Texas Fishing Forum

bad fish care

Posted By: elkhartdom

bad fish care - 07/11/16 01:21 AM

its that time of year again, when we really all need to start thinking about good fish care, and I have an example from Sat/Sun
yesterday "Saturday" after fishing at Palestine, during a major tournament, things were looking pretty good. This morning "sunday" fishing from the villages where the major had been held, my club members and I counted over 20 DEAD bass in the marina proper, from 3 to 6 lbs each.
Now I don't blame the tourney or its people, I blame the people who came in with either stressed or dead fish that were put back in at the villages.
We all need to start treating these fish as a resourse, just think of all the babys now that will not be made by those great fish that were thrown back either so stressed they died, or were already dead. Thankfully tpw stocks blacks, a loss like that in a state like California, would be devastating to a lake as they no longer stock black bass.
Put some additive in your livewells people, add some ice if its over 85 degree water temp, lets keep these great fish we all love to catch alive for as long as possible. Our lakes can be depleated to a point where bass are no longer available for us to catch.

Sorry this is my rant for the week, but it just made me sick seeing all those beautys dead at the marina at the villages.
Posted By: Brent S

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 01:39 AM

Good post. Always add ice, additive, and keep the water recirculating.
Posted By: Bobby Milam

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 03:19 AM

Saw it on Pool also a couple of weeks ago. Launched after the tournament ended and would see floaters in the marina.
Posted By: the skipper

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 11:28 AM

Sadly, a lot of tournament people care more about that weekend fix than they do about the effects on fish. They put on a good act about caring for the resource and catch and release is all they do, blah blah. Truth is if tournaments were cancelled because they can't take care of fish it would be a LOT bigger deal than dead fish.
Posted By: Longeye

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 12:22 PM

Overblown
Posted By: elkhartdom

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 04:52 PM

Originally Posted By: Longeye
Overblown

Overblown?
Posted By: Mike_Soriano™

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 05:00 PM

popcorn
Posted By: Bass Buster1

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 05:58 PM

I just say eat them if they are dead or dying instead of wasting them. It is not like fried bass tastes bad, it is good eats!
Posted By: Jeezy

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 06:07 PM

Originally Posted By: Bass Buster1
I just say eat them if they are dead or dying instead of wasting them. It is not like fried bass tastes bad, it is good eats!


I think there is a good chance that the people who released them didn't know they were dying.

I love tourneys so I'm not pointing fingers, but I often wonder if it would be better for the resource if we didn't have tourneys during the summer.
Posted By: SteezMacQueen

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 06:26 PM

Originally Posted By: Longeye
Overblown


Bass Lives Matter! bolt
Posted By: elkhartdom

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 06:46 PM

My thought is if you release it, and it floats, pretty good chance it is dead, if the gills are not red and it don't move its a pretty good chance its dead. Like I said, I don't want to point fingers at media or anyone else, but if your releasing from a tournament, you can pretty well tell whats alive and what aint when you put it into the water.
Point is, most were probably dead when weighed, and yes eating them is a heck of a better idea than leaving them to rot in the water, a better idea is TAKE CARE OF THEM WHEN YOU CATCH THEM!!!!!!!!!
Posted By: Jeezy

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 06:52 PM

Originally Posted By: elkhartdom
its that time of year again, when we really all need to start thinking about good fish care, and I have an example from Sat/Sun
yesterday "Saturday" after fishing at Palestine, during a major tournament, things were looking pretty good. This morning "sunday" fishing from the villages where the major had been held, my club members and I counted over 20 DEAD bass in the marina proper, from 3 to 6 lbs each.
Now I don't blame the tourney or its people, I blame the people who came in with either stressed or dead fish that were put back in at the villages.
We all need to start treating these fish as a resourse, just think of all the babys now that will not be made by those great fish that were thrown back either so stressed they died, or were already dead. Thankfully tpw stocks blacks, a loss like that in a state like California, would be devastating to a lake as they no longer stock black bass.
Put some additive in your livewells people, add some ice if its over 85 degree water temp, lets keep these great fish we all love to catch alive for as long as possible. Our lakes can be depleated to a point where bass are no longer available for us to catch.

Sorry this is my rant for the week, but it just made me sick seeing all those beautys dead at the marina at the villages.


I guess I'm maybe not understanding this post completely. I thought you meant after the weigh-in on Saturday things looked fine, then Sunday morning there were floaters.
Posted By: Fishingking

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 07:18 PM

popcorn This is going to get good
Posted By: Cast

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 07:21 PM

Do they offer the dead bass to the public? I'd fill an ice chest fast.
Posted By: fouzman

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 07:27 PM

Looking at the results, there were 105 fish weighed, 104 live fish released. TPWD has done more than one study documenting post-release mortality in largemouth bass caught during tournaments. Mortality is >30%. 104 x 30% = 31.2 fish. I'd say the loss you witnessed is about normal.

No amount of good fish care and handling is going to eliminate fish loss, especially during this time of year. Tournaments love to tout their weigh/ live release ratios because it gives the false impression that the organizations are protecting our resource. Quietly, they probably could have told you at the scales which fish would make it and which would float within 24 hours. 104 released out of 105 looks great on paper but, when it's really more like 74 out of 105 that survive, no one wants to talk about that publicly.

In the big scheme of things, 30% was nothing since they could have legally kept all 105 bass. But if we want to truly protect the resource and cut down on fish loss, quit fishing tournaments in the dead of summer.

p.s. - Since when is 36 entries a MAJOR tournament? No offense to the Champions.
Posted By: Jeezy

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 07:28 PM

Originally Posted By: fouzman
Looking at the results, there were 105 fish weighed, 104 live fish released. TPWD has done more than one study documenting post-release mortality in largemouth bass caught during tournaments. Mortality is >30%. 104 x 30% = 31.2 fish. I'd say the loss you witnessed is about normal.

No amount of good fish care and handling is going to eliminate fish loss, especially during this time of year. Tournaments love to tout their weigh/ live release ratios because it gives the false impression that the organizations are protecting our resource. Quietly, they probably could have told you at the scales which fish would make it and which would float within 24 hours. 104 released out of 105 looks great on paper but, when it's really more like 74 out of 105 that survive, no one wants to talk about that publicly.

In the big scheme of things, 30% was nothing since they could have legally kept all 105 bass. But if we want to truly protect the resource and cut down on fish loss, quit fishing tournaments in the dead of summer.


Made my point much better than I could make it.
Posted By: Jarrett Latta

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 07:38 PM

All the fish care in the world isn't going to help bass being dumped into shallow warm water. If they get disoriented and stay for any length of time like they normally do, they are going to die. It also depends on the TD's tank set up. I've seen many of them have hot water out in the sun.
Posted By: elkhartdom

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 08:25 PM

Originally Posted By: CoachCBA
Originally Posted By: elkhartdom
its that time of year again, when we really all need to start thinking about good fish care, and I have an example from Sat/Sun
yesterday "Saturday" after fishing at Palestine, during a major tournament, things were looking pretty good. This morning "sunday" fishing from the villages where the major had been held, my club members and I counted over 20 DEAD bass in the marina proper, from 3 to 6 lbs each.
Now I don't blame the tourney or its people, I blame the people who came in with either stressed or dead fish that were put back in at the villages.
We all need to start treating these fish as a resourse, just think of all the babys now that will not be made by those great fish that were thrown back either so stressed they died, or were already dead. Thankfully tpw stocks blacks, a loss like that in a state like California, would be devastating to a lake as they no longer stock black bass.
Put some additive in your livewells people, add some ice if its over 85 degree water temp, lets keep these great fish we all love to catch alive for as long as possible. Our lakes can be depleated to a point where bass are no longer available for us to catch.

Sorry this is my rant for the week, but it just made me sick seeing all those beautys dead at the marina at the villages.


I guess I'm maybe not understanding this post completely. I thought you meant after the weigh-in on Saturday things looked fine, then Sunday morning there were floaters.

I was not in that tourney, but we launched at the villages, and when we came in at 320 they were just starting there weigh in, so we didn't see any floaters at that time.
To help the fish, we actually did 2 weigh ins, at 10:30 and 3:30. That was so they didn't have to spend all day in the live wells. Actually Calif has the right idea, all bass tournaments between June 1 and Sept 1 are limited to a 6 hour tourney. Might not be too bad an idea for all states.
Posted By: Frank the Tank

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 08:29 PM

http://www.scout.com/outdoors/wired2fish/story/1681783-how-to-keep-bass-alive-in-livewells
Posted By: Frank the Tank

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 08:29 PM

popcorn
Posted By: WAWI

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 08:43 PM

I sense a train wreck about to happen.
Posted By: Jeezy

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 08:58 PM

Originally Posted By: elkhartdom
Originally Posted By: CoachCBA
Originally Posted By: elkhartdom
its that time of year again, when we really all need to start thinking about good fish care, and I have an example from Sat/Sun
yesterday "Saturday" after fishing at Palestine, during a major tournament, things were looking pretty good. This morning "sunday" fishing from the villages where the major had been held, my club members and I counted over 20 DEAD bass in the marina proper, from 3 to 6 lbs each.
Now I don't blame the tourney or its people, I blame the people who came in with either stressed or dead fish that were put back in at the villages.
We all need to start treating these fish as a resourse, just think of all the babys now that will not be made by those great fish that were thrown back either so stressed they died, or were already dead. Thankfully tpw stocks blacks, a loss like that in a state like California, would be devastating to a lake as they no longer stock black bass.
Put some additive in your livewells people, add some ice if its over 85 degree water temp, lets keep these great fish we all love to catch alive for as long as possible. Our lakes can be depleated to a point where bass are no longer available for us to catch.

Sorry this is my rant for the week, but it just made me sick seeing all those beautys dead at the marina at the villages.


I guess I'm maybe not understanding this post completely. I thought you meant after the weigh-in on Saturday things looked fine, then Sunday morning there were floaters.

I was not in that tourney, but we launched at the villages, and when we came in at 320 they were just starting there weigh in, so we didn't see any floaters at that time.
To help the fish, we actually did 2 weigh ins, at 10:30 and 3:30. That was so they didn't have to spend all day in the live wells. Actually Calif has the right idea, all bass tournaments between June 1 and Sept 1 are limited to a 6 hour tourney. Might not be too bad an idea for all states.


Gotcha.

That's what our club does in the summer, though I'll admit it's more because we don't want to be in the heat all day.
Posted By: Jarrett Latta

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 09:18 PM

Or go to 3 fish limits
Posted By: Hobbs McAvoy

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 09:39 PM

I saw the tourney photos yesterday and my first thought was there were going to be a lot of dead fish floating in the marina. I'm not doubting the 104 were alive when weighed but it sure looked like some were taking their last gasps. It is what it is. I am in favor of keeping and eating the ones that don't look like they will survive. It was obvious from the photos that some were done. July, August and usually half of September is probably not a good idea to have bass tourneys in Texas. JMO
Posted By: Bass Buster1

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 09:58 PM

Or...stop having so many dang tournaments(believe it or not you can have fun fishing when not in a tournament or pre fishing for a tournament) or have a fish fry with all legally caught fish.
Posted By: Neches

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 10:45 PM

Originally Posted By: Jaret Latta
All the fish care in the world isn't going to help bass being dumped into shallow warm water. If they get disoriented and stay for any length of time like they normally do, they are going to die. It also depends on the TD's tank set up. I've seen many of them have hot water out in the sun.

I never have liked to see tournament fish being released in the Villages marina, it only takes a few more steps and to be careful on the rocks and turn them loose on the lake side of the marina. I think a stressed fish will have a better chance of making it in the main lake where they can go down to cooler water and maybe overcome their problems.
Posted By: Neal G

Re: bad fish care - 07/11/16 11:30 PM

I fished a very small team tournament with 24 boats on Rayburn this past Saturday. 15 bass were weighed in dead. Another tournament guy was helping me by holding my weigh in bag as I pumped the livewell out - he then makes a comment that my "water was cool" as the livewell water was being pumped out and into the bag at 3:45 PM. Nice guy - but he asked why. I do not know the guy and I may have interpreted him wrong but my guess is that they were not cooling the livewell water down on his boat.

I guess what I am saying is that there needs to be more motivation to learn how and to keep the fish alive during the hot weather months. One way to do so would be to have much stiffer penalties for weighing in dead bass and some sort of spelled out criteria for the TDs during the weigh in process and post weighing fish handling.

I understand that some fish will die regardless but there is clearly room for improvement. Ice is cheap in comparison to boats, lodging, gas and entry fees.
Posted By: JG ZX250

Re: bad fish care - 07/12/16 12:07 AM

Why don't all those concerned start self policing the weigh in. You got a cell phone, so just take a video of the people releasing the dead fish, and then give it to the game warden so they can write some fines for game waste.
Posted By: Bobby Milam

Re: bad fish care - 07/12/16 01:23 AM

Originally Posted By: Bass Buster1
Or...stop having so many dang tournaments(believe it or not you can have fun fishing when not in a tournament or pre fishing for a tournament) or have a fish fry with all legally caught fish.


Will never happen as long as money is involved. I'd guess tournaments are the only reason about 1/4-1/2 of the people fish.
Posted By: Redfoxone

Re: bad fish care - 07/12/16 01:28 AM

Or until the GW's starts enforcing the waste of fish law.
Posted By: Razorback

Re: bad fish care - 07/12/16 02:01 AM

We fish night tournaments in the summer. I put a bag of ice in each live well right before I put the boat in the water and have a cooler full of ice and frozen water bottles to keep the water cool throughout the night.

I also use Please Release Me and run my aerators on continuous from the time the first fish goes in.

What worries me is putting fish that have been in my cool, treated live wells back into an 88 degree lake after weigh-in.
Posted By: Razorback

Re: bad fish care - 07/12/16 02:06 AM

The thing that really drives me crazy is seeing people hold fish out of the water for so long taking pictures when they get to the weigh-in. I wonder if they could hold their breath for 3-4 minutes and then swim off healthy if someone held them underwater that long.
Posted By: Happykamper

Re: bad fish care - 07/12/16 12:36 PM

I wonder if live wells are the problem, I have never had a problem losing fish, ever, hell it is harder to catch them out of my wells than it was to catch them from the lake.
Posted By: Brent S

Re: bad fish care - 07/12/16 12:49 PM

Originally Posted By: Happykamper
I wonder if live wells are the problem, I have never had a problem losing fish, ever, hell it is harder to catch them out of my wells than it was to catch them from the lake.


Same here. Fill up the Wells early with the cooler water. Drop the temp some with ice, but not so much that its a shock. Put some additive in and recirculation on. Never seem to have any issue with fish.
Posted By: SteezMacQueen

Re: bad fish care - 07/12/16 12:54 PM

Only time I've ever lost a fish it was my fault. I accidentally turned off the recirculate switch with my knee getting up from the console. Sucked. I felt bad. Now, I always check....every time....to make sure it's on. No problems other than that one time.

Also, I have never had to use an additive. I make sure the water temp is the same in the livewell as the water temp in the lake. Good to go.
Posted By: the skipper

Re: bad fish care - 07/12/16 05:00 PM

Originally Posted By: Razorback
We fish night tournaments in the summer. I put a bag of ice in each live well right before I put the boat in the water and have a cooler full of ice and frozen water bottles to keep the water cool throughout the night.

I also use Please Release Me and run my aerators on continuous from the time the first fish goes in.

What worries me is putting fish that have been in my cool, treated live wells back into an 88 degree lake after weigh-in.

Thats a sure enough killer as is putting them in the cool water straight out of the lake.
Posted By: Neal G

Re: bad fish care - 07/12/16 06:24 PM

Just keep your livewell water 75-80 degrees with circulation/chemicals. The whole weighing in process stresses the fish - livewell to bag w/water to bag/basket without water to bag with TDs water or a rushed trip to the release boat or dock. The better condition your fish are in before going through all of this makes a huge difference.

Granted there are some fish living in 90 degree shallow water but anyone that swims in a lake knows that 5 feet down it is much cooler than the surface temp. You are not going to shock kill your fish by keeping your livewell water 75-80 and everyone should know better than to release fish in shallow/stagnant/hot water such as in shallow coves.
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