Tournament overfishing?

[jack65274]

Just something that has been on my mind lately. It seems most people here are tournament fisherman as opposed to recreational fisherman. I happen to live near DVL and it seems as if there is a tournament scheduled every single saturday and sunday. This would seem to put a lot of pressure on the fishery, not only from sheer numbers of fisherman but also by fisherman that know what they are doing and how to move the fish. I realize that I am probably asking the wrong crowd this question but it seems to me there should be some thought given by whomever controls the scheduling of tounaments into preserving the quality of the fishery and also some consideration given to the recreational fishermen who would like to experience a quiet day on the lake occassionally.
Perhaps tournaments every other weekend instead of every weekend. Any thoughts?

[Bill Hutcheson]

There is no question that there are quite a few tournaments on popular bodies of water.

However, as a recreational angler, you may not be aware of the many constraints that DFG places on tournament organizations to make sure that they are not negatively impacting the fishery.

Furthermore, of all the lakes in SoCal, DFG happens to be one of the most closely monitored by DFG biologists as they have had the rare opportunity to take note of exactly how many fish went into the lake at its inception vs how many fish are take during events, etc...

DFG Biologists also do shock studies at this fishery to determine the population density and growth rates of the fish. As most of the posters on this site are familiar with or personally know Mike Guisti and Quinn Granfors who monitor this fishery, they can tell you that if either of these gents thought that DVL or any other lake under thier pervue had too many events, they would limit them immediately.

One thing that you have to remember is that tournament anglers provide a large source of revenue for not only the DFG through thier event permits and license fees, but provide revenue for the lakes and surrounding communities in the form of local event permits, annual passes, gate fees, gas, ice, food, etc. And of all the fishermen working the lake, 99% of the competitive bass anglers are practicing catch and release while those few recreational anglers may be meat fishermen or so uneducated in thier fish handling methods that the fish they purported to release may indeed end up dead anyway.

So in a nutshell, DFG is so far ahead of you on this matter that it is truly a non-sequitor.

[acm95301]

As a former Recreation only angler, I feel your pain. All too often Tournament Anglers blast around the Lake and do things that the locals get fired up at. At a recent tournament I was at I saw a local floating by the boat dock waiting to use the ramp, while the tournament used all four ramps.He was really unhappy. Or a Fishermen who dump fish back at the dock but never dealt with floaters....yes If you don't know how to fizz a bass ...ask. Its illegal to waste fish.
That said I don't believe tournament Angling impacts a lake anymore than a bluebird day does. Tournament fishing provides a ton of money to the community, and supports facilities and actions that directly improve the lakes and other fisheries.
Also Tournament anglers are not the only poor neighbors on the water, I see tons of poor behavior on the boat ramp. And to those guys I say in my best American sign language, Get over yourselves...I'm paraphrasing of course.

[Andrew Jackson]

Lake Havasu gets pounded every spring, and not just from the spring breakers. They have had multiple tournaments out of the same ramp/park (Windsor) every week end for the last month. I would have to agree they ought to limit the numbers at the lake but them greedy bastards want the $$$$. Yet the fishery remains great and actually may be doing it good by interupting the spawn as they could experience what happened at Powell where there were to many predator fish for the forage base.

[paulisaak]

Your right there are to many tournaments at DVL. 99.9 % of the tournaments orgs are a joke in So Cal. Everybody wants to a Bass
Master Org. Any jerk can get a permit from DFG and insurance and then call them selfs a tournament org. Every time, like you I go to DVL and see these losers with patchs all over thier shirts I laugh.
I to for many years fished tournaments until one day I woke up to fact there a waste of money and time. Most of these guys have a ego to fill because they want to be somebody for the first time in thier lives. Yes to many tournaments, they should be every other week-end. Plus the money wasted on a over priced boat that they
cant aford, gas entery fees, lake fees truck payment its a waste.
Plus most of those guys are jerks. Good news tourmament fishing
in So Cal is losing its growth it peaked in the late 90's and now days its a joke in So Cal.

[Rick G]

No DVL tournaments this weekend. Also remember that after June all the tournaments are night events and we are fishing when the general public is off the water. 1 event per weekend is more than enough though IMHO. It would make for bigger events and less fishing pressure. Rick G.

[mark poulson]

I don't think it's realistic to think that there will be fewer tournaments until their are fewer tournament trails, and that doesn't appear to be happening any time soon.
If the trails that are out there now have survived this economy, they're probably going to continue, and so will their tournaments at DVL. It is a great lake.
The same thing happend to Castaic in the early 2000's. The lake began to receive more and more tournament pressure, and it was tougher and tougher to just go out and catch fish as a fun fisherman. Since I was only able to fish the weekends, when there were usually tournaments, it seemed like every good spot had a boat on it.
The lockdown at Casitas, temporary closure of DVL to private boats, and the drawdowns at Perris and Piru all conspired to increase the pressure on Castaic.
And now, it seems like there are squads of shore fishermen who are ferried by the same rental boat to points and spots inaccessible by foot. Even if they don't catch a single fish, they make it hard to fish the same areas they are fishing, because of how many people are there, each with two rods in the water.
Thank goodness DVL reopened, so OC fishermen don't have to drive two hours to fish, and Piru, at least, has risen again, so it is being used for tournaments.
But Castaic still gets hammered.
For me, it's made me learn to fish deeper, and to look for spots that are away from the "community holes" that everyone fishes.
I've found some of the spots that it took other guys, really good anglers, years to find, but I still struggle when there's a tournament going on. There are really no "secret spots" at Castaic any more, only knowing which stuff to fish at what time.
For you, it's a matter of really learning DVL. There are guys who are good on that lake who catch good fish regularly, so it can be done.
The only way there will be less tournament pressure on any of our lakes, other than a truly disasterous turn in the economy, is for DFG to limit the number of lake tournament permits, and I don't see that happening any time soon.

[bump]

*NM*

[C.GANN]

Havasu gets a few ...heres the problem I have with some of the anglers , last week 3 boats doing some prefishing for WON we were all at the ramp I was out first just moving along down the lake doing 50mph ready to turn by site 6 but I am out 2 hundred yards so I can see whats going on when you round the island and the sun is coming up , 2 of them dumb a$$ guys went flying by hugging the island rounding that corner by site 6 with fisherman in boats along the buoy line just sitting and fishing when here they come those guys should know better guess they were showing me how fast they can go , run that area counter clock wise guys so you don't kill someone

[kmurphy]

Hello Jack,

Below is a link to some information you might find interesting. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will find a report and a series of summaries the DFG maintains on tournaments.


http://www.dfg.ca.gov/fish/Administrati ... ingContest


Let me know if you have any questions,

Kyle Murphy
DFG Senior Fisheries Biologist
916.323.5556
kmurphy@dfg.ca.gov

[jack65274]

I thank everyone for their replies. I learned some things I didn't know. I expected to get laughed out of here for questioning tournaments but I can honestly say that the quality and thoughtfulness of the information you have all provided makes me feel a lot better about the situation. Thanks for letting me get it off my chest.

[Jim Conlow Sr.]

Tournament fishermen are probably helping the fisheries. They are practicing catch and release at almost a hundred percent rate.

we are making the fish shy of boats, baits, depth sounders, fishing line, trolling motors etcetera. The shyest and smartest of those fish will live longer and will become the breeders of all the 12 inch that you fish eaters catch and kill.

What is there about tournament fishing that you feel is not a recreation.

You should be thanking us for helping your fishery by helping to create the breeding stock that keep your lakes stocked with those 12 inchers, the smartest of which will grow up to lay more millions of eggs to help perpetuate the sport that we all love.

Bass fishermen of all types are of course all jerks. All of fishing is a Jerk on one end of a string waiting fro a jerk on the other end of the string

[jack65274]

Thanks for your reply,

Just for the record, I am not anti-tournaments nor do I kill or eat fish I catch. All thihgs considered....I woud rather eat a steak . My only concern is the number of tournaments held on relatively small bodies of water. I do believe tournament fisherman care about the fishery and probably do an excellent job of not killing fish. I'm a friend overall....not an enemy. Just stating something that was bothering me.

Also, while I am at it, I have learned a lot about catching fish from people on this website, particularly in catching fish at DVL, and I am appreciative of that help.

[mark poulson]

Bass fishermen of all types are of course all jerks. All of fishing is a Jerk on one end of a string waiting fro a jerk on the other end of the string

Too funny!

[jazzwannabe]

Maybe a better question would be, is there too much fishing pressure, period?

In my opinion, yes, but mainly because California is way overpopulated.

[Jim Conlow Sr.]

Maybe a better question would be, is there too much fishing pressure, period?

In my opinion, yes, but mainly because California is way overpopulated.

But then again we still have some of the top fisheries in the world even better than areas that have a very low fishing pressure

[texas john]

If you dont like the weekend tournament preasure, fish DVL on a Wednesday, far less people and you will basically have it all to your self. Tournaments generate a ton of cash for the communities and people are rare to turn down $$$.

[CN]

It's all you can do. Fish during the week if you can and just plan on them being there during late Winter thru Spring. I know what you mean it's frustrating to pull up on a Saturday and see the lot full of Rig's but hey they have as much right to the Lake as anyone.

I dont think they hurt the fishery in any way though. If the event is run correct and the fisherman take care of the fish what little die off is probably no worse than the fisherman that came there that day to take fish home.

And we all know you can catch the same fish more than one time.

[offduty]

The tournaments have done quite a bit too evolve bass fishing. We learn from these guys and they move a lot of product for they're sponsors. They innovate new tackle, techniques and bring a lot of money to the local economy. I imagine DFG gets a cut but I could be wrong. I have been fishing Casitas for 12 years and as a firefighter I get to fish some week days. When the lake did not have it's current tag program it was a tougher lake. Tourneys were almost every weekend and I stayed off the water then due to frustration of traffic and just tough fishing conditions. I had seen some "I am in a tourney you need to yield to me behavior that I did not feel was right".

I feel for the tournament guys and see them as regular people some great guys, some a holes and everything in between just like the rest of us. Being a few miles from the lake and fishing it often, it has gotten better since the tagging program and lack of pressure and tourneys. It used to be a struggle to get a limit and I now get 10 to 15 fish a day. It is what it is. That being said when I can transfer to Norcal I will. Socal is just too crowded period and I am getting tired of the zoo and the mentality it breeds.

Rich

[elfish16]

Rich,

I don't know about you but how do you feel about the size at Casitas right now??? I personally felt that Casitas was much better when opened to the public like normal- ala no cables. I fish this lake as much as possible and haven't seen the same lake since the lake when to the tagging system. Don't get me wrong, there are numbers sure but size is down considerably.

I for one saw more quality limits and size when there were derbies every week. Sure it might tighten the lips a little bit but at the same time fishing was different. Casitas was a much better lake when there were 3 organizations fishing it.

Eric

[offduty]

Eric

I think your right I got 10 yesterday but nothing over 4 lbs. the weather with the fog was good to me yesterday and I lost about as many as I caught. Just got in today after a couple hours and got a couple small ones but that was it. I think you have a valid point but I am not sure why it is affected the way it is. If you can ever fish the week day let me know, I have a TR-21 with an open back seat most of the time. Tomorrow is the kids derby from 9:00 -12:00 and I will be tying and un hooking for the kids.

Rich

[captjohn]

Theres a lot of pressure everywhere. I have been to DVL on a Wen or Thur and seen 60-80 boats. Casitas now has 40 boats a day during the week and 60 + on the weekends. The differance is not only pressure but knoweldge, everyone knows where everthing is. There is no secrets. We all beat up the same stuff all the time, no one is exempt we all do it.

[captjohn]

Eric,

Lakes cycle, just look at Cachuma, we have seen it do the same thing.

[elfish16]

captjohn,

I agree with you and the cycles. I am shocked to see the quality so poor now days but at the same like you said there are only so many spots on the lake and everyone knows everyone's stuff. I only get out during the weekends so I am in the midst of those 60-70 boats and it blows. you have guys fishing 5 on top of each other on certain spots.

Rich, i work in the banking world and have certain holidays off. send me a PM with your number and I will see what I can do.

Eric