t enough food for the rest of the ecosystem. I think that a fish kill every now and then, though it makes a guy sick to their stomach, is good for the population to control it and make up for the fewer and fewer fish that are being ethically harvested each year. These are just my two cents. If anyone needs a reminder that the bass population is booming, come on up to pool 8 this November and we’ll catch 4 or 5 dozen fat 2.5-3.5 lbers. Just shoot me a PM.

You can try to justify it anyway you like but exploiting a resource in any other name is still exploiting a resource.

If you are worried about exploiting you are barking up the wrong tree. The Bass are thriving because of Bass Associations and the Bass clubs. No different than Ducks Unlimited bringing back the population of waterfowl.

Bret, how is that so? Are they doing habitat work?

Since Bass Associations and local clubs, the preaching’s of catch and release has done wonders for the bass world. I have been on the river for a good 40 years now. Back in the day Bass were “exploited”. Big bass were takin’ home for no more than braggin’ rights. Just like the big buck on a tail gate cruising through town.
After seeing the decline in big bass populations the clubs pulled together and Catch and release was taught and still is. Even the big Associations like Bass Master had article after article on catch and release. As a kid back in the day it was like reading the Bible. Soon all of my generation growing up was all over catch and release and it even had a trickle effect on some of our fathers who threw everything in a basket back then for chow. The thriving Bass population is there testimony now.

And yes, local clubs do participate in river clean up and also start junior tourney’s to peak the interest of the up and coming spokesman for the Bass world.

In no way am I saying things cannot improve, I’m saying that a Bass kill now and then is not the end of the Bass world.

I can’t believe it is always the Bass guys getting the bad rap I think I’m going to start a save the walleye tour

Few things….

The # of dead bass after the BFL was around 25, yes that’s to many, but warden had said if he stood by the landing on an afternoon he would see double that going home to be cooked.

Bass clubs and tournament organizations do a lot in terms of giving back. Good example River Road Bassmasters in La Crosse does highway clean up every year.

If you open up BASS Times, every month you’ll see stories and photo’s of clubs placing fish cribs and brush piles for fish habitat.

FLW and BASS both make large distributions to Future Fisherman Foundation and Fish America.

This issue is going to go around and around in circles, no mater what evidence, studes or examples of bass fisherman doing good things occur….we just don’t ever get a chance.

And as far as recreational fisherman go, I’ve seen plenty of them keeping bass full of eggs in April. I’ve also been cut off numerous times while fishing a bank by recreational fisherman. Just shows there are bad apples in all groups.

I like all the tourneys going out of LaCrosse, all these guys are pulling fish from pools 9 and 7 and they are being released here in 8