There's thousands of papers related to different species that have been published regarding catch and release.


https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C44&as_vis=1&q=fish+handling+practices+study+catch+and+release&btnG=

There are, but but I started reading publications from TPWD to get information that is more easily digested. TPWD put out a Short Report discussing dissolved oxygen, water temperature, and the oxygen levels required to keep fish healthy.

Even if your fish seem healthy after weigh in, it could take up to five days for them to succumb to the effects of inadequate oxygen. Tournament fish mortality with water temperatures over 75 degrees is exponentially higher than tournaments with water temperatures at 65 degrees. One tournament studied was as high as 50% fish mortality (including delayed mortality). Big fish are especially susceptible to mortality.

Running aerators all day combined with icing can still lead to delayed mortality. It doesn't make sense that trolling motors cost $3,000 and you can read Goodyear on a tire in 12 feet of water with your side imaging, but very little emphasis is placed on updates to livewell design and fish care.

tons have been published; some good, some not so...

During college then in the first 4+ years of my professional career I worked in the home aquarium industry that focused on fish care and water quality in closed system aquariums. In my opinion, there isn't a shortage of bass in our lakes, and it doesn't matter if you practice C&R, keep your 5 a day to eat or keep your best 5 for a tournament. These limits were all set based on what TPWD feels a lake's population can sustain. You aren't going to have any significant impact on the population of bass in a lake. Yes, there are some exceptions on lakes like Falcon and possibly Toledo.

The OP talked about the affects of keeping fish out of the water for an extended period of time (3 minutes +). When compared to keeping them in your live well all day, the stress is 100X on the fish kept in a live well all day vs one kept out of the water. And stress is the biggest killed of fish in the compared scenarios. Stress can cause the protective slime coat of the fish to break down which can and will lead to parasitic and/or fungal infections. This is why products such as Please Release Me and other live well additives can be so helpful as they all help encourage slime coat production while in the live wells.

I put an aquarium type 12v air pump with 2 hoses and stones in the livewell, use please release me and make sure the water is circulated and new pumped in about every 2-3 hrs.
best I can do with what I have.


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