I wish they'd just filet them and give them to the poor.....that wouldn't piss me off at all

Plenty were found floating in the middle of state park luckily “the best in the world” left most the big ones untouched because they saw flooded bushes and couldn’t get off the banks.

You should probably show those losers how it’s done!

Tournament Directors and contestants have couple choices, we can chose to provide the new standard, provide the best bass care possible or we can chose the old outdated standard if tournament bass care and provide less than the best summer tournament bass care possible. It is very easy for the public, media and conservation minded folks to actually see those providing the best care possible and those not willing to provide the best care possible now.

Providing less than the best bass care is OK, it’s easier, cheaper, but less than the best care possible does cause more public relations angst for tournament directors and "dead fish penalties" can still cause angst for contestants every summer, especially night C&R tournament mortality.

The Best Summer Tournament Bass Care Possible is done just like this:[b][/b]

Classic fish care plan hits home run with 98% live release Classic fish care plan hits home run with 98% live release | Bassmaster June 24, 2021

In 3 tournament days 495 bass were caught by 54 professional anglers, 98.4% or 487 bass were released alive, Eight bass or 1.6% of the bass in this 3 day tournament were not released alive.

Over the course of the tournament, Classic anglers caught 495 bass, but the lakeside weigh-in on Days 1 and 2 resulted in 50% fewer fish being transported to Fort Worth with a 98.4% live release rate.
Image: Experts testing bass boat livewell water quality, specifically DO concentration, DO saturation and livewell water temperature with a YSI DO Meter in livewell containing limit of bass. Livewell DO water quality testing confirms or denies that the kivewell DO water quality is safe for all the bass being transported. https://www.bassmaster.com/sites/default/files/4_tc_checking_temp_and_do.jpg

The dissolved oxygen livewell test with bass in the livewell (not a livewell with no fish) at the end of the day is a simple accurate way to determine if that livewell is a “Functional livewell.” When the DO is tested and found to be unsafe or deficient in dissolved oxygen with fish in the livewell, that’s a “non-functional” livewell commonly called a “death-well.” A “Functional bass boat livewell” must be capable of insuring and maintaining continuous safe DO water quality for all the fish (total bio-mass of fish) being transported all day from the time of the initial catch early in the morning to the final live release late in the afternoon on a hot summer day.

Image: PURE 100% COMPRESSED OXYGEN BUBBLES - NOT AIR BUBBLES COMPOSED OF 79% NITROGEN GAS https://www.bassmaster.com/sites/default/files/5_sd_oxygen_bubbles.jpg

Testing the dissolved oxygen in bass boat livewells that contains a limit of bass is the real test that qualifies a livewell to be a “functional livewell” or disqualified as a “non-functional livewell.” Testing livewell DO that contains no fish is meaningless, only for show and deceptive. That’s like hiding foam in the livewell and bad livewell water quality using anti-foaming livewell additives and detergents.

Image: Testing livewell water temperature and dissolved oxygen https://www.bassmaster.com/sites/default/files/4_tc_checking_temp_and_do.jpg

Image: Livewell Oxygen-injection system used in bass boat livewells at the Classic to insure continuous safe oxygenation all day transporting the catch. 100% Compressed welding oxygen. https://www.bassmaster.com/sites/default/files/6_sd_removing_bottle.jpg
Image: TPWD staff placed the fish in a cooled, oxygenated fish hauling tank, ready for transport back to Lake Ray Roberts.

Live release boat used oxygen-injection for the final transport to live release site. 100% commercial welding oxygen. Note 2 large commercial steel oxygen cylinders on live release boat.

Image: https://www.bassmaster.com/sites/default/files/10_ac_transfer_to_live_release_boat.jpg

Three weeks after the BassMaster Classic 2021 on Ray Roberts/Ft. Worth: When the experts took possession of the tournament catch they demonstrated the best summer tournament fish care possible… 98.4% live release rate!

The fish care experts raised the bar for C&R tournament fish transport care using new oxygen-injection technology. The new life support technology combined with new tournament fish care procedures improved live release rates dramatically for summetr C&R fishing tournaments.

The Mew Best summer tournament Bass Transport Care Standard was demonstrated by TP&WD Inland Fisheries biologist Todd Driscoll and staff, B.A.S.S. Conservation Director, Gene Gilliland, the live release boat and staff and especially all the tournament contestants that used livewell oxygen-injection systems in 54 tournament bass boat livewells in the 2021 summer BassMaster Classic.

All contestants fishing the Bassmaster Classic 2021 in June had to use oxygen-injection life support system in their bass boat livewells. This new teist in tournament fbass care was mandated by B.A.S.S. tournament officials. Contestants had no choice, they had to use supplemental compressed welding oxygen with oxygen-injection livewell systems.

This 98.4% summer Bassmaster Classic live release rate was accomplished because they chose to provide a new standard for the best bass transport care possible.

Choosing to provide less than the best bass summer tournament care possible is cheaper and easier, but the summer tournament mortality rates will be substancially greater..

By the way, I did not see any VT-2 air vents installed in any bass boat livewell lids, TP&WD live haul tank lids or installed in any live release boat tanks. Why’s-that I wondered? That's a great question for Frank the Tank.

Frank the Tank is probably the greatest VT-2 air vent promoter/salesman on the planet; totally focused, direct and persistent with every forum air vent sales pitch he makes. Is it possible that someday we might actually see/read or even hear a 3rd party research publication revealing testing on these VT-2 air vents. I’m not getting my hopes up as none been published to date.

Frank, why are there no VT-2 air vents seen or installed in 54 bass classic boat livewells, TP&WD live haul tanks or catch and release boat haul tanks in the June 2021 BM Classic. Surely there must be valid reasons why there are no VT-2 air vents used in any Classic boat livewells or live haul tank.

A pair of $5 dollar plastic Amazon air vents would be the cheapest way to insure minimal safe livewell oxygenation in summer bass tournaments. IF VT-2 air vents really insured continuous safe oxygen-rich livewell water with winning stocking densities of summer tournament bass, that would really be sooooo impressive. I like Frank, he's funny.

Now who would like to Provide the Best Summer Tournament Bass Care Possible using the newest standard for bass care extablished and used by by B.A.S.S., TP&WD Inland Fisheries and state of the art live release boats?

Hello Frank – thanks for sharing your inner most personal feelings, I appreciate getting to know you better and like you even more now.
I believe you’re are right. Like you, I think most bass tournament fishermen could care less about tournament mortality rates because overall bass tournament mortality is the Tournament Directors problem. The tournament organizations can pay a very steep public relations price when tournament bass die or they are careless, kill fish and the public and media sees the slaughter floating on beaches and around public boat ramps.

Tournament bass fish represents much more than just a fish to eat these days. In only 50 years the public has been reprogramed and convinced that a tournament caught bass has become symbolic. The fish is now a powerful public relations symbol representing fishery conservation. That fish symbol generates millions of dollars through thousands of bass fishing tournament orgs. yearly… that is big business as I see it!

Bass mortality is only the fisherman’s concern and problem for 7-8 hours when the fish are caught, confined in a small boat livewell and transported all day or all night. If 1-2 bass before the weigh-in and the fisherman is hit with the dreaded “dead fish” penalty. The fisherman is directly affected in the pocket book and will lose tournament money all because a bass died in his livewell during the day. The fisherman is totally responsible for keeping bass alive in his boat livewell for the 7-8 hour boat ride beginning from the catch and lasting to the weigh-in scales.

The going retail price for a pair of these VT-2’s is $50. You buy a pair for $35. Is your sales commission $15 per pair? Sales seems to be your bag of tea.

You remind me of “RAY SCOTT and BUBBA POWER.” How and why Ray Scott changed tournament bass fishing ½ century ago from tournament catch, kill and fry to catch and live release. Oh back in those good old bass tournament days, pre 1970, before bass tournament fishing evolved into commercialized big business.

Now to really be popular in the tournament bass fishing world a fisherman must have at least a $70 K dollar bass fishing rig, at least a flashy fast 90 MPH bass boats adorned with plenty glitter and a cockpit looking like the [censored] pit of and a couple those $500 bass fishing uniforms.
“RAY SCOTT and BUBBA POWER” is on the internet. It’s about how Scott and his associates discovered, invented, implemented and sold the new “BUBBA POWER” image to all his “BUBBA’S.”

Search “RAY SCOTT and BUBBA POWER.” This is Scott’s original new, innovative concept that was the core concept for C&R bass tournament fishing 1970 that introduced livewells and air bubbles.

Just wondering Frank, how you feel about using the popular G-Juice livewell chemical?

Have you ever used G-Juice?

The best in the world left BASS in 2019