If you are fishing a tournament that won't let you weigh in a dead fish (or "release it"), then what would stop you from moving it to a cooler immediately upon discovering it has died? You've already set up the scenario that it can't be weighed, so it's out of play, and into the cooler it can go!

No matter how well you treat your fish that you plan to weigh in at 3pm, guess what happens to them when you walk them down to the ramp after the tourney? You're right, golden eye. No fish can live through and acclimate back to normal hot lake temps in the summer. Kill 'em now or kill 'em later, Save 1/2lb penalty and delay it a little.....It's all part of the eco-system. Fish are made to die. There's more out there...go getcha some!

Frank, how do those do anything when the boat sits off-pad for 90% of the day? I've never been convinced of that gimmick.

I was raised to respect nature and not waste it. They can for the most part acclimate back if "sportsman" cared enough to do it right. Unfortunately to many, they are just a way to play a game and try to make money. You understand you are part of the eco system also and you are made to die but I bet you expect to get every opportunity to extend that as long as possible. I understand that fish will die and that's just part of life but to not attempt to make an effort to lower the numbers on what is a finite resource is just ridiculous. Hopefully most were raised a little better than you and the fish will be here for future generations.

Well we could just take em home and fillet them.

Tournament directors and or the contestants should really make an effort to hide tournament bass kills like that from the prying eyes of the public at all cost. Summer tournament bass kills are a big PR deal these days. Ray Scott (Mr. B.A.S.S.) recognized that tournament bass kills was a serious PR problem half a century ago and C&R was born.

Dead tournament bass floating up around a public boat ramp is not, never has been and never will be a fishery conservation problem with the great restocking programs run by State Fish and Game agencies and that’s all FREE. Summer bass kills like this have always been a serious public relation problem for the tournament directors only if and when the media discovers the fish kill. When the media starts taking pics and writing about the kill floating up and stinking the place up, that is a problem.
Regardless of where those fish were dumped or who is/was responsible for dumping them at that boat ramp… why do you think all those fish died after released alive anyway? Toxic water around the boat ramp poisoned those bass when they were dumped in it, maybe?

So don’t worry, be happy because the State Fish Hatcheries will definitely restock those bass fisheries for us and everything will good to go for the next tournament for years to come. You can bet the state bass fisheries are well protected, excellently managed and protected from any harm and restocked constantly by the State Fishery Departments in every state. And the tax payers shall always pick up the restocking cost. The whole system from the state hatcheries to the incidental summer bass tournament fish kills actually works extremely well, there will always be plenty of bass to catch and eat.

Brawndo... it's got what bass crave.

I have never been in a boat that had a live well with a pure oxygen system and diffusers until a few weeks ago. We fished some private lakes with a friend that does some pond management for some large private ranches. We were catching and relocating some 3lb and smaller bass from an existing pond to a new pond they had constructed. The boat we were in was a black aluminum boat with a non insulated livewell. The boat was HOT and the livewell water was like bath water. I mean this water was hot to the touch. However he had oxygen bottles and the proper diffusers. We were cramming up 25 fish at a time in this livewell and those fish were impossible to catch and move to the transfer tank. They were so lively. It blew my mind. I would not have believed it if I didn't see it with my own eyes. It made a believer out of me. Even the deep hooked fish seemed to recover quickly. I will be adding an oxygen system to my boat soon. If you look at all the people including the state that do fishery management and stocking, they are all running oxygen in their transfer tanks. Not sure why it took so long to start getting popular in bass boats.