If the lake keeps going down we will need thin the heard anyway!!!

if you in a tournament and your fish does not swim away after the weigh in... you shouldnt be able to count that fish...i bet then ppl will start taking better care of them!

The mortality for almost all the tournament fish is after they swim away. They die more quickly in hot water so you sometimes notice them at the release point. The ones you see,in difficulty,at the release point, is a small fraction of the fish that will die over the following 3 weeks.

I hate to see it happens but DAMN, LIGHTEN UP YOU BUNCH OF TREE HUGGERS!

kinda what i was thinkin

I was referring to government involvement in our business in general, which most of it is currently coming from the current administration not their involvement with bass tournaments. TPWD sticking their nose in local bass tournaments is the last thing we need and posting pictures of dead fish at the ramp is just not smart. I fish the lake every week and usually on tuesday, wednesday, or thursday and I have never seen more than a handful of dead fish at the ramp. Yes it sucks but with 4 or 5 tournaments going out of there every weekend I don't think a few dead ones are going to ruin the lake. What is going to ruin the lake is if the water level drops another 5 feet and all the salt cedars go dry. Then all the fish will be exposed to the meat fisherman and really get hammered.

Your wrong. It's more than "a handful of dead fish". Almost all the fish that die; die AFTER they swim away and are never seen. If you could see all the released fish that were gonna die over the subsequent 3 weeks,die immediately and float at the release site,half the guys that fish tournaments,would stop,or demand smaller tournament bags. Really,if 100 fish were brought to the scales,released,and you saw 40 of them immediately float at the release site,what would you do?

Where are you getting this 40% mortality rate? I hope it's not from the results of that one study that kept fish in a basket to see if they died within days after the tournament!!!!!

I would keep fishing the same way I have for years nature has a way of fixing itself! I'm sorry but all this "oh my god there a dead bass I'm gonna start pointing fingers and making a big deal about some dead fish" [censored] is getting old it happens but you know that's why fish spawn! I'm pretty sure there are some big fish that have never been caught still swimming In the lake hell they probably eat some of those fish that swim off and die that we don't see! Let it rest.

I live here,,,I see it. Those of you that think it's not a big deal are kidding yourself. If it was your home lake and you see what I see I believe you might think differently. I'm not sure what the solution is, just pointing out that there is a problem and it is HURTING the lake. If the lake was to catch lots of water it would help a bunch. But going into summer, I don't see that happening. It's not a big lake and it's not going to withstand all the pressure it's been getting...Just saying..

Thanks for the backup,man.

most of the lakes around here are small and overfished...so what makes your pond special? it happens everywhere man...

It is like my home lake I fish it alot and I havnt seen any drop in the number of fish I catch. I care about the problem but not going to lose sleep over it,one day it will fill up and then the fishing will be so good all this dead fish talk will be gone!

What makes HC special is that for years this lake was really low. It filled and has come back fairly strong. The locals have waited for years for this lake to come back. Now that it has it's getting raped. I know other lakes west of Ft Worth don't get the pressure this one does, except maybe Ivie. 3 to 5 tournaments every weekend are hurting this lake. When it hits bottom the tourneys will move on, and us locals will be left with a subpar lake until it gets good again. Then the cycle will start over. Bottom line is it's a good fishery and wish people would take better care of it. I know I'm biased because I live here, but I think most people would feel the same way I do about their home lake...

I have been catching a bunch off good fish in the boat ramp cove and around the bridge. The ones that made it out number the ones that did not. If they die at weigh in take them home and have a good dinner your allowed five per day. No more floaters!! It won't hurt the lake to take some fish, Look at Falcon and Amistad.