The elite guys crushed the fish at falcon, and in the process crushed a great fishery, by killing alot of BIG fish,and I personally hope they never come back. You can't put over 80 lbs. of fish in a livewell and expect them to live,not to mention many of these fish where caught from deep water and air temps where in the high 90's.Believe what you want but they did kill alot fish.

the best one was when paul elias dropped an 8 lber on the second day weigh in...I couldn't help but laugh though

At least someone said it. I couldn't agree more. I hope they never come back.

over 95 percent of the fish are released alive every bassmasters tournament..... puralator guarentees it

Jaykendrick,where you there?

We did this to Conroe in the mid to late 90's when it took 25+# to win once they went deep the third week of May. You pull them from 18-25 ft in hot weather you are going to kill a few no matter how much you take care of them. We were releasing them alive 98% of the time but they did not all stay alive.

We just took it for granted that you could catch them like that forever. That wasn't the case.

Geesh, you had to know that this post was coming... Forget all of the revenue that that single tournament alone brought to your forsaken area and will continue to bring for years to come.

Yep, they caught and killed every fish in that lake, sure did.

Hey fish die at every tournament...These guys are extremely careful with their fish and take very good care of them...They lose weight for every dead fish that they weigh in...They did not look to sickly at the weigh in...Guys could barely hold on to them...and Keith Allen(the announcer) said that TPWD said they wish they would take some fish out because the lake needs it..Just my opinion...

I am sure that its just the Bassmaster elite anglers that kill fish on that lake.

There fish not people!! unless you were there you dont know

That tournament brought more revenue to the business around flacon that it would have seen in years without it.

Tpwd wanted B.A.S.S to keeps some of the fish and not return them to the water to help the bass population.. Trip Wedlon B.A.S.S tourney director stated that at the day 3 or 4 weight in but said that is not what we do....

I think B.A.S.S has the best fish system out with having release boats that travel and drop the fish off at different lake location instead at the launch ramp, like other big time tournamnets do....

Just imagine had they exercised their legal right and each competitor took his 5 fish limit to the frying pan each day? I'm sure everything was done to protect those fish but the truth is some will die. Its not the end of the world. If losing less than 20 fish from a lake is gonna shut it down I would think the lake has bigger issues than a tournament.

That lake is bad to the bone,, would love to go some day and I bet the fishing is still great after this event!!

I don't think the Bassmaster Pros are a problem. The real problem is the ignorant people filleting fish 5# and larger throughout the year and usually right before the spawn. They have a right to keep some fish for eating but they should be educated on keeping the smaller fish.
Just my 2 cents!

P.S. A correclty run livewell with some please release me will keep fish alive. This assumes that fisherman will bleed the air bladder if fish were caught from deep water.

You guys have no clue you don't under stand what a 7 to 10 lb. bass is to a fishery thats what makes lakes like falcon great.I, know you have fish die in all tour. but in most you dont have 10 fish of that size stuff in a livewell keep on denying it and say oh how much revenue it brought in. But the truth is the truth.

Hey champion just come to lake of the pines on any weekend and you will see it, we have a clue, dont take so personal falcon is so good becouse of the it was so low for so long, same for the lakes around here

Your right champ, your the only one that has witness big fish die and you are the only one effected. That's what I get from your message. We've dealt with it forever here on Fork. People holding fish out of the water forever, dropping them, etc, etc. It's a fact of life, get over it.

So take the time and tell us your credentials on fisheries management then educate all of us that are so lost on the matter.

I understand where you are coming from "champ203", I probably wouldn't want them coming and whacking my home lake for a week straight but, it happens and it will continue to happen...Bassmaster and FLW take extreme caution and pride in fish care and so do the anglers...Hey maybe they will try to put larger livewells in boats because of fisherys like this...Ohh and ya we do have a clue....

OH MY GOSH!!

You people are ruining the deer population of South Texas!!! With all the bass fishermen and tourists driving down to Zapata and Del Rio thousands of deer have been killed by being run over...

Stay off our Highways, we don't want you down there!!

waaaaaa waaaaaaaaaaaa


What is that whambulance I hear?

WOuld you like some cries with that whamburger?

Funny, but did they eliminate the gill nets on the Mexico side? Or do they only net certain size/species? Been years since I was at Falcon, but will never forget the boat loads of fish the netters had. They sure ruined that lake.

Isn't Tigre where lots of them fished over on the Mexico side with all those nets?

If they would have listened to TPWD (the experts) it probably would help the fishery, but assume BASS wouldn't want that publicity. Of course TPWD has ruined lots of our lakes like Falcon, Amistad, Fork, Alan Henry, .............

Falcon is just like every other lake. Falcon will peak and then decline, peak and decline. I remember a friends father bringing home ice chests full of 5 to 10 pound bass in the middle 1960's.
One major tournament cannot be blamed for Falcon demise, IF it happens.

Things are getting a little extreem on both sides.

I think what Champ203 is saying is that he doesn;t like seeing BASS swoop in, create a windstorm of pressure, then leave.

First off, TPWD doesn't help Falcon as much as you think. Falcon has a lot of other issues to deal with. BASS is now just another one.

At one time when Larry was alive he started a Save Falcon Lake Association. You can read some of the stories here http://www.falconlaketackle.com/local/local.htm

Just_Old_Fisherman beat me to it. Mexico takes out using gill nets every week what BASS took out of the lake for four days, and they don't release them. The same complaint could have been made at Amistad the last couple of years but BASS will prove them wrong the next time they are there.

TP&WD wouldn't even be stocking Texas lakes to begin with if it weren't for the great publicity that the lakes get. I doubt all those Falcon bass are natives to the Rio Grande.

Some people will complain no matter what, so I guess we should just ignore their complaints.

Well if BASS hurt the Falcon fishery then Rayburn should be completley empty of quality bass because there are hundreds of tournaments on Rayburn including many big bass tourneys during stressful times. Of course we all wish these events didn't occur and i'm sure the fishery would be better but the fact is that it hasn't hurt Rayburn yet. I see no reason one tournament has an impact long term. Mexico will have the biggest impact based on their future decisions.

I wonder what the BASS Mortality comparison to Mexican Gill nets is? Sure there will be fish that die in tournaments but BASS didn't scratch the surface of the number of Bass in that lake. Even if the "pressure" of other anglers increases, as long as the "Fillet Brothers from Michigan" don't EAT them ALL there should be no problem.
It really sounds like a West Coast Environmentalist outlook. "We must protect our fish, so therefore nobody should fish this lake." Never mind Jose in his Piro is stringing gill nets and selling ALL his fish to Long John Silver for the "Fish Stick Special"!

5 fish 42#'s, I would sing and dance all the way across the stage. I don't think that their is a tournament fisherman or just one of the guys that would not feel that way. Bass wrote the book that most of the big circuits follow for live release fish care.

The rumors in S Texas are that over 400 fish were killed. Call it a four pound average, that is 1600#'s. There is also a report that 15 fish over 10#'s were killed. No lake....and I mean no lake, can take that kind of abuse. Revenue means nothing if a lake is destroyed. If the reports are true, this is a tragedy to a great fishery. Time will tell.

Well if that is the case then every tournament from now on down there is going to kill thousands of fish. I doubt this is the case.

Jaret, go watch all the white bellies at the county ramp some Saturday afternoon after all the clubs just dump the fish in. It's not in the thousands, but it's a bunch.

When you bring proof of all these "dead fish" then you have a case, but until then let it rest....

The same rumor follows every major tournament.

The most fish that could be kept and weighed during the event was approx: 1310 total bass. So you are saying that 33% of these bass were killed? I gotta call BS. There is no way that BASS could have a fish kill of those proportions without TRUE and ACCURATE reports being shown on media outlets.

I'm not taking sides, but something is wrong with that math.

This link shows that 1386 fish were caught just by the 109 pros that fished. This doesn't count the backseaters.

http://proxy.espn.go.com/outdoors/bassmaster/media/tournament?tournamentId=1199

I goofed and left out the co anglers and I actually just based it on 100 pros which is why is aid approximate numbers. Past that you are still looking at close to a 20% mortatality rate that the rumors allude to which would be astronomical in this age of fishing. I know a few folks that attended the event and none have verified those claims. If someone has a link that actually states this it would be welcome.

I was at the tournament and I did see quite a few big fish floating in the host marina cove. I feel BASS took every precaution to see to it that the fish were taken care of. They would even completly stop the weigh in once the live release boats got to 600lbs and go release the fish.

I think the reason for the mild motality rate was due to post spawn deep fish that were stressed already. How many you think die in a BassChamps tournament?? Those south texas fish are so strong, I feel they stress themselves even harder when they are caught. BASS did everything they could to take care of those fish.

I totally agree with the theory on the netters. They will hurt the lake quicker than anything else. I personally saw some guys checking a net in the cove I was fishing and it contained several bass.

Man i bet the locals kill more big fish though out the yr with club touneys not haveing the kind of care given those fish that they get at the pro level. Every time I have been to a south tx lake I see big bass getting filet. Everyone needs to take care of there fish. But I am sure the greater issues to whine about then the pros fishing falcon.

You kinda nailed my thoughts. The BASS pros did not do anything to the lake that will ruin it.

BASS does create the buzz, that will cause that many more clubs to come down.

Also, gill nets do not hurt the bass fishing as much as you guys think. I have checked many over the years. They help clean out trash fish.

I was at Purtis Creek a little over a month ago, and saw some fishermen hold this little 2.5# maybe 3# fish out of the water for about 10 minutes while he and his buddy took pictures of this little fish. It was ridiculous and kind of funny, since these guys frequent this forum. I don't think I have ever seen two fishermen so proud of one single small fish.

Anyway to get back to the point of this post. C and R fishermen pride themselves on releasing everything they catch. But fact of the matter is that hot weather fishing will kill a huge percentage of the fish that are caught, put in a livewell for long periods of time,then released at the weigh in site.

Although, I think this is more of an issue in the heat of the summer months, even though it was hot down there, the water temps are not as hot as they get during the summer months.

I think that if I was a business owner from that part of the world, I would be ecstatic. The economic impact will be huge with allot of business headed that way as we type due to this single tourney. Allot of folks have always known how good this fishery is, now the entire world knows.

What BASS FLW and all other tournaments and tournament directors need to consider is having paper tournaments where the fish are weighed immediately, weights recorded, and the released. Everyone (sponsors, spectators, tv coverage) likes the classic photo of the tournament winner holding up his two biggest catches but we need to get over it and let the best breeding stock be put back in the lake right away. Paper tournaments are how trout tournaments are handled up north.

It's amazing how people make statements like the original post, when time and time again studies show that less than 2% of the total bass population in a lake ever get caught at all....

From what I heard the gill netters from Mexico are hauling in more 10lb bass than you could shake a stick at!

I think there lies a more serious problem!

I do not think your comparing apples to apples there Yankee doodle.

Whatever little 5 man trout tournaments your talking about are not teh same as BASS, or FLW.

The fast of the matter is there are more tournaments on Rayburn, and have been for 20 yrs than there will ever be at Falcon simply because of the location.

Look at the 30lb sacks coming out of Rayburn.
Anybody that looks at it as a whole, knows Bass, and other major trails do more good for anybody of water than bad. Champion203 is just crying simply because someone else caught his fish.

ZORRO Im not taking sides either but the BASS and FLW do take good care of their fish, but its those smaller tournaments and club tournaments that mess things up.I have seen alot of white bellies @ amistad especially @ Blackbrush ramp every sunday.Also people just dumping their sacks not even helping those fish.Their was an article here saying that about 30-35 percent of the fish being caught@ TOURNAMENTS LATER DIE. FISH ON.

How does that guy continue to sneak trout fishing into every post! AMAZING!

The torunaments I'm talking about are not little five man trout tournaments. They are salmon and steelhead tournaments held on lake Ontario the best fresh water fishing resource in the world with thousands of boats. Catching 50 pound salmon and 30 pound steel head draws more boats to the lake than any of your little dirty water bass tournaments. We take care of our fish and our lakes we don't fish during the spawn and we don't kill our fish during tournaments.

What are you talking about dirty water you should limit your words NY yankee. Maybe you should DIRTY WATER YOUR [censored] BACK to the SALMON FORUM INSTEAD.

Here we go.....

What's wrong with paper tournaments especially during the spawn. Fishing beds and Killing spawning females during tournaments can't be good for the fishery.

He's BAAAACK. Mr. Trout Hijacker.
Bass, Trout, Steelhead Salmon- No comparison. Go someplace else. Anywhere, but someplace. Surely you guys have Fishing forums up north. OH That's right you guys eat all your fish, so there is nothing left to talk about.
I can see guys now comming to the weigh in stage with a slip of paper. The bigger the paper or a different color could indicate how BIG the fish you caught!
Now back to the subject at hand.
There is always rumors about dead fish, and yes there are dead fish after tournaments. But that is a compressed fishing event and it does not reflect the daily fishermen. It is easy to say that Tournaments are bad, but can you say that ALL fishermen are bad when you don't see the same numbers during the week or after the tournaments have left the lake?

Give it up Yank. Just because you catch a fish off the bed does not mean it will die. In fact (personally) I use Circle Wacky hooks to