Post by 911 on Jul 30, 2006 10:04:10 GMT -5
Skip Hess indianapolis star.
It will be interesting to learn the results of a Wisconsin study on what effect catch-
and-release tournament fishing might have on the mortality rate of largemouth and smallmouth bass.
The findings could have a major impact on bass tournaments in Indiana and other states.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources reports that it found 582 dead bass in the La Crosse-area Black River a few days after a Wal-Mart FLW Stren Series Bass Fishing Tournament earlier this month.
About 400 anglers participated in the event, which required the return of caught bass to the river. This is standard at all major tournaments.
Tournament anglers keep their catches in a livewell in their boat until the end of the day when the fish are weighed by tourney officials and are returned to the water.
Anglers have every reason to keep their bass alive in tourneys that pay as much as $100,000 for first place. A dead fish cannot be counted in a contestant's daily tally.
Many tournaments allow the culling of fish caught. If the daily limit is five fish, anglers can begin replacing smaller fish with larger fish that they catch after they reach their limit.
Some tournaments do not allow this. If the limit is five fish a day, then participants must keep the first five.
Wisconsin DNR officials say this is the second year that fish deaths were higher than normal after the Wal-Mart tourney.
Three years ago, Wisconsin lawmakers called for an investigation of catch-and-release tournaments. They wanted to know economic, sociological and biological impacts of the tourneys.
From an Indiana perspective, we can understand the concern. Let's say, for example, officials found similar trends of higher death rates after tournaments.
It's not something that could be ignored, just as the fish kill in White River was not ignored a couple of years ago. An investigation found the fish kill was attributed to pollution.
But here's the stickler about the Wisconsin fish kill. There's concern that 500-plus fish found dead in a river just days after a catch-and-release tournament is no coincidence, especially because it was the second time dead fish were found afterward.
Pollution is being dismissed as the culprit in Wisconsin. Instead, DNR biologists say dead fish last year tested positive for a virus brought on by stress.
The stress was from being caught, kept hours in a livewell and weighed before release.
At last month's tournament, DNR researchers clipped the tail fins of about 2,000 bass caught in the four-day tournament.
The marked fish were kept in holding pens next to fish that the DNR collected from the wild using electroshocking. All the fish were held for five days.
Critics of the study said penning the fish for five days could have contributed to the stress, but a spokesman for the DNR said after the fish were released, only the bass with clipped tail fins were found dead.
For years, biologists have advised catch-and-release anglers to handle bass with care. Anglers are urged to not allow it to fight just for the sport of it because of stress it puts on a fish.
Anglers are also urged to avoid touching the body of a bass and to return the bass to the water as quickly as possible
It will be interesting to learn the results of a Wisconsin study on what effect catch-
and-release tournament fishing might have on the mortality rate of largemouth and smallmouth bass.
The findings could have a major impact on bass tournaments in Indiana and other states.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources reports that it found 582 dead bass in the La Crosse-area Black River a few days after a Wal-Mart FLW Stren Series Bass Fishing Tournament earlier this month.
About 400 anglers participated in the event, which required the return of caught bass to the river. This is standard at all major tournaments.
Tournament anglers keep their catches in a livewell in their boat until the end of the day when the fish are weighed by tourney officials and are returned to the water.
Anglers have every reason to keep their bass alive in tourneys that pay as much as $100,000 for first place. A dead fish cannot be counted in a contestant's daily tally.
Many tournaments allow the culling of fish caught. If the daily limit is five fish, anglers can begin replacing smaller fish with larger fish that they catch after they reach their limit.
Some tournaments do not allow this. If the limit is five fish a day, then participants must keep the first five.
Wisconsin DNR officials say this is the second year that fish deaths were higher than normal after the Wal-Mart tourney.
Three years ago, Wisconsin lawmakers called for an investigation of catch-and-release tournaments. They wanted to know economic, sociological and biological impacts of the tourneys.
From an Indiana perspective, we can understand the concern. Let's say, for example, officials found similar trends of higher death rates after tournaments.
It's not something that could be ignored, just as the fish kill in White River was not ignored a couple of years ago. An investigation found the fish kill was attributed to pollution.
But here's the stickler about the Wisconsin fish kill. There's concern that 500-plus fish found dead in a river just days after a catch-and-release tournament is no coincidence, especially because it was the second time dead fish were found afterward.
Pollution is being dismissed as the culprit in Wisconsin. Instead, DNR biologists say dead fish last year tested positive for a virus brought on by stress.
The stress was from being caught, kept hours in a livewell and weighed before release.
At last month's tournament, DNR researchers clipped the tail fins of about 2,000 bass caught in the four-day tournament.
The marked fish were kept in holding pens next to fish that the DNR collected from the wild using electroshocking. All the fish were held for five days.
Critics of the study said penning the fish for five days could have contributed to the stress, but a spokesman for the DNR said after the fish were released, only the bass with clipped tail fins were found dead.
For years, biologists have advised catch-and-release anglers to handle bass with care. Anglers are urged to not allow it to fight just for the sport of it because of stress it puts on a fish.
Anglers are also urged to avoid touching the body of a bass and to return the bass to the water as quickly as possible
