I DON'T THINK I WOULD WANT TO FISH TOURNAMENTS......

[saLTY-]

Well i just got back from Lake Trinity today and had a fabulous trip. i always go up every year during the second week of august. i have noticed when in the past i took a few bass to eat the were loaded with eggs.................MEANING SUMMER IS ACTUALLY SPRING FOR THEM....welli guess with all the snow still sitting on shasta mountians and on top of the trinity alps i would understand.....i had a trip everyone. i got several 4's and even one @5 or even a little more, all small mouth. i also got a largiemouth almost hitting 6. all these fish were released. because of my interest of OUR fishing future catch and release is the way! alos when bringing the bass aboard, their bellies were so full that their stomaches were srarting to bleed from their little bellie buttons. i was guess stress..i just wan to say releasing all these fish made my sleep a ease and dreams wonderfull. the very last day i am fishing i encounter a tournament on the lake.......with all my effort into catch and realease 25 boats show up pulling bass up and off their little homes o weigh them and drop them off at a marina that is no where close to their little homes......i hate to beleive that catch and release is a waste and tournaments are bad..........i strongly beleive tournament should be off limits during spawns??? ...........................am i wrong? i know i am not a pro or professor ..if i have insulted anyone i am sorry!!...........thx,saLTIE-

[bassindon69]

Thats why after 40 years of tourneys at lake Don Pedro the bass just keep getting bigger, We keep letting them go where all the trout=(food) are stocked
Don.

[Bill K]

Everyone is able to follow their own opinions on this spawn matter, but as far as not fishing when in spawn, there will always be some fish that are spawning year round. That is something that is just the nature of life. Most spawn may occur in the spring, but not all. So a person would just have to not fish anytime, if he follows that reasoning.
Another, proven by F&G, is that tourny fisher's do not hurt the fish as much as the meat eaters. Very few fish are killed and most will return to their home ground, over time. Everyone released has a chance, while those kept for food(nothing wrong with that if you want and stay within the limits) have none.
Most lakes that hold tournaments also show a marked increase in
the overall ratio of fish and larger fish keep showing up every year.
My $.02 worth.. No offense taken and again everyone can have their own opinion. Bill K

[mac (Doyle McEwen)]

Believe it or not, there are areas of the country that do prohibit bass fishing during the primary spawn..I think they are primarily in the upper midwest and the north eastern states..There are probably not all that many of those areas anyway..As Bill and others said, the tournaments don't seem to affect the spawn all that much, but it does seem obvious that the possibility is there for some amount of damage..That is one of the reasons that I don't fish beds, but the main reason is I have a super tough time spotting them, no matter what type of glasses I use..There is no doubt in my mind that if the tournaments during spawn became really dangerous to the future of the fisherey that the DFG would not allow tournaments during prime spawn..

mac

[RougeBass]

Fish will find their way back home i have seen on more than one occaision where I have have pulled fish off of bed and weighed them in and saw them back on the bed the next day. There was one occasion where I weighed in a fish at 3 and saw her back on here bed by 6pm.

[saLTY-]

well through the years i have seen less 12- 14 inchers and more 3- 4lbers. the only thing that concerned me is the blood that was coming from their bellies! what is dat from? it really freaked me out!

[MN]

With the fact tournament's make a lake better,the lake i have fished for over 20 year's has gone to heck since the tournament's have become so popular.The good thing is allmost all the paticipants in these event's go way out of there way to insure these fish are taken care of.Not just becouse they are penilized for dead fish they are probably one of the most concerned about the future of the fishery.just my opinion

[saLTY-]

i am not against tournament anglers at all.........i admire PRO's and am looking to be a AM. i was just concerened aboput the blood for one and where i was getting some fish how they could return...but the second question was answered....i am just looking for some info or to be elightened....................saLTIE-

[sTony]

Hey MN,

Where about are you from? Fishing around me seems to be getting better and better regardless of tournament impact. Clear Lake, which holds a lot of tournaments yearly, was off the hook and from what I understand still is. Might be the fish are getting more conditioned more quickly with as many anglers fishing these days.

sTony

[MN]

I live in salinas and the lake i am talking about is SAN ANTOINIO.I remember catching so many bass no real big one's and now it is a bear to catch a good limit with any consistancy.I whats funny is i catch more smallmouth than largemouth which i will say i prefer.I am by far no expert it just seem's there are way more event's than i ever remember.I dont think the tournaments are the main problem though.I would gladly trade for a trip to the delta or clear lake.With work and family i cant stay for two or three day's which i would have to do to make the drive worth while.Heck look at the post earlier on the price of gas it's rediculous.Tht's why you see me posting on san luis so much it's close and i catch a ton of fish there.

[Hardshell]

I used to fish the central coast lakes in the late sixties and seventies. San Antonio in particular was one of the finest bass fishing lakes in the area, 50 fish days were not uncommon. If I recall correctly the dam at San Antonio was filled in the early sixties and had tremendous cover, steep creek banks and great habitat for bass. I had occassion to go over to San Antonio for a TOC in 2000 and was astounded at the changes. The natural cover in the creeks had all but disappeared and was replaced with milk cartons roped together in the coves to give cover to the fish. The natural structure of the lake bottom is non-existant as with all the lake lice traffic (I'm sure we have contributed also) have caused these channels to slit in to the point that there is no longer any structure on the bottom. I think that the loss of habitat has contributed more to the decline in that fishery than all the tournaments over the years.

Hardshell-Jailer