Thread: Why Crappie vs all the rest….

Never hurts to help out the old folks. If will live long enough we will be there too someday

I'm a tournament fisherman. Bass though. I'm proud to say that whatever I bring to the scales goes right back into the water and I watch them swim away. I do everything possible to ensure the are kept in great shape so I can release them so they can be caught again another day. If I were a crappie tournament fisherman I'd say and do the same thing for fish handling and survival. From what I'm reading if I fish a crappie tournament and weigh in 10 fish that are then released what I am doing is actually hurting the population. But if I am just a guy that fishes several days a week (and I do) and keeps a limit just about every time I go I'm not hurting the population compared to the tournament fisherman. Did I get it right?

Originally Posted by Pac in Arkansas

I'm a tournament fisherman. Bass though. I'm proud to say that whatever I bring to the scales goes right back into the water and I watch them swim away. I do everything possible to ensure the are kept in great shape so I can release them so they can be caught again another day. If I were a crappie tournament fisherman I'd say and do the same thing for fish handling and survival. From what I'm reading if I fish a crappie tournament and weigh in 10 fish that are then released what I am doing is actually hurting the population. But if I am just a guy that fishes several days a week (and I do) and keeps a limit just about every time I go I'm not hurting the population compared to the tournament fisherman. Did I get it right?

In hot weather many fish will die within days after swiming away after being carried in a livewell and weighed in . I have seen it ever summer after Bass touraments on Nimrod next day fish floating . I marked some fish last month and within days caught some of them again . Fishing pressure is really many times what it was just a few years ago . If I really believed a good number of fishermen were releasing their catches I would do it more often too .

I don't see the problem with tournament anglers even if the fish die. They only brought 7 fish to the scale at most. A whole lot less pressure on the fishery than taking out a full 30 fish limit.

Originally Posted by NIMROD

Just for you cause your probably a tournament fisherman . Rather see a old person get a meal than a stringer of big fish drug across scales so someone can draw a check . Only way to reduce pressure is for regulation . Like I said before, a small percentage of fishermen releasing all their fish is not going to make a signifacant difference . I released the limit I caught yesterday but if I knew someone needed them they would have been theirs .

FYI...Ive fished exactly ONE tournament in my life. And I have zero problem with anyone keeping a limit of fish every day.
What I do have a problem with is someone constantly griping about something that they themselves do every day !! Again,hypocrisy at it's finest.

I don't believe that the mortality rate is as high as you would suggest provided the fish are taken care of. Mortality rates in some jelly jar tournament for small waters like Nimrod may have a small percentage of fish deaths post tournament but even then I don't think the fatality rate is all that high. I have fished many 200 boat fields over the course of about 12 years and have never seen big fish kills of released bass.

Tournaments in my home lake every weekend in summer. Lots of dead bass floating after all the festivities are over. Does the local turtle population very well.

Originally Posted by Pac in Arkansas

I don't believe that the mortality rate is as high as you would suggest provided the fish are taken care of. Mortality rates in some jelly jar tournament for small waters like Nimrod may have a small percentage of fish deaths post tournament but even then I don't think the fatality rate is all that high. I have fished many 200 boat fields over the course of about 12 years and have never seen big fish kills of released bass.

Depends alot on water temps