Will Alabama stop tournament bass fishing on the Coosa River? What are the issues that are happening in the Coosa to make such a monumental decision? Is it mortality rates? What are the economic issues that would happen if this passes in Alabama? Lets talk about this new survey from the Alabama Freshwater Fisheries Division. A recent study by the Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fishing Division examines how spotted bass populations could affect tournament fishing on the Coosa River system. The proposal could impact professional angler participation in major league fishing events on this waterway system. As a bassmaster initiative, these potential changes aim to maintain sustainable fish populations while considering the needs of competitive anglers.
#alabamafishing #bass #fishing
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Conservation should trump almost anything and everything related to tournament fishing. There are entirely too many tournaments, and far too many anglers allowed to fish in them. The current state of tournament fishing is nothing short of disgusting.
Thanks buddy, very understanding
Slot Limits = no weigh ins = CWR = officials in every boat = smaller fields.
I do agree what you were talking about
Looks like their rigged assessment s will stop many tournaments
Kayak tournaments do catch, photo and release. The photos are judged. There are 1000’s of kayak tournaments and the organizers have figured out how to do it well in part looking at photo details. Minnesota DNR now requires some walleye tournaments to be catch photo and release. Plus they have slot limits on various fish in most lakes for all anglers. This method you don’t need a marshal or starlink. I think livewell tournaments are hurting fish more than CPR tournaments.
The 3 major Bass Fishing organizations elite tours should all go to Catch , Weigh and Release with Marshals,No FFS And no Summer hot weather tournament . It would stop most deep fish mortality, fish killed from being in live wells all day. And heat related fish kills . Plus it would be way better TV and go back to old school fishing ! Also help the tackle industry and stop the cheaters ! It would be a win , win win ! All other tournaments would have to go to kayak type rules ! Maybe a tech company could invent a piece of equipment that would take a pic and weigh the fish on board the boat instead of just inventing only fish catching tech !
Ffs is the reason
As much as I like watching tournaments! I hope that all tournaments go away ! Or reduce greatly! The problem is high school tournaments have 400 hundred boats ! Same as college! It’s absolutely ridiculous! Plus add the pros and club tournaments it’s absurd x10 ! Definitely should be no tournaments in the summer! Plus limit permits for tournaments! Basically cut them in half at least ! Catch and release is the way to go ! Plus no FFS ! Delayed mortality is too high for deep water fish ! And like I said change the time of the year for tournaments ! That includes club tournaments as well ! Go to length vs weight and adopt the way kayaker do it ! At least all the major tournaments should go to weigh marshals ! Marshals would stop the cheating as well !
If you got 30- 50%,mortality rate on bass that’s awful. Is something such as catch rate from FFS impacting it? I catch about 20-30% more with it. If you are losing population then yes maybe tourneys need to be reduced. I wouldn’t say banned but reduced. Its interesting !
I live in Alabama and fish Gville more than the Coosa but ive seen where on Smith lake the introduction of blue back herring made a big difference and then the state jumped in and stopped it the spots grew and benefited now 2 years later herring gone no more big spots
This is classically about money vs the welfare of the fish or game. Hope they figure it out for the benefit of both the fish and the communities
I think it's a great thing, and my only wish is that every State that has Bass Tournaments would do the same exact study. The fisheries IMO are way more important in the grand scheme of things than the tournaments!
There are too many tournaments and organizer GREED has increased the fields.
Weigh-ins have become a thing of the past.
Steve, you have point about cost of marshals. I fish tournaments with catch weigh, release, no weigh ins. They use Fish Donkey, or Chaos apps. Everyone uses the same scale that is calibrated before the start, yes it's time consuming. Secondly, it cost $5 per tournament. You weight fish, with scale, take a picture, then a video of fish being released, submit. It is time stamped, seeing the fish released, one can tell if a weight was used. App can be MLF or 5 big fish limits style. Payouts are held for 4 days', so entries can be verified and payouts sent to winners. Five dollars isn't a great expense, this my second year doing this it works. Also, fish aren't moved, live wells can used for storage, a gut hooked fish has a better chance of survival. Bass this past year fished at lake Fork and had no weigh in with fish. They could do it for all events. All tournaments should be this way. People got use to catch and release, 40 years ago. This method could be the same. It does take practice, getting to learn. I do it, just fun fishing without app. The only problem is getting phone, without the sun blocking the numbers. This is a quick fix, just remember to look a photo, before submitting. Those communities can still survive. I'm 77 and learned to use, after some tech younger anglers should me, how to use the phone, using the app.
Since the communities along the Coosa River is bringing in tons of cash, maybe the State of Alabama impose a 1% sales tax on these communities. Have the ABT also kick in 1% of the all revenue back to Alabama Freshwater. All the money collected goes to the Alabama Freshwater Fishing Division to help protect the fisheries. Alabama Freshwater will then provide the necessary tanks, biologists, etc., etc., for preserving the fished weighed-in at each tournament, then no one can point their finger at who is not doing their part on preserving the fisheries. Just a thought.
Just to be clear that study was a $900,000 study performed by Auburn University, so those numbers have some clout behind them CPR like the pro Kayak events do. Zero dead fish in that format
The weights in these tournaments is not going down ( for now) because the FFS can help anglers target fish that were not able to be caught in the past
Catch, photo, release every fish caught with a judge in every boat. Only way tournaments don't kill fish and it will stop all cheaters. Otherwise, no tournaments.
Maybe go to inches like kayak series do same board take a pic . Not sure that would work. But wouldn't need scales or marshals.
Lake Fork in Texas has a slot limit and it seems to have a pretty good reputation for itself.
The tournament anglers from out of state may be reduced but what about the pleasure fishermen and their families from out of state that may now go to Alabama to fish knowing they won’t be slammed by tournaments. The pleasure fishermen far outnumber the tournament fisherman.
I fish the Coosa and every tournament they have here they catch them and release them 30 miles away. They are taking all of my fish!!!! Weigh them and release them on the spot
2nd. Where's my check? 😁 Solid as always!
I can’t speak for Alabama. But slot limits in other states that I have read about or have fished in the past have never been a good thing. Especially places such as Alabama, with a huge tournament production and following. The lasting economic impacts would be detrimental to the local businesses in those respective communities.
The small communities that are part of the fishing tournaments depend on the sales and business from anglers, both local and out of state. If these slot limits are implemented, many small businesses in those respective communities will struggle for the duration.
Not a good thing in my opinion