Fouz, I respect everyones opinion too, but do you want the pharmacist prescribing your medication or the "experienced" drug dealer?

Doc, a couple questions.

Do you believe that hauling a teenage bass around in a truck, keeping her confined in a raceway where she may or may not spawn and then hauling that fish, if it survives, back to where she was caught is better than CPR'g her and putting her right back?

Do you believe that since 1986, more teenage bass have died at the hands of tournament fishermen or the SAL program?

So far we have a bottle of whiskey and some cash for James monumental write up. If anyone wants to contribute let Barrett or I know.

+1.

I'll take all of their opinions plus my own research and form my own

But let me ask you this. James is saying he is against SAL. Have we anything in writing from those biologists that states the benefits of SAL?

Guys saying "I'll listen to the experts." Ok, what are the experts saying?

Sure, everyone can state an opinion. But when people start stating "facts," I trust the people who have a background in empiricism. I have no problem with someone stating that "in my opinion, Sharelunker doesn't work." But I personally wouldn't say that it works or does not work for a fact as I do not have facts--although I do have an opinion.

I would say that the majority of SAL fish are not caught in a tournament, and so if it were not for the SAL program they would be quickly released - minus a few kept by meat fishermen

I would have to think this would be better for the fish and the fishery.

Awesome write up James !!! +1 on the bottle of whiskey for James!!!

I'll agree with you with one exception, squib. By definition, those with a background in empiricism are not just the biologists, but those with experience, hands on, with fisheries.

Get out of here Mahfouz....lol. You are gonna hurt somebodies feelings posting facts against opinions.

Seriously....why must we go through the same thing every year multiple times a year? Regardless of anything that has been posted thus far....one common denominator is constantly left out. The Angler. It is his/her choice to do whatever he/she pleases with his/her legal catch. Tournament or not...SAL or not...Filet or not...or CPR or not.

Y'all whine and complain about annual stockings, tournament anglers, and trappers/netters, and high pressure. All you are doing is ruining the general outlook of the sport of fishing for Trophy Black Bass. It amazes me that the TPWD has put up with us for this long knowing that all they are going to do is catch sh!t over it.

Enjoy the resource while you have it. Off my soap box.
Carry on...

LOL at the lack of evidence at the arguement he is trying to prove in that read...

Put it this way. If you owned your own business and you had to choose between hiring a guy with 30 years of hands on experience or a 23 year old with a degree and no experience, which one would you decide to employ? I'll take hands on experience over theory any day. I've got a degree, in fact I have two of them. The only thing I learned from getting both of them is how much I thought I knew that I really didn't. My boss, who has 30 years of experience in marketing and sales, does not have a degree. You would be a fool to take my advice over his, because you can take what he says to the bank.

Just some food for thought in reference to the fisheries biology degree comment above. And don't tell me its an apples to oranges comparison either, because it isn't. Experience carries over in any industry or field.

Just my 2 cents.

You can just pull the biology degree card..... For example, If you wanted advice on starting up and selling a business would you choose myself who has a degree in business/ MBA or a successful entrepreneur that has been buying and selling businesses his entire life and has 30 years of experience. A degree doesn't replace experience.

lmao. You wrote exactly what I was thinking. THats good stuff.

Fouz,
I definitely believe it is stressful on the fish to haul it say from Falcon to Athens. Should there be another location in south Texas? Yes! If not, should the whole program be scrapped? NO! Since the tanks were kept dry down at Falcon this year we had only two fished turned in. I personally know of 8 fish over 13 lbs caught there this season. Two things, there is no guarantee that a sharelunker fish if caught and immediately released will 1) survive and 2) have a successful spawn.
Is hauling a teenage bass around all day in a live well stressful? Yes. Not all tournament fisherman contribute to the mortality of big fish, but a lot of them do. Some of it is the result of ignorance such as not simply checking to make sure you have enough water in the live well, some is due to environmental factors such as heat, and some is due to uncontrollable factors such as a deep or gill hooked fish.
You can remove ALL those factors by implementing a 20" limit. Or at least limit it and allow one fish over 20".