Question about tournament fishing

[gooseman]

At the end of a fishing tournament are the fish let go back into the lake or river?

[buddyl]

Yes they are. Every effort is made to take care of the fish.

[gooseman]

thanks buddyl. i always see these monsters get weighed in and i was hoping that that they were released.

[bfriendly]

There will always be some loss, but yea, we try to get them back in the water to be caught again.........I personally would like to see the "3 fish limit" when the water temps are over 75 Degrees. One tourney night my partner Len and I did not come in for the weigh in(no fish to weigh anyway), but just stayed and fished until about 1AM. When we did come in, we saw at least 5 or 6 fish, got them away from the rocks and back to swimming.............then we saw the BIG FISH of the night! It was a 6#LM and that was the winning big bass, so I am pretty sure it was her...........I was in the water up to my waiste, working that fish for about 20 minutes......it finally swam off far enough that I could not catch or see her again.........I think(hope) she made it....

That being said, anyplace that just had a tourney has just replenished the area.........not a bad place to fish!

[gooseman]

thanks makes me feel better because i'm a catch and release fishermen. Even when i go trout fishing i try to release them as fast as i can. I have even started to use circle hooks so they do not swallow the hook when I use trout powerbait or nitecrawlers.

[bassboy1]

You don't eat trout? Your missing out. I am catch and release with bass, and usually crappie and catfish too (not enough meat on a crappie to be worth it unless you get a lot - and catfish are just a pain in the @$$ to clean)

[basshammer]

One thing I have noticed. It's surprising how many people do not do anything to help fish in the livewell. Things like adding a frozen bottle of water when the water gets hot or changing out the water in the well to get rid of waste can go along way to helping fish survive.

[gooseman]

I get that alot bassboy. I love to catch fish but i rearly eat them. i just don't have the taste for fish. When i went salt water fishing i could of had a feast. I caught a 3lb redfish and a flounder when i was surf fishing. I also caught multpuile 1lb+ whiting(that is rear for whiting.) I just love to fish.