Velvick Vs. Martens

[Lane]

bigbass111,

This is not a pissing match, it is REALITY! We live down here and
have assisted many organizations down at Falcon. Yes, the fish
were caught deep, but that is VERY common down south. If the
creel limits had been reduced, etc, the fish would have arrived in
good enough shape to be properly fizzed, then allowed to recover.
Overcrowding of the livewells was the SINGLE most contributing factor to mortality, besides the fact the two 700 gallon release boats will not cut it!

BTW, They reduced the creel limits to 3 fish for the co-anglers on
Lake Amistad. If they do not change their format to a three fish limit for next year, there WILL be MAJOR consequences. Fish need water to live! Moving the dates to the end of January, beginning of February would help as well.

Your statement, "ANY and EVERY trail would have finished the same", is TOTAL BS. In fact, we can prove it! Enough said!

[bigbass111]

What trail would have changed it?????????

And what Consequences??????

Prove it????

Your the one pissing, Plus your out matched..

[Lane]

Skeeter BassChamps! They value their reputation and the resources. They are the LARGEST team tournament trail in Texas.
Of course most tournament trails fishing Falcon already have a
3 fish limit for individual events. Not rocket science. I'm done, you
can't sugar coat the truth.

[kazk]

Funny that you seem so intent on defending BASS nad the elite series. But out west we alway carry a needle to deflate any fish that is brought up from the deep. My son and I both have the Bendz Mender and make sure to check the fish as soon as we put them in our live well. If the pros didn't needle their fish or monitor them immediately after putting them in the live well and then released the ones that were bloated without needling them then shame on each and everyone of those guys. Waiting to needle them till the end of the day is one sure way to kill a majority of the fish. Usually when the fish are deeper then 20 feet there is sometimes a 10 degree water temp change also. The fish kill would have been reduce greatly by just taking the time to monitor and needle the fish throughout the day. If these elite pros didn't do that they should all have been DQ'd for failure to protect their catch.

My name is Chris Koda
You don's seem to want anyone to know who you are except as bigbass111 seem to be a good mask to hide behind while arguing with a very outstanding lady who devoted her time to trying to help us out during the Casitas debacle. If you are a biologist and have the expert knowledge that Lane has maybe you should display your credentials.

By the way Thanks again Lane for all your help.

[bassenvy]

If the pros didn't needle their fish or monitor them immediately after putting them in the live well and then released the ones that were bloated without needling them then shame on each and everyone of those guys. Waiting to needle them till the end of the day is one sure way to kill a majority of the fish. Usually when the fish are deeper then 20 feet there is sometimes a 10 degree water temp change also. The fish kill would have been reduce greatly by just taking the time to monitor and needle the fish throughout the day. If these elite pros didn't do that they should all have been DQ'd for failure to protect their catch.

If you are a biologist and have the expert knowledge that Lane has maybe you should display your credentials.

By the way Thanks again Lane for all your help.

I'm sure it was a rush to catch all those fish,but it would have been different had those guys not been able to cull those fish! Just because they are Elite Pro's it doesn't mean they are Elite Pro-Life. I've seen enough BASS events to know how guys handle fish!

Lane has this guys number...all he can go by is what his friend told him. I've learned that Lane is deeply involved with the Texas fisheries. Her husband is one of the founding members of the Budweiser Sharelunker Program.

do a little background check "BigBass" http://www.sure-life.com/

[smittyfish]

Hey Big A$$ 111,

You are proving what an a$$ you really are. Why don't you just calm down and lighten up a bit. Lane is a stand up lady with a lot if integrity. You are barking up the wrong tree.

Nice Keyboard courage.

[bigbass111]

If Lane is such a big advocate for this then why get on here and smear. Why can't she take this directly up with Tripp @ BASS. She can tell him to his face that they purposly killed hundreds of fish and bailed not caring. But its alot easier to pull a Hillary and do this crap. I don't see how bashing any company that puts alot of money to work for her proffesion can blahblahblah. BASS has always helped in anyway to make fisheries better. They came up short on fish care not doubt, but they did none of it on purpose for TV exposure. If Lane was such a PROFFESIONAL she would be talking to the horses mouth on this not putting on a SMEAR CAMPAIGN....

Say what you want, I'm off to the Lake..

[bigbass111]

This is how Lane being a proffesional should have spoke about this...

Ron Henry Strait
San Antonio Express-News

Texas is ready for big-time bass fishing, but is big-time bass fishing ready for what Texas has to offer?
Under normal conditions, the answer is yes. Major tournaments such as the Bassmaster Elite Series are ready for most anything a fishery can offer.


That is, until Falcon Lake's offering hit the scales last weekend at the Lone Star Shootout.

In four days, Falcon gave up 31/2 tons of bass to Elite Series professionals and co-anglers.

Professional bass fishing had not seen such numbers before. Among the 1,386 bass (6,811 pounds) were dozens of fish heavier than 8 pounds and one caught last Friday that weighed more than 13 pounds.

That many big bass with a 13-pound headliner is big fishing news.

BASS, an ESPN-affiliated company that operates the Elite Series, took note of it all and the fact that the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department's Inland Fisheries Division had donated the 13-pounder to the ShareLunker program.

But Saturday morning, there were whispers that the 13-pounder might have died.

Elite tournament director Trip Weldon last week confirmed that news and more about bass mortality at Falcon. A total of 158 (11 percent) of the bass weighed at the Shootout died before they could be returned to the lake.

The mortality was higher than might be expected under normal conditions, said Phil Durocher, director of TPW's Inland Fisheries Division, and it is a matter of concern for TPW.

"What happened at Falcon was not the usual conditions," Durocher said.

No one, even locals, expected nearly 7,000 pounds of live fish to be brought to the scales.

Weldon said losing one bass is losing one too many, but the two live-release pontoon barges that BASS operates at all its tournaments were overwhelmed by so many huge fish.

Each barge sports a 750-gallon, oxygen-enriched holding tank. As the fish were weighed and sent to the barges, the tanks were trying to support as much as 700 pounds of bass at a time before they were sent to the open lake to be discharged. One gallon of enriched water per pound of bass proved insufficient to revive stressed fish.

Other factors were involved as well: The fish were pulled quickly from deep water to the surface; and the lake water temperature was in the 80-degree range.

Add to that, Weldon said, the 13-pounder was caught at 8:30 a.m. and hauled around in a bass boat live well for more than 8 hours. It made it to the scales alive, but died in a TPW holding tank about midnight Friday.

Randy Myers, TPW Inland Fisheries district biologist in San Antonio, agreed that fish stress, depth, lake-water temperatures and tournament mortality are linked.

That's why TPW is studying ways to increase bass survival, he said, and it's not just to help anglers.

Big bass are good for local economies, Myers said. Huge catches in televised tournaments can mean booms.

Of course, TPW is not alone in its desire to help the fish that are laying the golden eggs.

"I've been talking to BASS about different formats," Durocher said. "(BASS) is a leader in conservation and has been real innovative in its approach to these issues."

Weldon echoed the BASS conservation message and said the immediate response for this weekend's Elite event in Del Rio was to cut the co-angler limit from five to three fish a day. Co-anglers caught sixty-five of the dead fish at Falcon.

Durocher said another innovation to watch is the format for the Toyota Texas Bass Classic set for next weekend at Lake Fork. As each bass is weighed and recorded, it is immediately released alive back into the lake.

Mortality at last year's TTBC? "I'm not aware of any bass that died at the (TTBC)," Durocher said.

Zero mortality is a Texas bass record that all tournament anglers are ready to see.

[DL]

I thought you were going to the lake?????????????

[Oldschool]

This thread is getting a little testy.
Before I get on my soap box about big bass and tournament C & R, let me say I support C & R and worked BASS to initiate a release program back in the early 70's. Stringers of dead bass didn't look good, when Ray Scott was donating the bass to charities.
http://www.state.tn.us/twra/fish/Reserv ... ebass2.pdf by Gilliland is a good tournament C & R artilce to refer to.
Bass boats designed to hold 5 average size bass under normal conditions will have some level of post mortality rates, depending on water temperature and seasonal period.
Big bass do not survive well in bass boat livewells for several reasons, the primary one is stress from lack of DO, warm water and just being captive too long.
Add post spawn bass trying to recover from the spawn, pre spawn bass that have gorged themselves and spit up scales into the same livewells and survival rates drop. Add deep water bass, some caught over 40 feet deep and you have warm surface water and airbladder issues. Mortaility rates under those conditions will be high.
BASS needs to have on the water big live boats with large temperature and Do controlled tanks available to anglers who have caught big bass during the tournament. Having co angler limits added to the pro's is a bad idea during big bass tournament, either share limits or elimate the co angler for those specific events.
Tom

[Lane]

SOLUTIONS
Format change

1. Eliminate co-anglers for both Falcon and Amistad events. Pro
event ONLY, with 5 fish limit. Option 2, is to go to a 3 fish limit
for both pros and co-anglers. I would expect that the first option
would go over better with the pros.

2. Host Falcon and Amistad events in late January or early February.

3. Increase DEAD FISH PENALTY to 1lb per dead fish brought to the
scales, INCLUDING FISH DEAMED AT WEIGH IN LIKELY TO EXPIRE
BEFORE RELEASE. Having a .25 dead fish penalty is LUDICROUS!
BASS has the LOWEST dead fish penalty of ALL the big tournament
organizations.

4. BASS needs to go back to the Hannon weigh in system which was PROVEN to keep mortality rates low through mortality studies
conducted by 4 state agencies back in 1988.

Oldtimer, I am sure that you remember Doug Hannon and Pee Wee
Powers (who still works for BASS). Ray Scott was present when I
recieved the distrubing phone call from the president of the Zapata
Chamber of Commerce. It saddens him what has become of the great organization that he worked soo hard to build. He was even
more sadden to hear about the Falcon event.

These numbers were given to me this morning, 500 dead bass counted, most of which were VERY LARGE bass. I will not be able to confirm those numbers until I meet with the local government officials on April 25th. At that time I will be able to review the photos taken by various individuals of the dead bass. I will post
after I return from Falcon.

[some guy]

its the long ball that fills the stands.

[DL]

Chicks dig the long ball

[Hollywood]

SOLUTIONS
Format change

1. Eliminate co-anglers for both Falcon and Amistad events. Pro
event ONLY, with 5 fish limit. Option 2, is to go to a 3 fish limit
for both pros and co-anglers. I would expect that the first option
would go over better with the pros.

2. Host Falcon and Amistad events in late January or early February.

Good luck with these, Co-Anglers are where a lot of the prize money comes from! and b.A.S.S. always goes to florida in the first part of the season.

[Pred]

Nice to see ya'll still think 7000 pounds were killed.

It was 160 fish. And BASS fixed their mistake the next week.

Too bad noone cares about the hundreds of gill netters out there. Not an excuse for BASS but ya'll should know that they are trying to fix it and have done more for bass fishing than any other trail.

And I can't believe you are still believing that BS that Yelas talks about. Waaaa... BASS sensationalizes everything. Whats worse being told to leave all your sponsors at home and promote a product you may not believe in? Or show how the pros deal with issues on the water? Personally I thought it was a nice learning experience and will remember how stupid Martens looked on TV if someone is on my spot. Bassfan.com wrote a whole story on it. you guys really need to grasp that FLW is going to pull down your shorts and have their way with you as soon as they drive everyone else out.
Till then enjoy bashing on B.A.S.S it makes their choice to leave the west a better and better idea. Notice how all your good anglers are leaving the west too? And ALL going to BASS? I guess they didnt drink the FLW KOOLAID. Oh and BASS broke the story about their MISTAKE. Im sure FLW wouldnt buck up and take the heat.

And for my own knowledge... how many times has bass done this?

EDIT: Im guessing some of the past big trails will have to merge or fold in the next 3-5 years.

[Rod Wynn]

Wow, so much for Velvick vs. Martens..
This thread took a sharp turn in another direction..
Having said that, good points by all..

[619]

Did the tupperwear Livewells have anything to do with it. I know it wouldn't be fun cruising around in hot plastic all day.