View Full Version : Cabelas NTC/AUDUBON NATURE INSTITUTE
mnjimcarp
06-13-2004, 09:21 PM
The Audubon Nature Institute was commissioned by Cabelas to work with the fish from the weigh-in at the fairgrounds in Escanaba. The fish were bumped as you exited the boat launch and the final weigh-in was at the fairgrounds in Escanaba. A significant amount of time had elapsed prior to weighing some of the walleyes from the competitors live wells. Even with the logistical challenges; the Audubon Nature Institute was able to release 97 percent of the fish that were brought to the scales on Sunday. This is an amazing success. They had nearly 800 fish on sunday alone that were super oxygenated and cooled back to health. This truly is a wonderful organization. They deserve our thanks for this fine effort. Thanks to Cabelas and thanks to the Audubon Nature Institute for their excellent work. The public needs to understand the catch and release mentality of the tournament anglers at this level of competition. Please, let folks know that we all benefit from this type of proactive measure. Have fun fishing, JC
bigfish2
06-14-2004, 09:18 PM
carp, good post. This is an important issue.!!
hgmeyer
06-17-2004, 07:51 PM
I would be very interested in knowing exactly what they did to "cool" and "super oxygenated" the fish. Was this something experimental/special... Could it be adopted by more tourneys to assure even better release results?
There was an article in the Escanaba paper about this. The people who were fizzing and cooling the fish before release said that there was a 10% mortality rate before release. John Hewitt of the ANI also said that MANY more fish will die after release into the bay, because of all the handling and being in livewells for so long, and the water temps. He didn't guestimate how many tho.
Christa
06-19-2004, 01:11 PM
Actually, we just saw the article and we were very surprised at what the reporter wrote. John Hewitt never said that many more fish will die. He said that many more fish would have died if we hadn't 'fizzed' and super-oxygenated the water along with chilling it down a few degrees. I appreciate all the kind words about the Audubon Nature Institute. We really enjoyed working the NTC and had a blast meeting new people and enjoying our success rate. We work many of the catch and release Redfish Tours in the Gulf South and believe me you really have to know what you are doing to acheive 90% survival rates, especially with those Walleye. If we can be of assistance to anyone, please e-mail me at clobue@auduboninstitute.org. Thanks again.
Grates
06-21-2004, 04:29 AM
Good post Jimmy. I prefished for 6 days and released every Walleye that came into the boat. I think it is important to note that tournament anglers are motivated to protect a fishery along with promoting it for everyone.
Ricky
No, supersaturating with oxygen is not a new concept and neither is cooling the water temperatures. Fish hatcheries around the US use and have used this technique for quite some time in hauling fish to lakes and reservoirs for stocking.
NTCfisher
06-21-2004, 10:50 PM
great job christa and gang! we appreciate your efforts. also, thanks to Cabelas for making this happen.
Erie bud
06-22-2004, 12:22 PM
There is no way that you didn't have a significant mortality rate no matter what was done. Fish that are handled have a high mortality rate period. The ODNR and Sea Grant are begging Erie fishermen to NOT handle the huge batch of yearlings being caught right now because simple handling will cause mortality. Add holding them in a livewell and handling at the weigh-in = death. Many don't float right away but they will......
Bud
PS I'm not opposing tournaments, just facing reality...
I have to agree with you Erie Bud. I will now quote from the daily press in Escanaba what was said.Hewitt and his three colleagues were pleased with their work. About 10 percent of the 763 caught June 11 died. On June 12, 18 fish were dead after the team revived 779 others. But Hewitt figures many more likely died from shock when they were released back into Little Bay De Noc. And recent studies have shown, during the several days following the tournament, many more fish could die from the shock of being caught and handled. This is word for word in the article.