What happens to the fish and the fishery

Hi all I was just wondering what others thought or know about what happens to the fish and fishery during river tournaments. I have fished a few so I am guilty too. I have been fishing some of my favorite bass spots the last few weekends only to find another tournament going on. This is the 3rd one in three weeks. What happens to the fish when they are pulled from there normal spawning beds and pulled up or down river a pool or two. Over those three weeks there were atleast a dozen boats in there each weekend. If each one of those boats pulled 3 or 4 fish out of that spot and ran them up river through the locks they are absolutely displacing these fish. And the fish they are displacing are not the small ones they are the 2.5 to 5 pounders if not bigger. At the beginning of the year I was having no problem catching bigger fish but now it seems after every tournament the number and quality of the fish is going down. What kind of impact will this have on a fishery. a dozen boats 4 fish each 3 weeks in a row if my math does not fail me thats 144 quality bass out of one little spot. I know these fish are released but a don’t think they are running some of them back down through the dams to the other pools. I will be posting this in the general discussion board as well.

One answer I feel to one of our queastions,look at tournament results on your river and lakes,either the average caught will stay the same,but it seems to be a trend on the river,that average caught seems to keep going up every year.

As for you questioning if a tournament angler has caught your fish and relocated it, you said there has been 3 tourneys, so lets say 25 fish have been displaced,it is very vain to think that the tournament anglers have displaced so many fish that you can no longer caught a keeper,don’t give them that much credit.

I agree it doesnt make sense but some of the reason that it gets harder is the pressure. Its not that the fish are gone, they just get “smarter” and know the brand of spinnerbait or crankbait by the sound it makes. I agree with Dave- no real indication of smaller bags year to year. One prime example is Spring Lake on 13. Tourney after tourney is won in here with 13-17 lb bags but it does not seem to taper off year to year. Not sure how the population of fish replenishes itself but it sure seems to.

If fish are being locked through to a weigh in, I have to agree,they probably will never make it back to that spot. However, there’s a reason fish are on that spot and why so many boats fish it….its the “food” availability and unless something catastrofic happens to the ecosystem the preyfish will always be there and so will the bass. Sure if you go to that spot the day of or the day after a few other boats have pounded it your success rate will most likely be hampered but give it time, new fish or spoooked fish will move back in. You also have to consider time of year, water temp, pool stage, how much preasure yourself has put on that area, etc…all things that make a difference, but I’m sure you know that. The river is expance but there’s not many secret spots on it anymore, but like the last two guys have said, it justs seems to get better and I can almost guarentee their success is on spots they hit repeatedly.