Tournament mortality study IA

[WjColdWater]

https://www.in-fisherman.com/editori...tes-old/489156
Just imagine the rate at +70 degree water temps. Serious weigh in changes need to happen soon to save fisheries.

[billnorman1]

Lot of scientific speculation in thar piece in my opinion. I speculate.

[Redog]

Interesting article. I’m not a big tournament angler and do my best to take care of the fish. My goal is not to have a fish out of water longer than I can hold my breath…. Lots of times I will fill my live well up before I catch a fish so if I want a picture and a weight I can put the big girl in there and get stuff ready. Once ready get a picture and weight then release.
Now I have seen people catch nice bass and guess what they eat them…. How many bass over 15” get put in grease and ate for supper?? How many die after being released? Might surprise everyone to know how many are put in the fridge.

[WjColdWater]

Interesting article. I’m not a big tournament angler and do my best to take care of the fish. My goal is not to have a fish out of water longer than I can hold my breath…. Lots of times I will fill my live well up before I catch a fish so if I want a picture and a weight I can put the big girl in there and get stuff ready. Once ready get a picture and weight then release.
Now I have seen people catch nice bass and guess what they eat them…. How many bass over 15” get put in grease and ate for supper?? How many die after being released? Might surprise everyone to know how many are put in the fridge.

I am not any tournament angler but, not anti tournament. I think the fishing community needs education on the effects on tournaments on their public waters. DNR’s across the country are late to the party on regulation. Tournaments on each body of water should be regulated to preserve fisheries for all. And of coarse $$$ should not take president over public waters.

[Walleye13]

I completely agree. There is no doubt a certain percentage of tourney fish that die from delayed mortality. The huge increase in the amount of tournaments in the past few years and the disgraceful fish handling that goes on makes the math very alarming. Why are the high school and college kids that are “growing the sport” being taught to boat flip these fish and let ‘em bang around on the boat floor? Shame on BASS for even allowing this practice. But I guess it’s no worse than allowing tournaments to be held during prime spawning times…��

[tcesni]

Lot of scientific speculation in thar piece in my opinion. I speculate.

What part of the synopsis is speculative? For those interested in reading the details here is a link to the full publication (all 30 pages);

https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/server/ap...93be74/content

[billnorman1]

What part of the synopsis is speculative? For those interested in reading the details here is a link to the full publication (all 30 pages);

https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/server/ap...93be74/content

Fish caught at tournaments that die prior to release are easily observed, but mortality of fish released following tournaments can be substantial yet cryptic and difficult to quantify.

For example, in a theoretical tournament where 100 bass are caught, we estimated 15 of them would die at a water temperature of 54°F, whereas at 66°F, upward of 34 would be expected to die.

Our results confirm the potential for delayed mortality associated with catch-and-release fishing tournaments and the importance of water temperature



cryptic:

• 1.
  having a meaning that is mysterious or obscure.

[Phoenix Jim]

I think we put too much into this. certainly don’t talk about saving deer or geese or other wildlife that definitely are not catch and release

[tcesni]

Fish caught at tournaments that die prior to release are easily observed, but mortality of fish released following tournaments can be substantial yet cryptic and difficult to quantify.

For example, in a theoretical tournament where 100 bass are caught, we estimated 15 of them would die at a water temperature of 54°F, whereas at 66°F, upward of 34 would be expected to die.

Our results confirm the potential for delayed mortality associated with catch-and-release fishing tournaments and the importance of water temperature



cryptic:

• 1.
  having a meaning that is mysterious or obscure.

Your reference of “cryptic” is a justification for conducting the three year study and for the methodology used. It is not speculation. The theoretical 100 fish is a mathematical standardization for the person based upon the data collected in the study. Any event that occurs in the future has a potential to occur, the authors went into detail how their results compared to results published by other researchers. A difference in results is expected as not all fisheries are the same. The bottom line however is quite clear, substantial acute mortality occurred within 3 days of release and was closely correlated with water temperature and those temps weren’t very high.

If the author were to stand in front of a group of anglers and state that 50% of tournament caught bass that are released die and had no data to back up that statement that would be speculation. With the data from this study they are not speculating. I’m not trying to get into a tit for tat, but I do think bass anglers really don’t want to acknowledge the possibility of mortality after fish are released. It’s up to the fisheries managers to conduct good science and use that information to develop sustainable management plans.

[billnorman1]

I personally agree that some fish will die after release. They surely are not as frisky when released as they were when they made the mistake of biting our hooks but when they swim away, as a layman I can only think they improve from that moment. Temperature increases seem to exacerbate the problems of keeping bass alive and well in our livewells. Some competitors add ice to keep them alive through weigh in, then put them back in water 15-20 degrees hotter immediately when released. I do know if you do that to aquarium fish, they might die from the shock.

They quote statistics of fish that have been caught 1,2,3 or more times. Seems odd to me they are still alive with the odds quoted.

Anyhow, we might be splitting hairs but I am reluctant to believe that the survival rate one can expect is about 85% and then it declines to 65% at best.

Thanks for the civil disagreement.

[WjColdWater]

What part of the synopsis is speculative? For those interested in reading the details here is a link to the full publication (all 30 pages);

https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/server/ap...93be74/content

Thanks for posting very in depth.

[tcesni]

I personally agree that some fish will die after release. They surely are not as frisky when released as they were when they made the mistake of biting our hooks but when they swim away, as a layman I can only think they improve from that moment. Temperature increases seem to exacerbate the problems of keeping bass alive and well in our livewells. Some competitors add ice to keep them alive through weigh in, then put them back in water 15-20 degrees hotter immediately when released. I do know if you do that to aquarium fish, they might die from the shock.

They quote statistics of fish that have been caught 1,2,3 or more times. Seems odd to me they are still alive with the odds quoted.

Anyhow, we might be splitting hairs but I am reluctant to believe that the survival rate one can expect is about 85% and then it declines to 65% at best.

Thanks for the civil disagreement.

You should take a trip to southeastern Ontario some time and you will be shocked at how many bass you will catch that have obviously been caught very recently, although these are probably not fish that rode around in a live well for 8 hours before being released. Last summer I caught a nice 3 lb. smallmouth with a very distinctive gold scaled area on one side and several days later I caught the same fish about 100 yards from where I had caught it just days before. One last interesting point about the Iowa study is that Brushy Creek is a relatively small lake at 690 acres and while there are no horsepower restrictions the entire lake is "no wake". This is typical for Iowa lakes within their state park system so the fish caught in tournaments aren't getting bounced around during a high speed bumpy ride back to the weigh in. When I was growing up in Iowa we had a 6 hp limit and the hot ticket was a 7.5 hp Merc with a 6 hp sticker on it and a 14 foot boat. We thought 10 mph was booking. Eventually the state had to recognize that anglers were buying bigger boats so they went no wake on most lakes. Lakes in Delaware are mostly electric only aren't they? I lived just outside Philly for 20+ years and Delaware is one state I never did fish in.

[tcesni]

Thanks for posting very in depth.

I was a Fisheries Biology major my first two years at Iowa State (mid-70's) so this science is near and dear to me. I changed majors my junior year when I realized that I would need a post-graduate degree to have any chance of a job in the field and even then the pay would be relatively paltry. The irony is that I ended up getting a doctorate in my new major so I spent a lot of time in college anyway and then my oldest daughter did get an advanced degree in fisheries science and worked as a biologist for Virginia for about 6 years before deciding to go to medical school - again pay was the issue. Little decisions that have dramatic life changing impacts. Spring is coming, I expect some big fish to start moving this weekend on Smith Mountain Lake

[bigbitef11]

Seriously, that was a garbage piece in Infisherman. I am glad there's a link to the study.