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Wanton waste laws and bass tournaments

12K views 131 replies 46 participants last post by  TheHighLIfe 
#1 ·
The last few weekends there have been some bass tournaments on the lake. After weigh ins my brother and another buddy have driven by the launches in the evening or following day to find a bunch of real nice smallies floating belly up that weren’t able to be revived which is a shame and kinda pisses us off.

My question is, do wanton waste laws apply to bass tournaments? Very discouraging to see the awesome resources of this lake wasted and treated like garbage.
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#8 ·
Ego. Ego . Ego. And then some more Ego. This whole year round harassing of the fish population is coming home to roost. Does anyone remember when bass season in Michigan actually meant something. Not one of these morons give a damn about the "fish". It is all about their sorry ass. Me, myself, and their ego. Get the hell off the water you idiots.

Kisutch

God Bless Dr Howard Tanner

Former Lake Michigan Stakeholder

Lake Michigan Lake Trout Gillnetters Association "We pledge to kill them all"

Alewife what?
 
#12 ·
Ego. Ego . Ego. And then some more Ego. This whole year round harassing of the fish population is coming home to roost. Does anyone remember when bass season in Michigan actually meant something. Not one of these morons give a damn about the "fish". It is all about their sorry ass. Me, myself, and their ego. Get the hell off the water you idiots.

Kisutch

God Bless Dr Howard Tanner
and god bless ray trombley in the 60s for ensuring the lsc bass season couldn't open until the 3rd Saturday in June to protect spawning

the 'youngsters' in dnr are probably proud they opened c&r - idiots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and ray is rolling in his grave!
 
#9 ·
This is the kinda stuff that makes the rest of the fishermen look bad There are ways to make sure someone is credited with correct weight without killing fish.
 
#10 ·
agree
salmon tournaments often donate to shelters
I would be happy to go clean them to give to shelters on one condition - that they keep bassholes from talking to me while I have a knife in my hand! haha

ps - when I 'connect the dots', these tournament are using national resources for 'financial gain'. selling fish/game (national resources) for 'financial gain' is illegal. why aren't monetary tournaments illegal?
 
#35 ·
Maybe @DirtySteve knows why they don't do C& nearly immediate release.
It's simple when money is involved people will cheat. Even with weigh in format tournaments a couple percent will cheat one way or another. I have seen people fish off limits waters and have seen nuts and bolts in stomachs of fish to add weight etc...

You only need 1 percent of dishonest fisherman to ruin an event. It isnt feasible to put an official on every boat for the avg tournmant the way the MLF does. The MLF has about 7 circuits total. The only level they do weigh and release format is the top level with their best 80 anglers. Even then they split the field up in groups of 40 per day because they struggle to have enough officals trained in the rules. Bassmaster only does it for one event per year for lake fork. They have a large network of people passionate about the sport that help organize the officals there.

There have been plenty of bump board style tournaments that have caught cheaters as well. Where you take a picture on a board then release. Cheating is so rampent in those I wouldn't put my money into it. There have been more than one that were caught cutting tails off of fish to use in the picture and extend the fish. Among other tricks.

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#16 ·
Let's be honest. This Summer fish kill has been happening for many years. Combine that with the fact that every weekend after the catch and keep season opener (Father's Day weekend) there's multiple bass tournaments on St Clair. That's a lot of dead bass/floaters Some tourney organizations do take care of their fish better than most but there's still too many anglers that really don't care how many fish they kill. The argument is "I bought a license so it's my right". But this is 2022. If I were the MI DNR, I would start fining every weekend tournament organization for every fish that gets dumped back in the lake belly up. Do it more than once and you're banned from holding a "tournament". Especially if the organization is from out of state (Ohio or Indiana). I mean 5 bags of ice are like $15 bucks and you can't even contribute to the local economy and buy some ice when you stop for gas? Or take a few minutes to learn how to fizz a bass?

As far as early season CIR, I'm with bucknasty. Except for there are way too many noobs and veteran anglers that still insist on boat flipping and weighing every smallie just so they can log their 'best 5' for the day and feel better. I mean seriously, any long time LSC smallie guy doesn't need to bring anything other than a potential PB on board. Lean over and release the bass at boatside. No boat flipping, no netting, no leaving out of the water for minutes to get a bunch of selfies and a weight. Of course, every bass guy will retort with "the bass population is fine". Maybe so, maybe not, but why do you need to boat flip/net and weigh every bass you catch? Release immediately so they at least have a chance to return to their nest. The only bass I might photograph is if it looks over 21" and most serious bassheads have caught enough 20"ers and 21"ers to know the difference. Ray Scott must be rolling in his grave at the way guys still kill big smallies unnecessarily and on purpose.
 
#21 ·
that's what I thought......thank you for simplifying the math

you stated you personally 'caught 400 in a day and half', but said you only fished 'a few hours after the rain' on day two.
'give or take'
let's keep it at 400, the numbers tell your story clear enough at 400

sunrise to sunset in mid-may (you said it was before the opener memorial Saturday) is about 14 hr 30 min
day 2 'for a few hours', let's say was 2.5
that equals 17 hours for 400 fish
that's 23.5 fish per hour
which means you are claiming to have caught one every 3.9 minutes
only if you were non-stop fishing from sunrise to sunset - never taking a break from fishing, even for one second

meaning you didn't pee, didn't eat, didn't drink, didn't take a crap, didn't unhook your fish, didn't tend to your line/lure
any time doing those things equates to you having to have caught a fish in less than 3.9 minutes

and didn't smoke - which I think you were probably doing constantly
I knew social media was in for new lows when they legalized marijuana!!!!!!
haha

ps - also interesting you caught 400 but the other 9 guys only caught 600
so you outfished them 400 to 66 (average), almost 7 times better than them
they must suck at fishing!

apologies for the delay
ripley's believe it or not was on the line
wanted me to tell you - they don't

and apologies if you just aren't sharing that you were using an umbrella minnow net
 
#23 ·
that's what I thought......thank you for simplifying the math

you stated you personally 'caught 400 in a day and half', but said you only fished 'a few hours after the rain' on day two.
'give or take'
let's keep it at 400, the numbers tell your story clear enough at 400

sunrise to sunset in mid-may (you said it was before the opener memorial Saturday) is about 14 hr 30 min
day 2 'for a few hours', let's say was 2.5
that equals 17 hours for 400 fish
that's 23.5 fish per hour
which means you are claiming to have caught one every 3.9 minutes
only if you were non-stop fishing from sunrise to sunset - never taking a break from fishing, even for one second

meaning you didn't pee, didn't eat, didn't drink, didn't take a crap, didn't unhook your fish, didn't tend to your line/lure
any time doing those things equates to you having to have caught a fish in less than 3.9 minutes

and didn't smoke - which I think you were probably doing constantly
I knew social media was in for new lows when they legalized marijuana!!!!!!
haha

ps - also interesting you caught 400 but the other 9 guys only caught 600
so you outfished them 400 to 66 (average), almost 7 times better than them
they must suck at fishing!

apologies for the delay
ripley's believe it or not was on the line
wanted me to tell you - they don't

and apologies if you just aren't sharing that you were using an umbrella minnow net
No apologies for this….you can piss TF off. I know the numbers of fish we catch. My brother takes his clicker with him sometimes. This spring he and a buddy caught 382 in about 8 hours. I know numbers like that are hard for a simpleton like you to understand so I won’t even try.
And a fish every 3.9 minutes is high. I usually catch 2 fish in that amount of time. And as for my numbers compared to others in our group, we have fisherman of varying skill levels. Some hood, some not so good.
So please go take your trolling out to the lake.


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#24 ·
I know I take people to a backwoods pond and the average is 1.7 fish per cast. All Largemouth and Crappie. I agree that the requirement for these tournaments should have formally BAGGED ice in the live well. I have to freeze some pond water for my Minnows to survive our Perch trip later this week for survival.
 
#25 ·
Yes the pictures are hard to take. So for a minute let’s take the OP as accurate. Tournaments were held. From the sound of it..live weigh in..fish were released and some didnt survive and went to waste. I wonder how many other fish didn’t make, that you didn’t see. Tournaments ok..CR..ok. Wasted wildlife for entertainment “Not Acceptable” under any circumstance. Nothing wrong with a tournament IMO, but not if this is a result. Gotta find a better way. Period. No debate…wasting wildlife is wrong by any reason standard.
 
#27 ·
On another note, I’m sure a lot of time,effort and money were invested into these tournaments. Maybe time off of work and travel ect. All with good intention. Personal investment in boats,tackle ect. Maybe a kick in the local economy gas,lodging and other things maybe..all well and good. I’m sure my next statement will not be received well, but so be it. If conditions are not conducive to live weigh in and release…well cancel or delay. Why should the bass population be wasted,just becuase we have time and money invested and we want our fun and we want it now. Want to have a tournament…great..have fun but waste cannot be a an acceptable. This is a worthy topic for discussion..glad it was highlighted.
 
#30 ·
They need to go to Major League Fishing format where they weight the fish and immediately release it. I guessing outside a bad gut hooked fish that mortality rates are near 0%.


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#33 ·
Why don't the tournament organizers & the DNR allow the bass that they know are going to die when released, be given away to spectators at the weigh-in that have a bucket with them, take the fish to feed their family instead of the fish going to waste? There are plenty of families that are struggling and have to decide whether to buy food or gas this weekend, or pay a late utility bill & they could use a "free" meal from the tourney fishermen. I know many people would not eat a bass, especially caught in a warm lake, but for some, it would be a very welcomed main course of protein. Just my personal opinion on the subject.
 
#34 ·
I am a former Bass tournament fisherman. I stopped fishing tournaments for the very reasons stated in other posts. I fished BASS tournaments they did everything to care for the fish including have a live release boat to take the the fish out into clean cool water, and a dead fish was given for food not tossed belly up into the water. Then along came FLW, BFL, Local clubs, and out of state tournaments, the Bass caught in the cool rivers or deep water were tossed into Metro Beach 90* canal water or Clinton River 90* water belly up.
Out of state club tournaments or Local club tournaments most don't have revival water tanks, so the fish are carried around in the plastic bags over hot asphalt and dumped off the docks into dirty 95* water to die.
I still fish for Bass, I don't bed fish, when I fish during Catch & Release season I never remove the fish from the water, I unhook them in the water over the side of the boat.
It's a shame to watch how the tourists disrespect our home water.
When you ask a tourist why do you travel all the way here to catch fish, they say they don't have any fish left in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, etc.
I WONDER WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FISH IN THE TOURISTS STATES ?
 
#41 ·
Boy am I glad I run my tournament circuit division up north. We never hear complaining from people in the area other than the "we own the water you cant fish by my dock" folks. The Soo loved us the last few years as the indians were able to measure, weigh and tag most fish caught in a 2 day event. There was actual bass data gained in those events.
 
#45 ·
The issue with the MLF formats is the amount of people and massive amounts of money that is required to operate a event in that fashion. Other than BASS elites, opens, MLF events that draw in major equipment production sponsorship ,IE major fishing and outdoor multi million, or billion, dollar companies , No one has that kind of money to toss around and the major companies are not interested in forking over gobs of cash to 20 boat events. Newer bassboats are now equipped with major improvements in livewell technology. Air recirculatory, deeper wells that hold more water. As for dumping in an entire bag of ice in to a livewell full of bass, that can cause the same mortality rates as anything else. Dropping the water temp 5 + degrees instantly or putting bass in a livewell that has water 5+ degrees or colder due to ice water than what they came out of will also cause mortality. 99% of tournament constantans actually do care about fish mortality rates. IT hurts our bottom line, the outlook from others , and for our own satisfaction of quality fishing.

I , as a tournament angler am never happy with any mortality at an event. This year my division has 2 fish come in dead out of 5 events with a minimum of 15 boats per event. That's pretty darn good numbers if ya ask me. We were not happy about it and it does happen. Any fish that are dead , someone usually takes them home out of the group, mostly me as I do enjoy the occasional bass done on a grill in tin foil. Will fish die off after being released due to stress. Happens all the time no mater what type of fish and or fishing is occurring. Does it happen instantly? No , not always. They may go belly up a day or 2 after the event, just like any other fish that gets caught, stressed by the catch, swims off upon release and dies a day or 2 later. It's not a great thing, but we can't control every aspect of fishing no matter how hard we try.

As for the hate of tournaments by other anglers. This as been going on for years, especially with the lake st clare lake association. We deal with it or ignore most of the negative garbage directed at us. We just go do our thing and stay out of others business.

Should there have been a release boat at the events this weekend on st clare. yes. Can everyone afford to do that on a pontoon boat with 20 people on board to allow that many fish on a boat due to bag limits, No they can not. They should, but it is not always feasible. Does dumping fish from a livewell that is 75 degrees into water that is 80+ degrees cause issues. It sure does and should have been handled differently.
 
#48 ·
The issue with the MLF formats is the amount of people and massive amounts of money that is required to operate a event in that fashion. Other than BASS elites, opens, MLF events that draw in major equipment production sponsorship ,IE major fishing and outdoor multi million, or billion, dollar companies , No one has that kind of money to toss around and the major companies are not interested in forking over gobs of cash to 20 boat events. Newer bassboats are now equipped with major improvements in livewell technology. Air recirculatory, deeper wells that hold more water. As for dumping in an entire bag of ice in to a livewell full of bass, that can cause the same mortality rates as anything else. Dropping the water temp 5 + degrees instantly or putting bass in a livewell that has water 5+ degrees or colder due to ice water than what they came out of will also cause mortality. 99% of tournament constantans actually do care about fish mortality rates. IT hurts our bottom line, the outlook from others , and for our own satisfaction of quality fishing.

I , as a tournament angler am never happy with any mortality at an event. This year my division has 2 fish come in dead out of 5 events with a minimum of 15 boats per event. That's pretty darn good numbers if ya ask me. We were not happy about it and it does happen. Any fish that are dead , someone usually takes them home out of the group, mostly me as I do enjoy the occasional bass done on a grill in tin foil. Will fish die off after being released due to stress. Happens all the time no mater what type of fish and or fishing is occurring. Does it happen instantly? No , not always. They may go belly up a day or 2 after the event, just like any other fish that gets caught, stressed by the catch, swims off upon release and dies a day or 2 later. It's not a great thing, but we can't control every aspect of fishing no matter how hard we try.

As for the hate of tournaments by other anglers. This as been going on for years, especially with the lake st clare lake association. We deal with it or ignore most of the negative garbage directed at us. We just go do our thing and stay out of others business.

Should there have been a release boat at the events this weekend on st clare. yes. Can everyone afford to do that on a pontoon boat with 20 people on board to allow that many fish on a boat due to bag limits, No they can not. They should, but it is not always feasible. Does dumping fish from a livewell that is 75 degrees into water that is 80+ degrees cause issues. It sure does and should have been handled differently.
Got it. Let’s all just do our own thing and stay out of bass tournament anglers’ business. It’s a fact 99 out of 100 tournament guys care about their fish and care for them properly and release all their fish alive. Those dozens and hundreds of floaters on St Clair every weekend are from that one angler out of a hundred who managed to catch 10 times their limit. But let’s just ignore all the dead bass and the negative “garbage” that bass tournament guys get and just keep on doing what we do since we can’t afford to ask a friend with a pontoon and stay an extra 30 minutes to make sure our catch has the best chance of survival. Nah, let’s just ignore all the hate and let’s not say anything to the anglers mistreating the resource. After all we know more than Corey and Chris Johnston about keeping smallies alive. Those guys are stupid for bringing 7-8 bags of ice to keep their bass alive, they should know that doesn’t help..:rolleyes:

 
#49 ·
I’ll tell ya I like the g juice in my minnow cooler seem to keep the minnows lively so far this summer along with a frozen gel pack in the bottom . First year using it but so far seems good as far as the bass yes if they are obviously going to die would be best for them to give them to someone who will eat them rather than just dump them in the lake
 
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