It really doesn't matter how good BASS is at fish care after the fact some big fish will have been in the livewell 8-9hrs before BASS even touches them. You'd think something as simple as pure oxygen systems provided for the contestants would be considered. 100k rigs, thousands in tackle, etc and a simple $250 oxygen system could ensure quality livewell care.
I’ve been watching this thread and want to share with you a few my thoughts, experience and published fishery science facts with you Latta and other interested and participating in this thread.
You are right about that dreaded 8-9 hour transport in summer bass boat livewell with poor/deadly water quality seen particularly in hot summer tournaments. It is well documented by fishery science that chronic sustained livewell suffocation is a very serious problem every summer for many C&R tournament fishermen. Chronic suffocation coupled with extreme sustained capture/transport stress is a killer for fish. Man also does poorly when continuous confined in hypoxic environments and serious life or death stress too.
Here’s a very interesting piece with references about the concept and origin of C&R bass tournament fishing and the contestants, commonly called the “Bubba’s” by Ray and his boys back in the early 1970’s. The formative years of C&R has always be no more than a public relations strategy to pacify public opinion and that damn nuisance whining by active environmental activist.
CATCH AND RELEASE FISHING TOURNAMENTS, THE NEW B.A.S.S. CONCEPThttps://oxyedge-chum.com/catch-and-release-fishing-tournaments-b-a-s-s-history/ It’s really all about manipulating public perception, manipulating personal egos for status and profits, flashy fishing uniforms, sun glasses and lots of money, money, money circulating … that’s all. And the State game agencies keep lakes well stocked for bass tournaments. Its business management and altering public perception of C&R that count.
Best possible bass care happens in the BassMaster Classic only when the fishery experts and B.A.S.S. take possession of the catch. They transport live bass with $100K live release boats and most importantly state of the art compressed oxygen injection systems maintain continuous safe oxygen levels for all the fish in the tank. Bass do not suffocate when in their possession, the public is watching then.
The bass killer is the bass boats that have deadly livewell water quality, no oxygen injection systems and those 8-9 hour transports on hot summer day. Seventy thousand dollar bass boats come with aerators, 3-4 livewell water pumps and livewell lid air vents is definitely insures inferior water quality that is far less than the best bass care provided when B.A.S.S. takes possession of the fish at the weigh-in using those compressed oxygen injection system.
Most of you have probably never seen, heard of or read this publication. After all it was published over 2 decades ago. This publication is no more than a quick look at some of the historical discoveries, paradigm advancements about improving tournament fish care and live fish transport practices. To date many tournament operations do provide and require the best bass care possibly. As for the contestants, nothing much has changed since C&R began back in the early 1970’s.
It is still acceptable for the contestants to provide far less than the best bass care possible to date. After all, a tournament official certifies the contestant bass boat as having a “functional livewell” or the boat is disqualified on the spot, right?
Some of you may have wondered what the words “functional livewell” really mean. Google “functional livewell,wiki” and see what these words mean if you have a spare minute and you’re interested in the meaning of words like this. I did.
Bass boat lvewells that are not functional do kill and maim bass because of poor or deadly water quality. Air pumps, air ventures, air bubblers and 2-3 water pumps and those air vents installed in livewell lids are cheap and popular, even come free in bass boats. Aeration systems are popular, cheap and fine with 1 or 2 small bass in the livewell on an 8 hour transport but those contestants with 1-2 bass never win any tournament $$ and won’t win either.
Add 10-25 lbs. or more bass weight in the livewell and there are serious problems insuring minimal safe dissolved oxygen concentrations/saturations delivered continuously resulting in bass slowly suffocating in summer tournaments every summer. Open your livewell lid every 10-15 minutes to see what has died, what is sickly or floating upside down, what is about to die before you can race to the weighing with gills still moving a little, but all of you already know how that summertime tournament routine goes.
If any bass boat livewell is certified as a “Functional livewell” that means the official that examined and tested the livewell has certified the bass boat livewell to keep all the catch alive all day. Tournament mortality should be zip if the livewell is really functional they claim and the blast-off is on.
Here’s a B.A.S.S. oldie, but it’s still a goodie and applicable today!
The original
KEEPING BASS ALIVE: A Guidebook for Anglers and Tournament Organizers Gene Gilliland Oklahoma Fishery Research Laboratory Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation Norman, Oklahoma 73072 Hal Schramm U.S. Geological Survey Mississippi Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit Mississippi State University Mississippi State, Mississippi 39762 Bruce Shupp National Conservation Director B.A.S.S.® Montgomery, Alabama 36117 Published by: ESPN Productions, Inc/B.A.S.S. 5845 Carmichael Rd. Montgomery, Alabama, 36117 Editor: James Hall Art Director: Aaron Fraze Cover Illustration: Craig Shook Copyright 2002 B.A.S.S.® Montgomery, Alabama
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSHelpful reviews of this booklet were provided by Steven Cook, Illinois natural History Survey; Tod Driscoll, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department; David Kinser, Oxygenation Systems of Texas; Will Kirkpatrick, Broadus, TX; Bill Anderson, Rick Horton and Kevin Richards, Missouri department of Conservation; and B.A.S.S. staff members: Don Corkran, Mark Cosper, Chuck Harbin, Dewey Kendrick, Dean Kessel, George McNeilly, Dave Precht, Al Smith, Diehl Unger and Trip Weldon. - pg iii
CONTENTS Why Bass Die — Initial and Delayed Mortality Injury . . pg 4 Water Temperature . . .pg 5
Dissolved Oxygen . . pg 5 Water Quality . . pg 6 Stress . . pg 7 The Angler’s Role in Improving Survival of Released Bass Hooking and Handling . . pg 9
I
n the Livewell . . pg 11 Other Considerations . . pg 21
How the Tournament Organizer Ensures High Survival The Weigh-in Site . . pg 23 The Weigh-in Process . .pg 24
Life Support Tanks . .pg 26 Weighing the Fish . . pg 28
The Salt Dip . . pg 29 Releasing the Fish . . pg 30
Other Considerations . . pg 33 Appendix Improving Livewell Aeration Systems . . pg 34
Constructing a Life Support Tank(s) . . pg 35 Constructing Fish Transport Tank(s) for Trailer or Boat. . pg 36 Constructing a Pressurized Oxygen Delivery System . . pg 37Sources for Materials . . pg 39 References . . pg 40
CHEMICALS -- pg 21Another chemical that has sometimes been used to treat livewell or holding tank water is
Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2). Hydrogen Peroxide breaks down into oxygen and water in the presence of organic matter. However, this chemical can injure fish and should not be used. Most people have used this colorless, odorless, tasteless liquid to disinfect a cut or scratch. You can see it fizzing and bubbling on the skin as it oxidizes. Now imagine what it does in a livewell full of bass. The bass’ mucus coating protects its skin from the oxidation reaction, but there is no such protective coating on the delicate gill filaments. Unfortunately, anglers that use Hydrogen Peroxide think that is a little is good, a little more should be better. Wrong! Damage to gill filaments, suffocation, and death may result.
DO NOT USE HYDROGEN PEROXIDE IN THE LIVEWELL - pg 21CONCLUSION: Some fishermen and tournament directors do chose to provide the best tournament bass care possible, most do not chose the best bass care possible regardless of the available fish care science literature addressing safe live fish transports, keeping fish alive and healthy for live release or fresh fish for human consumption. Many fishermen recite many excuses to avoid providing the best bass care possible.
The average bass tournament fisherman consider the best transport care is definitely not worth all the effort, the cost or the trouble to provide the best bass care possible in 2021. A couple years ago Bass Cat Boats and TP&WD Inland Fisheries came out with a livewell O2 injection system. Both TP&WD and Bass Cat boats used identical components in their O2 injection systems.
Both TP&WD and Bass Cat Boats O2 injection livewell systems using pure compressed oxygen failed were poorly marketed resulting in cstastrophic rejection and sales failures. Both were totally rejected by bass tournament anglers and passed quietly into oblivion of marketing failures. So much for summer bass care water quality and the physical damage that resulted in that 8-9 hour high stress boat ride caused during that live transport to the weigh-in. Regardless of current fishery science, tournament bass fishermen and all but 1 bass boat manufacturer(Bass Cat Boats) had absolutly no interest or motivation to provide safer livewell water quality for live bass transports in summer bass tournaments.
It is really easy tonow to tell the difference between which Tournament officials and contestants are willing and do provide the best summer tournament bass care possible and who is not willing to provide the best bass care possible. Many tournament officials and contestentants are content proviing far less than the best summer bass tournament care possible for 8-9 hour bass boat transports.
Now anyone/everyone that has eyes can tell the difference can see the difference betweeh the best bass care possible and far less than the best bass care possible. Just look for those
big red signs that say "NO SMOKING - OXYGEN IN USE," oxygen injection systems and compressed O2 tanks in bass boats, at weigh-in holding tanks and those live release transport boats bubbling pure oxygen into the transport water containing tournament bass or any other species of C&R tournament fish (redfish, catfish, crappie, speckled trout, flounder, walleye and the list goes on).
Oxygen does not discriminate between fish or man. Physiologically, fish either have safe concentrations/saturations of dissolved oxygen during live transports the oxygen levels are insufficient and unsafe enough to be alive and healthy. Tournament bass do become sickly and often die from lack of dissolved ofygen in livewell water causing chronic suffocation and sustained hypoxic stress (the worst most serious stress).
Actually lack of oxygen resulting in cellular hypoxia will is the root cause of how we all shall die someday… cellular O2 deprivation, just like a fish suffering from hours of chronic lack of oxygen while being trapped is a bass boat livewell and being transported in that bass boat livewell on any hot summer tournament day.
Remember, when the end of your life draws near that chronic sustained hypoxia is actual
“Coup de Grace.” It's the same deal for every fish, rats, cats, snakes, spiders and all other other aerobes too.
Hope all of you had a great Memorial Day week-end and please remember all the Vets collectively that gave everything protecting our freedoms, rights, values and our way of life set out by our forefathers the past 250 years.