Thread: WE TOURNAMENT GUYS NEED TO DO SOMETHING TO HELP PROMOTE CATCH AND RELEASE..

If you really want to promote catch and release you should start at the tournament level. But then you have to look into fish care after fish are weighed in, nobody wants to see a bunch of 1lb+ crappie floating dead at a release point. So then do you believe you will get enough volunteers to put in the money to buy the proper rejuvenation tanks or whatever it takes to make sure fish are healthy and recovered enough to be released? Now in the spring tournaments it is obviously much easier to keep fish healthy and releasable, but once the water temp is elevated I do not know what the success rate would be. I am not saying it is a bad idea and would support it at my tournaments if a feasible plan was organized.

My two cents are probably worth less than most, but I would suggest talking with some of the fishery biologists to really do this right. I think it is a great idea, but I also know that in Missouri, a 2# crappie is pretty close to dying of old age and a 3#'er is ancient. My own thoughts would be to have tourneys only after the spawn to give those big girls a chance to drop eggs. Maybe change tourney thoughts completely......pay out for the LIGHTEST 7 legal fish. Now those would be some funny weigh-in pics!!
I know the biologists prefer that we release the 9" fish because if they survive they may have several more years of reproduction left, whereas the larger fish can/do die of old age before the next spawn.

I'm with the last poster from a realistic point. Those larger fish are probably not making it to the next spawn anyway and if you hold it in a livewell of most boats to "weigh" it, it sure as hell won't make it far from that marina.

I'm sure you have noble goals, but with you being a tournament fisherman you have motives to have those larger fish for tourney anglers to catch.

On the same note, I'm sure I make those bass anglers want to sink my boat when I throw LMB's in the livewell.

I like the idea of catch & release. In the past, I have wasted so much fish, I really feel guilty. The past 10 yrs give or take, I've cut that down to just keeping a few at a time. And even the last couple yrs, just keeping what I will eat that night or the next day. These days I never boat a limit of fish. If it's dinner for me and my wife, we can meal on 3-4 crappie, depending on the size. I keep more, if feeding others. I normally keep fish in the 11-13" range. So my question is, am I doing wrong by not keeping the min. 9" limit fish, or on the other end, releasing the larger 13+" fish. I fish mainly on Lake of the Ozarks.

Crappie are not a very hardy fish and dump the slime coat fast. Once the water temp gets above 70 they get harder to keep alive in a livewell. Not a great candidate for catch and release fishing. On the plus side they are a very prolific fish. Always wondered what ya'll did with all the crappie at the end of a tourney.

If I catch and release its done at the time of catch, have returned four 3 pounders to the lake out of my rig this spring here in MS, weigh it, take a pic and return it to the lake. In the tourneys its noble to have the tourney directors return fish to the lake but in reality it is more of a jesture than a success, especially as the temps warm up.

Most of us here on Truman release our fish after weigh ins. I released a 10 lb bag on Sunday and seen many others also release their 7 best fish. Easy to do when the water is cool. Mine were still very feisty. Taking care of the water conditions in the live well during the day can make a huge difference come end of the day.