Definately 3! I see way to much mishandling of fish in tournaments,some times in hot water conditions just fighting the fish to the side of your boat could kill it.Hauling a fish around all day in a hot water live well tethered together with a culling system restricting their movement is very tough on the fish.Tournament weigh in,s in my opinion need to have a lot quicker turn around to get the fish back in the lake quicker.Standing in a long wiegh-in line with your fish in an oxygen depleted bag watching the tournament director trying to drip dry the fish before puting it on the scale so one guy wont get a fraction of an ounce more than another is rediculous.I hate to rant like a PETA idiot but I just want to protect this great sport we have today for our kids and grandkids tomorrow.

The problem is that eventually conservation groups are going to get theirs (they will eventually get mandated release boats, certifications for tournament directors, etc. etc. etc. [look at the rules in other states]) and would you rather voluntarily go to 3 fish or have a lake made off limit to tournaments for a year or 2 without your input? Something will have to give eventually - maybe some of you won't live long enough to see it but it will happen.

Stiffer penalties on dead fish just mean more people release dead or dieing fish away from the ramp when it's too late -
I think pre-launch boat checks in May and later should require 3 eight lb bags of ice (minimum) and some form of live-well additive.
I also think a standard of how often to replace water in the LW based on lake surface water temps (a best practices) should be part of every tournament fisherman's checklist (or tournament trail)

I like the idea of 3 fish June-Aug. This is why. Think of how many fish deep in the summer, even with fizzing you are going to loose fish. I've also found sometimes fishing deep you tend to gut hook some fish. Even with proper care you will loose a fish or two. As for being a big fish tournament, let's face it, if you go out and catch a kicker 8-9 lber you are going to be better off no matter if its 3 or 5 bass. Example catch 5-4 lbers= 20 lbs, solid limit but 20 pounds rarely wins team tournaments these days. This past weekend at the bass n bucks it was a 3 fish tournament. The winner had a 9 lber and 2 other solid fish for 17 something. Trust me even if it were a 5 fish tournament I believe they still would have won the tournament.

5

sorry, but that makes no sense.... So essentially you would also think that a big fish has equal leverage in a 2 bass limit as it would in a four fish limit..? Weird, the smaller the limit, the more impact a giant has to your creel.

Five fish all year around. It's harder to catch five than three, and tournaments are supposed to be contests of skill, not luck. As has already been said, a three fish tournament is not far from a big bass tournament. I would rather see the guy who catches five 3 pounders win instead of the guy who caught one 7-1/2 pounder and one two pounder.

You will get arguments on it all day no matter how it is phrased. I think it takes more skill to find, hook and land a big fish (8 or 9lbs) than it does to find hook and land 2 lb fish. No matter how you look at it a certain degree of luck will always be present. The biggest thing that changes on a 3 fish limit tournament is you have to use a different game plan. No longer can you go beat the banks and get a limit of 2lbers and be in contention. You have to focus more on big fish.

I agree...which means more deep fish pulled to the surface, stressed, possibly needing to be fizzed.

The five fish stringer tournament has been around for a long time. In fact, there used to be a lot more seven, eight, or more fish stringer tournaments in the 70s and 80s. Somehow our lakes and the bass have survived all this time.

There is no need to constantly reinvent the wheel.

And 3 times as many tournaments and anglers are on our waters today then in the 70's and 80's. This argument comes up every time and it holds little to no relevance in today's discussion......

It's like comparing the 50's NFL with today's NFL.

5 Bass! For those that can't catch 5 fish in a day....maybe you should start a 3 fish trail? Changing to 3 changes everything in the competitive side of the sport. We could make changes to all sports:

Only play the last two minutes of basketball games
Golf could only be one hole
Maybe only have Tennis be one game instead of a Match
Football could be the first one to ten wins!!!!!
Hockey could only last 15 minutes and in the case of a tie, whichever team has the most teeth wins!
Horeshoes could be whoever hits the steak the most times in 10 tosses wins.
Soccer could be......oh hell, who really cares about soccer.
Womens beach volleyball......hmmmmmm.....should be an all day event, then we ALL win.

Thanks to all of you guys for your responce on this subject. We at Anglers Quest were just wondering what the general concensus would be on this. A/Q is definately in support of the 5 fish rules. The 3 fish is just too much like a Big Bass tournament. We did for 2011 go to a .50 penalty for a dead fish...this has made a difference. In 2012, you may see a (1)lb penalty per dead fish to get more anglers to take better care of their fish. At weigh in, A/Q provides a oxygenated recirculating water tank for your use...please use the oxygen hoses in your weigh bag while standing at the tank waiting on your turn to weigh your fish. This definately gives your bass a boost before returning them to the lake. Thanks again for your posts....Mr Bill

Our local lake is not very large...approx 9,000 acres...it gets alot of pressure..and gives up alot of 20 plus bags...all of the local clubs...Bud Light...Media..and on and on hit it..we fish Wed evenings and Sun mornings...both tourneys are 3 fish limits...size of the lake and pressure are the reason we do this...plus..it is easier to keep 3 quality fish alive..than 5

I guess you don't like driving around on radials then???? Seems to me like they are quite an improvement over previous options.

The Media results showed 4 out of 148 fish were not returned alive or just under 3%. To me that is not terrible given the fact water temps on Cypress are already in the mid 80s to upper 80's in the shallow areas. The reality is if more people would use ice, live well additives and hydrogen peroxide in their lives wells, it would save most fish and greatly reduce the number of post release deaths as well. We fished the pre-opening Fun and Sun tourney on Squaw Creek last May and if I recall correctly there were only 1 or 2 fish that didn't make it out of the 100 boats in the tourney. They had a meeting the night before the event instructing everyone how to use the previously mentioned items in your live well and also required every person to buy at least 3 bags of ice which were provided at the launch site for $2/bag. It's things like that, that will ultimately make the difference because I don't see any major tourneys dropping the limits to 3 instead of 5.

Also as Heath mentioned previously, the fish that do not make it need to be put on ice and donated somewhere to be eaten.