Walleye. Dead Walleye

I will not defend either as it happens with both the tourny and pleasure fisherman.

A few years ago I was pre fishing Mille lacs with another for a tourny.

We were working a deep edge of the mudflats and we were marking many fish and caught a couple and then we left that deep spot.

This was in August and the water temps were very high. I did see other fisherman sit there and catch and release many pig eyes and I counted like 4 larger eyes floating in the water.

Now, I do not know if the others were pre fishing or out for a meal but I do know this, one boat had a mom and dad and 3 kids so I might assume they were out for a meal in the deep water and were throwing back the big pigs.

My point is, yes, the tourny is all about the almighty dollar and not the fish but some fisherman do also not do what is right for the big girls in warm water or they also would have left the same spot we were fishing when we did.

I guess it goes both ways and we all cause some death by choice, whether it be for money or fun.

If we are all so concerned that the tourny fisherman are hurting the fish population due to warm water and the tourny fishing, then while we critize the group, we should also leave the boat in the garage.

I do not care for these tournies but I am sure they do not want to harm our resource.

22400 sq miles of water… around 500 fish will be killed/donated… All anglers licensed and keeping below the daily limit…
Whats the big deal????

gonecribbin,

Your post about sums it up. Well put…

Doc,
Do you have figures to confirm the number of fish released and then died? I think until you do, it is not an issue, as any dead fish were utilized. Tell me how many “floaters” you saw and then I will have an opinion otherwise.
Thanks, WKW

Well… I was there and saw this so-called “slaughter” with my own eyes. Far from IMO.

I’ve fished every FLW Tour event as a Co-Angler for the last 3 years now and this one was one of the most incredible that I’ve been too. The city of Oconto truly rolled out the welcome wagon for the anglers. All the businesses in town seamed like they were offering up some sort of discount to the fisherman. The weigh-in and tourney take off even had the biggest crowds I’ve seen at any FLW event. It was an exciting place to be!

Now, water temps were mid to upper 70s and Oconto didn’t have the heat & humidity that I left behind in the Cities during the tournament. No doubt it was hot but nowhere near as bad as I left behind.

As for the fishing, I’d venture to say 80-90% of the field were fishing the same area down south towards Green Bay. Depth was 16-20′ or so with a lot of guys fishing those suspended fish, lets say 8-10′ down. Guess in my opinion, this is not pulling fish out of “deep” water, they don’t have the swim bladder issue as fish pulled from deeper water.

Now the anglers, there were plenty of them carrying a big cooler strictly full of ice to help keep their livewell water cool. To think the anglers don’t care about the health of their fish is a joke, they go to great lengths to keep them alive and healthy. Dead fish = lost weight = lost money. Nobody wants to see them die.

The FLW had 3 large stock tanks set up behind the weigh-in trailer with Oxygenators in them that were sort of transition tanks from the weigh-in to the release boat. Any fish that were struggling were put in those tanks to see if they would be able to be released or not. If they couldn’t be released, they went on ice in coolers.

Now IMO, its all about giving the fish a chance. If they are healthy and can be released, lets release them! Those that can’t are going to a good cause. I think this is way better than a strict kill tourney. I’ve fished plenty of those as well and have had perfectly healthy and releasable fish tossed into coolers because it is a kill tourney.

This was a well run tournament. Under the circumstances of crazy hot weather, I think everybody did the best they could.

Just my humble opinion.

To top off my tourney experience… we had an engine breakdown and had a 2+ hour ride back to Oconto at 7mph. Came in 15 minutes late as a result and lost our weight.

I realize that no way , including everyday catch and release, is perfect-but you will never convince me this way in warm water is acceptable.
Warm water,prolonged live well rides, temp changes multiple
handlings-some very rough-dropped fish,,,,come on guys, you still think that is equal or less stressful than catch, measure, photo release? It
would have been within the legal, and ethical, right for the flw to call this a kill tournament if it is that important to bring fish to the scales-but that would have been bad press and bad for business. So, they have a system in which they try the best they can—–well, in this day and age, not good enough for me. I wonder how fast the radio station would change if aim offered a 200,000 dollar purse? Aim, I realize no system is perfect, but you have a new loyal viewer with me. I have a hunch the flw would tell me behind closed doors, this is a business- and business does what it has to, to make money. No thanks for me. Funny how conservation gets twisted around when money is involved.

After reading this I can see the other side of the argument better, thanks to you guys.

Personally, I think it is terrible in this day and age with the technology we have that the couldn’t come up with a format and way to catch, measure and release fish right away. But that would probably cost $$$ and you wouldn’t have the “exciting” weigh ins and guys holding their fish for the crowd. Then again, in every other sport the score is kept real time. It might make it more exciting if it could be done.

Now here’s a thought.Run the walleye tours on the same format that musky tours are done. Far less floaters. Just saying

Mike S.

There are many of us that stay far far away from tourny’s. How does the muskie tourny scene differ?

Also, from my very very limited experience of weigh in’s, isn’t it just friends and relatives of the anglers that show up for these weigh ins …for the most part?

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I realize that no way , including everyday catch and release, is perfect-but you will never convince me this way in warm water is acceptable.

Warm water,prolonged live well rides, temp changes multiple

handlings-some very rough-dropped fish,,,,come on guys, you still think that is equal or less stressful than catch, measure, photo release? It

would have been within the legal, and ethical, right for the flw to call this a kill tournament if it is that important to bring fish to the scales-but that would have been bad press and bad for business. So, they have a system in which they try the best they can—–well, in this day and age, not good enough for me. I wonder how fast the radio station would change if aim offered a 200,000 dollar purse? Aim, I realize no system is perfect, but you have a new loyal viewer with me. I have a hunch the flw would tell me behind closed doors, this is a business- and business does what it has to, to make money. No thanks for me. Funny how conservation gets twisted around when money is involved.

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Totally agree.

I know one FLW co angler that was so against a catfish tourny due to the fact that large flatheads died.

But, he now fishes the FLW and knows the same thing is happening and goes along with that. One cannot have it both ways I don’t believe.

I do not understand that type of thinking but I guess he does.

I’ll try to explain the best I can Brian. In the musky tours they have scorers out on the water. If you net a fish you give one of them a call, they come to you. The scorers measure, photo, and document the fish. That fish is only out of the water for a very short time. As far as the weigh-ins go in walleye tours, I have only been to one. It’s not only friends and relatives of anglers that show up. It’s also many anglers of that area that want to see what that area can produce. I know it boggled my mind to see how many bucks are tied into their rigs and such. But thats their gig. Mines just having fun with my family, in my flat bottom, keeping a few for din din

This idea would work if no more than 15 fish were caught…. plus traditionally, the scorers can pretty much hang around the musky “haunts” as that is where the fisherman will be.. in an eye tourney on a body of water like Erie… forget it

One would have to have many scorers on a lake even like Mille Lacs to score them that way.

But, I guess if they could find enough scorers then it may work ok.

In the end, we all have to do all we can to make sure we get them back into the water in the best shape as possible and there is going to be some death regardless.

One other option may be to put a scorer in each boat. A neutral person who would only be there to score the fish. Then next to no loss.

Exactly Tom, perhaps a sponsored paid monitor.

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One other option may be to put a scorer in each boat. A neutral person who would only be there to score the fish.

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I’ve fished salmon tournaments on Lake Michigan and this is how some of them operate. Each tourney entry must have a scorer (they called it a judge) and they randomly get assigned to a boat other than their team boat.

I see no reason why this could not be implemented in the walleye tournies if they were interested in saving some eyes.

Yes, it would take a little extra work on the staff but workable.

I don’t like seeing dead walleyes either.

BUT: There seems to be a lot of BigBrother watching/bashing/we have too many regulations and rules in our country Kind of talk on IDO lately.. SO whatn now? You want them to tell us we cant have fishing tournaments anymore now?

Think the AIM format has this problem pretty much licked. I’d have no problem with an offical scorer in the boat though. In this day of multimedia, AIM is on the right track——FLW, not so much.

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Think the AIM format has this problem pretty much licked. I’d have no problem with an offical scorer in the boat though. In this day of multimedia, AIM is on the right track——FLW, not so much.

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Honestly in this modern day, the AIM format could be made real time. An official scorer in each boat with a smart phone. Updating the scorecard with each fish caught. That would be a fun event on land to be watching the scores change as the day progresses.

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Think the AIM format has this problem pretty much licked. I’d have no problem with an offical scorer in the boat though. In this day of multimedia, AIM is on the right track——FLW, not so much.

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I’m a full supporter of the AIM format as well. Guy only has so much vacation time available so you can’t do them all.

In the AIM format, the “official scorer” is essentially the co-angler. Co-anglers aren’t competing for money, points, or placing in the AIM format so they are a neutral entity for the most part.

I truly love AIM’s on the water video updates and the GPS tracking on the final day. I would love to see more of the video updates but I’m sure its a logistic technological thing more than anything.

Big problem with AIM is their participation has been dropping. The Dubuque tournament had around 30 boats. The FLW’s participation is increasing rapidly this year with 141 boats at Green Bay. If you take the business approach and let the market play out, seams like the AIM format is not catching on with the anglers at all, and this is year 3 for them.