I think this a legitimate topic. Im sure BASS has all their ducks in a row for it. But the hour back and forth and being the Classic has not been done in June. The Classic is normally held around March. But with temps right now, I dont think its a big concern.

They are only taking two fish per contestant on Friday and Saturday to Fart Worth . On Sunday they take all the fish the final 25 have in there live wells .

TPWD got involved. Why would BASS care about our resource?

input the "he's right you know" meme here ^^^^^

yes, it lets air in and gasses escape and works beautifully. I got rid of my useless O2 system and now only run VT-2 vents, to each his own

Am I the only one that thinks it is kinda weird that they are closing public access to a public park on a public lake? I would think they would want fans in the video shots and kids having access to pros etc..

I am glad they are going to at least try to keep some of the fish healthy although the ones they will be transporting (the two biggest) are the ones most at risk of dying from stress. As long as what dies gets treated with a little seasoned cornmeal and peanut oil I don't have much of a problem with it.

The sky is Falling the sky is falling!

I believe the launch is still open to the public. Just no launching boats there.

The Classic used to always be in the summer. July and August until 2006.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassmaster_Classic

We went to it at Lay Lake in Alabama. Craig Schuff was in our bass club and won the Federation National championship and qualified for it. It was mid August, hot and stuffy. The drive back to the weigh in was an hour and I believe they put ice in all the livewells and plugged them to insure they would not lose water driving back to Birmingham.

Not one study to verify its value. I'm out. It does not even make sense to me.

There’s been a thread on vents, every summer, since their inception. Maybe there simply needs to be an owners manual printed next to the switches in the boat...describing the proper setting, uses, and functions of the live well plumbing.

A few thoughts for consideration.

The summer classic will be an interesting bass survival experiment June 11-13, 2021. If the acute mortality and delayed mortality combined reach or exceed acceptable tournament kill goals established by TP&WD and B.S.S.S., I expect we may see some changes in summer bass tournaments in Texas that may be enforced by TP&WD.

At first couple days, TP&WD live fish transport experts will be Johnny on the spot at the boat ramp collecting the catch and immediately placing all the bass is their tanks containing excellent water quality, safe DO concentrations/saturations of compressed welding oxygen will be administered immediately. The DO will be constantly monitored with a TP&WD DO Meter and recorded along with the dose adjusted of oxygen diales in on their high pressure oxygen regulators that will be relative to the tank stocking density. The dose setttings will be adjusted relative to the total biomass of fish in the tanks.

It would be scientifically interesting and extremely easy for TP&WD to test the DO in bass boats livewells at the boat ramp before TP&WD takes possession of the bass… that is when the boats arrive at the boat ramp and their livewells still contain a limit of bass that have just been transported all day… just to see if and confirm that boats livewells are really functional and safe for all the bass that have been transport many hours in that boat livewell.

Be assured that when the TP&WD bass transport experts take possession of the bass, the fish care provided by TP&WD will be exerllent. The bass care will be very different than the livewell transport care provided by the any of the contestants the past 7-8 hours. You will never see TP&WD using H2O2 to insure safe oxygenation or using those popular livewell chemical supplements or the Tanks VT-2 air vents to insure minimal safe oxygenation. You won't see TP&WD using Bass Medic’s Rejuvenade or T-H Marine G-Juice and their electric Oxygenators or Sure Life Hold and Release Formula. The reason is because these products are not FDA approved for use on food fish or fish that may be tournament caught, released alive, caught again the next day and consumed by humans that are totally unaware the fish they just caught and ate has been soaking in fish dip for hours with unknown chemicals that are not FDA approved for use on food fish for human consumption. TP&WD does abide by FDA regulations and prohabitions in this kind of matter.

You will see TP&WD extensively monitoring water quality parameters in their fish tanks. They will be administering specific doses of 100% compressed welding oxygen (those green O2 tanks and bubblers) to insure continuous safe oxygenation and use non-iodizes salt to reduce fish stress and reduce the work of osmoregulation while the fish they are in possession of the tournament catch.

Ask the TP&WD employee that is monitoring and recording DO’s with his DO meter, “what is the DO Saturation you are maintaining in the TP&WD holding tanks and transport tanks?” Just ask and see what transport DO Saturation they maintain in their haul tanks using compressed oxygen.

The real survival part of this experiment happens when at the end of the last tournament day June 13, 2021. The day when all contestants haul their catch an hour on the highway from the lake to Ft. Worth in their bass boat livewells vs hauling bass to the boat ramp at the lake where TP&WD take possession immediately the first 2 days of the contest. The results of this experiment may empact and change TP&WD regulations and laws for summer bass tournament fishing in Texas, ie. limits, angler fish care and the “functional livewell rules," bass boat livewell water quality requirements, etc.

After all, if a boat livewell is not functional, fish will die because of poor water quality, fishermen will be penalized for dead-fish, lose tournament prizes and post tournament mortality will increase, Summer tournament is and always has been a major public relation problem for bass tournament officials. A "functional livewell" is actually supposed to keep fish not just alive, but maintain fish in healthy conditions during live transports.

You can bet that TP&WD is expert at transport live fish, they do this every day and thry know how to and will keep the live bass as healthy as possible when they take possession of the tournament catch in the 2021 Classic.

Are they doing the day 1 and 2 weigh ins at Ray Roberts now, that sounds like what they are saying here

https://youtu.be/mdElJ0-LB8o?t=4150

As someone else pointed out BASS has hosted Elite events that benefitted Texas Parks and Wildlife plus BASS has an entire conservation division dedicated to helping fisheries.

https://www.bassmaster.com/tournaments/2020-texas-fest