Fishing tournament has 96% mortality rate for SMB

https://fishb1.com/f/st-lawrence-river-repo...NsQ7et9ZldtXmCc

Re-posting from another site.

Bass tournament on the st Lawrence had 96% mortality rate for SMB and overall mortality of 44% for the tournament.

Id imagine keeping 5 fish in a small live well for 8 hours in the heat driving across the lake at 60mph has a lot to do with it.

As much as I dislike the minnow thieves that just isn't right...
Catch it,weight it and let it go...

unfortunate. smb are notorious for not doing well in livewells. I've often wondered how many fish die after they've been weighed in and swim away.

Personally I'd love to see mlf style clubs pop up, I'd have no problem paying extra $$$ for some kid or retired person to marshall.

I’m sure that the iced water in the holding tanks at the scales shocked them to death I read they had them at 13 degrees.. wtf on 40 degree day this series struggles!

That was exactly my thought. From 19-21°C to 13-17°C is a big issue. I doubt fizzing the fish would have made much of a difference as it was suggested to be the main reason for mortality. Anyone who owns an aquarium knows the extreme importance of keeping the water temp consistent.

In my opinion, it would have been the cooler river water, say 19°C, to live well temps of 25°C+ due to the heat and then into the 13°C holding tanks. That's a huge temp swing and surely the reason for such high mortality. What a shame..

100% agree.
Either boat marshalls as a witness or videotape the catch, measurement and release.
The problem is the sport industry would never want to do that as big $$$ are on stake with podium show-offs etc.

Wow thats awful...

MLF is a wicked format I agree it would be way more beneficial to the fishery.

This is sad to see.

I don't fish bass tournaments but I always wondered how many of this nice big bass die after and this is an eye opener.

What a shame!

Call me old fashioned...but fishing has never been about a 'competing or winning anything'.

I appreciate the peace and the quiet of being on the water, plus if you are with a friend, his or her company adds to the enjoyment.
After all, if you enjoy the fishing experience, being on the water, you are already a winner right?

I just never understood the 'fun' of racing across a lake, making a few casts, then tearing off to another spot and repeating the process over and over again. That's not relaxing in my view.

I'm certainly not saying tournament fishing is wrong, as back in the mid 80's I was talked into entering Walleye tourney out of Bobcaygeon for a couple of yrs, even came in 10th one yr. So I've witnessed how people race all over the lake searching for honey holes.
Now, being a bit older (and hopefully wiser) I choose to enjoy the surroundings and relax while I fish now.

The fish mortality rate from tournament fishing is an altogether separate issue and is truly sad. It makes tournament fishing, for me, all the more undesirable. Hopefully a solution can be found to eliminate this issue and stop any adverse effects to the fisheries.

Fishing means different strokes for different folks I guess.

IMHO.

Cheers,

👆 old fashion!

I hate fishing tournaments for various reasons, but 96% mortality rate takes the cake!!

I read this and it makes me sick to think of all those dead and wasted fish.
My question is what was the change. If the tournament as stated has between a 1-7% mortality rate as the norm what was the big change in this particular circumstance. Would it be a Sabotage by a group like PETA to make the tournament look really bad? Was it the late spawn this year and a tournament while the spawn is going on adding a huge amount of stress to the fish? I personally cancelled my early season bass tournaments I do this year just because of the late spawn.

I wonder if anyone though to take a water sample from the tanks?

been watching some tournament fishing from the states...love the new procedure they use at a lot of them now...they have a guy on the boat with them...he weighs and records as they are caught, then they are immediately released. seems a better way to go if you ask me.

If you read the article it's obvious that it is water temps. Sabotage by PETA. That is a good one. LOL. But hey, anything is possible with that group.

With current technology i really hope they get some marshals on the boats and do on spot weight ins