Its their participation trophy. They all still live with mom and dad or are still on mom and dads dole.

Wow this post went full tard

I agree 1000%!!! I am not a big fan of all these tourney fisherman keeping fish for the weigh ins either, then holding them up for the crowd to see for 5 minutes plus after riding around in the livewell all afternoon, especially many of the tourney fishermen with older boats and outdated live wells. The Tournament Promoters need to follow MLF's (major league fishing) lead and catch, record and release on the spot. Too many nice fish are being killed just for weigh in and the weigh in show. But yes I agree the guys who hold onto them for picture purposes only at the end of the day are just being selfish.

So, I need to quit fishing tournaments until I buy something newer than my 1990 Champion? I've lost 1 fish in 7 years, and that was due to pump going out.

At the end of the day, they are fish. WE CHOOSE To make catching them a "sport". The laws in place are for you to retain these fish to eat. We choose to release.
It's so simple that it's stupid.
Catch fish.
Treat them respectfully.
Keep them if you wish.
Release them if you wish.
Quit [censored] in on the other guys leg if he does something different than you do as long as he follows the rules.

I think the jacked jaws and carpet hurts them more than anything. It amazes me that people purposely put fish on the carpet.

I have to admit that I am guilty of this. I do not do it for the photo op but rather for my kids (4-9 yrs...mainly the 4 year old)who like to play with the bass in the livewell. I usually only put the small 14-15 in bass in the well for them to play with. I usually throw the bigger ones back immediately. Actually, just this past weekend at the end of the day when throwing back the bass I mistakenly left one in the well. I got home and while organizing my culling balls (they play with those too) I noticed I left a bass in the well. It now resides in my freezer ready to get eaten. It was only 14 inches. Relax.

My point was that with as many tourneys happening every day on any given lake many fish are dying in live wells and the time it takes for weigh ins. Tourney promoters or someone needs to bring technology up so these fish have a better survival rate or implement a new procedure such as MLF. I fish because I enjoy it, catch a fish, if it's picture worthy I take a quick pic and release it. I have been away from fishing for 25 years. Built a business and got involved in other hobbies. Just started fishing again a year ago at all the same lakes I fished before. I can't say what has caused it, but many times I go without a bite or only catch small fish... fishing pressure, big fish being caught and kept, not sure. Just my opinion. I know at the end of the day they are just fish, but why not take an extra measure to see that future generations have fish to catch. And no, you shouldn't buy a new boat, especially if your livewell is working and your success rate is that good. But I have seen livewells that I wouldn't keep an old pair of shoes in!

For Tourney Fishing, how about certified electric scales and some photo recognition app. You weight document and release. Would go to a live DB and you could have an evergreen board similar to MLF. As much as we spend on Technology we can do this

My son wants to do you tube and I'm all for it...Just because you don't agree that doesn't make it wrong...Too each his own...These kids bring more kids to fishing than anyone period along with High School fishing...Fishing was losing people left and right til High School fishing and You tube came along...When the big wigs couldn't figure out how to bring people to fishing a kid with a video camera knows how to get 100,000 people to watch him lol...

This is coming but still a few years away.

Great Post mark its post like this that probably needs to remind everyone about how to take care of our resources cause someday they may be gone if we all don't appreciate and respect them.

My fishin partner scooped this one up on Fork a few days ago. Classic example of a Bass that flopped all over the carpet.