Simply require TD to pay for a permit for each fishing tournament. That cost would trickle down to entry fees of the individual angler. That fee would go towards purchasing fingerlings to restock the lake that the permit was implemented for. I would not trust anyone in a paper tournament. Not that they all would intentionally cheat, but too many instances for mistakes or errors. Regular tournaments could not afford to put marshalls in all of the boats.
I would also limit the number of tournaments each year on a given lake based on the number of entries in each tournament relative to the size of the lake and fish population of that given lake.

Horseplay why don't we just stop fishing all together would that make u happy well guys lets gets more regulations going on some half baked data thanks horseplay way to be a real thought provoking person

I'm 46 years old and have fished my entire life. Have fished several tournaments over the last 10-15 years, but the last several years I only fish big Bass tournaments which limits the time a fish spends in the livewell and one tournament a year that is an adult /youth tournament with my son. So I know a little bit about this subject. Regulations are for people who can't regulate themselves.

this isnt news though since its been known for quite some time but it gets put on the back burner around lakes because of the money tournaments bring to the area of course. A real shame but the way it is.

I like the MLF format,its great that TP&W will furnish scales,but who would supply judges for each boat,that to me would seem to be the biggest problem with these type of tourneys.

If the overall weights and numbers of fish in Tournaments keep getting higher, as the they have, how can there be a problem?

One other "option" that could be applied in some tournaments would be to do what the kayak events do (by necessity) . . . measure the length of fish and release them.

For anyone who is not familiar with these rules, kayak anglers lay their bass across a measuring device, then snap a photo of it with their hand holding the fish around its widest girth so the head and tail can be seen and properly adjudged.

Instead of carrying a bag of fish to be weighed, you turn in your camera chip.

No, not perfect, but at least another option to consider.

Brad

I agree Brad R. I just spent a year in Massachusetts without my bass boat. I bought a kayak and fished kayak tournaments while I was up there. They used an app called Tourney X where you register for the tournament and upload your catch. It was fairly easy to use after you got used to it. You are also issued an identifier the morning of the tournament that has to also be in the pic. It worked out really well.

Come on Guys , a little come sense goes a long way , we don't need scientists to prove bass will die after being caught , let's think about this, put in live well , put in weight bag , put on scale , put back in weight bag , put back in different part of lake . I'm only 62 , been fishing as long as I can remember .

tournament bass fishing has been going on for 40 plus years....at almost all of our lakes,the fishing is as good or better than it was years ago...in fact,most of the lakes would be benefitted by taking some of the smaller fish out of them..look at falcon a few years ago when water was high and they had abundant cover in the lake....there were gill nets all over the Mexican side and the fishing was still fabulous...(there was enough cover for the bass to reproduce plus escape from cormorants and alligator gar)
IMHO the DNR needs to have the guts to stand up to the tree-huggers/lakeside homeowners and get rid of the cormorants/alligator gar and grass carp.....in older lakes with no cover on barren mud flats,they need to be out there planting hydrilla instead of spraying it....

Weigh and release is a great format, but not logistic feasible (trained judges) on most Texas tourn. trails.

I caught a 6lber yesterday she had a pretty good size hole in her bottom jaw probably from a cull ring guess she was one of the 85-40% that survive

Powroznik caught one yesterday in the BASS Classic bracket match that still had whole culling ring attached to it.

I'm not saying your not right but if you ask just about anybody on the big popular lakes, they don't fish anywhere close to the way they used to. I agree with everybody else that hydrilla is the best answer. It's proven itself on many lakes

I don't belive anything I hear and only half of what I see.

Back in the day, it was 100%..............they got ate!!