Did you ever sit back and think about how fish are treated on the tournament circuit? There hope is that they have a 100 percent live release. FLW Outdoors take pride in trying to maintain that 100 percent live release and if they can do a 95-98 percent there will be money donated to improve the fishing waters were we fish.

Let me let you in on a few things that should perk up your ears. On March 15, 2003 we had the BFL on Lake Okeechobee out of Clewiston Florida with 402 participants. The weather was 89 degrees and a light wind out of the North West at 10-15 miles per hour. The water temperature was 84 degrees. Now, you start fishing at 6:30 a.m. in the morning you run for 30 minutes and fish till 2:30 to 3:45 p.m. and when you get back to the dock you then get to stand in line for up to 1 hour and 30 minutes waiting for a bag. With the warm water the fish don’t exchange oxygen as easily. The tournament directors give out 30 bags and there were no lines at the water tanks. I think that if they gave out enough bags to cover one flight then the mortality rate would not be as high. I would guess that they don’t have the same problems up north as they do down south due to the cooler temperatures of the water up north. There were more dead fish this past weekend then I can remember from any other tournament in the past two years.

There are ways to help to keep your fish alive longer when the water is warm. First, you can add ice to your water. This will slow the metabolism of the fish down and they wont use as much oxygen. Second, you can add chemicals to the water to calm down the fish and it helps to replenish the slime coat to the fish. Third, there is a new system out that put pure oxygen into the water. This no mater what the temperature is, will help to keep your fish healthy.

Now lets talk about etiquette. How would you feel if you were standing at the top of a hill looking down over one hundred boats when a boat trying to get a spot slams into your boat? The whole line of people turns to the sound of fiberglass cracking. The perpetrator looks to see if anyone saw. There’s a whole in the side of your brand new boat from the bow eye of an inconsiderate boater. Now what happens? Then there are the guys who try to squeeze into a spot to small and either scratches the side of your boat or the motor cover and never says a word. These are both incidences that happen at many tournaments. Most fisherman are not wealthy, we spend all our money on something that we enjoy and then after mishaps like I just mentioned now we have to spend more money to fix what someone else should be paying for.

This is a multi million dollar a year industry and we need to take pride in it and take care of our fish. While you are out there just think about how you would feel if someone damaged your gear and take the responsibility for your actions if something does happen.

By: Brent Propst
Gambler Boat National Team Member

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