Tournement waste

[ohio]

All this push to leave the females be during spawn and to release our large females.. then we have a big tournament where they come here and target the females cull em (stessing who knows how many) and keep every large scale bouncin female that comes in the boat. Can anyone offer me any info that might make me feel I am still making a difference when I proudly release the next big beautyfull Walleye that comes in my boat?

[Ohio]

Hey, I think you are off base. The big No#'s of Eyes kept are from the Maumee, Sandusky & Detroit Rivers - along with many with snag burns & sore A##es. These Eyes are being released & your getting alot of free "How to Info" from these RCL Anglers!

[Bait Fish]

Please! Let's not go down this road again. If your're not violating the law, fish the way you want.

[Dave G]

There are ways to reduce delayed mortality at tournaments by changing rules to have the caught fish more quickly and frequently weighed/measured and released. But that would mean we could not see all the fish caught that day at an end-of-day weigh-in.

Until pressure is put on those running the tournaments to change the rules, we are probably going to continue to see “show me the meat” tournaments. I think states like Montana have already tried some innovative tournaments to reduce delayed mortality. I would like to hear how these tournaments are working out.

It is also sad for me to see the big walleyes, full of eggs, put in live wells for most of the day. If you have a strong fishery it may be able to maintain this kind of pressure, but if the long term DNR sampling shows a continued decline of quality walleyes then we will probably have tournaments eliminated, reduced in size/frequency, or new rules forced upon us.

It would be nice to see more tournaments voluntarily experimenting with ways to reduce delayed mortality so that the best formats for the sponsors, participants and audiences could be selected for each body of water.

Dave Gulczinski

[steve(IL)]

1) Regarding catch & release - keep only what you need. Practice selective harvest. It's just common sense.
2) To meat fisherman - ask yourself this - "what if everyone did what I do?"
3) Question the wisdom of allowing a tournament before the spawn. If you feel strongly, pressure your officials to not issue permits prior to the conclusion of the spawn.

[eye crosser]

Please tell me that I'm wrong,but the P.W.T went to the Detroit river this year, when the run was over last year because of the warmer weather! When these tournies are set up they have no idea of the exact time of spawn! Now your trying to tell all of us that they hurt your waters buy having an event there! I get so sick of the few anglers that feel they get cheated out of something when some guy's come to town an show you up! I'm always glad to learn something new,so when they come around I seldom even fish,I watch& learn!You had 150 top anglers on your home waters-did you learn anything? How many big fish DIED at this event? If you don't like the extra crowd don't go when there in town for those 7 days!

[Bullfrog]

Hey, PWT on Detroit River releasing all their fish, compared to 2,000 locals and others fishing at the same time, many before, during and after. All legal. All licensed. Many locals kept limits, that's whhy they fish at the early time-frame. It doesn't affect the spawn or the numbers, otherwise rules would be altered. Why pick on a few people in a tournament having fun the way they like to fish? If concerned, get the facts, and learn what the numbers really show -- who's keeping fish? Go to Erie with the RCL boys, and count boats. They only had 77, but on the good-weather days, you could could 10 to 20 times that amount of local boats, charters and guides. If people want to fish, why throw incendiary accusations at them. Police your own livewell.

[ohio]

your actually saying the organizers can't predict the general time for spawn? Here... it's usually around 4-15 so I'm just askin you guys wait till may 15 if your gonna target females kill females for pictures. Thats all I'm asking. Theres gotta be a better way. Like this ##### tourni HAS to be during peak spawn.. give me a break. Untill then after a day of releasing my females I'll have to go home to see pictures of em on stage for profit..

[Airwave(OH)]

Whaa !!! Whaaa!!! Whaaa!!

[ohio]

once again I don't mean to attack you tourny fisherman. I'm sorry for offending you all but I thought you all might support tournaments being scheduled after spawn or using alternative methods for weigh in.I just don't see why it has to be scheduled during peak spawn..????and why some of you are so defencive over fishing during peak spawn. Is it because your weigh ins are higher when the fish are full of eggs.. our future fishery?? There are a lott of fishermen / charters etc fighting to protect our spawning fish. You people set the example and are looked up to by many.... I wish you would support these efforts and set the example.

[ohio]

I know .. you just want your picture.. Say cheese!:)

[Swat1]

Ohio: 2 points here, 1st this tourney (RCL) was closely watched by the Ohio DNR with no less than 3 officers at each weigh in I was at. Furthermore they (The ODNR) request that the fish not be released back into the lake but given to charity.

2nd, 95% of these fish taken were spawned out! A good friend of mine cleaned a very large portion of them for the food pantries etc that they were donated too and he kept an eye on this as well therefore I believe that this is actually the case here. Not just me looking at the fish being weighed and seeing there slack spawned out belly's.

As someone else stated previously if it isn't against the law then stop complaining! If you prefer to release these fish then please by all means do so! If your fellow anglers choose to keep them for thier table then that is also thier right according to the law and they don't need to be harrased by messages like this one you posted.

If you aren't catching them and are upset by that just give me a call and I'll be happy to take you out and help you catch a big one! Or even 4 big ones as that is the law now. If you then decide to put her back I will shake your hand and congradulate you on a fine catch and release. If you on the other hand decide to keep your fish for either a mount or your dinner plate I will be happy to give you the names of some taxidermists I know will do a great job for you or I will offer to clean your fish for you. Either way you will have done a great job. You will also have done it within the legal limits of the law so there is no room for complaining on anybodies part.

Dan
Swat 1

[ohio]

Well I do catch them and I do release them. You still havn't explained why the tourny must be during peak spawn? many fish lose their eggs after being cought .. so its no surprise they were spawned out.. they spawned out all over the livewells and gunnels of te boats. look I'm not trying to attack anybody. i'm just suggesting a better way. Why is waiting for spawn to end offend you people so much? Just please explain to me why the tourny is scheduled during peak spawn?

[SUPERTROLLER]

It is my opinion that they scheduled it for peak spawn just to iratate you! They did this on purpose because they knew you would get upset and start crying like a baby about all the females being taken out of the system. Yeah, I'm sure it's just one little part of some vast left wing plan to ruin the fishing for everyone. NOT!!!!
If you knew the facts on population numbers of spawning walleyes and how many eggs each one layed, we wouldn't be wasting our time on this posting again. In Lake Erie there are so many fish spawning that they still allow a 4 fish limit during the height of the spawn. If you think that the RCL tournament anglers made any impact on the future fishery there, you better think again. Only a small percentage of fry make it to adulthood out of the massive numbers born. To imply that these anglers in 4 days of fishing with 5 fish per day can ruin the whole fishery is ridiculous. As others have tried to tell you, there are far more fish caught and kept by the every day sportsman than by 77 tournament anglers and their co-anglers. The ODNR has all the catch data on angler hours and estimates for year classes, etc., contact them with your concerns and they will explain why you can still have an open season at this time and still have great fishing year after year.
The best answer to your question is this. They didn't have to schedule the tournament for peak spawn. It could have been last week or next week or next month and any date they picked wouldn't have changed the impact they have had on the fishery. They were a blip on the chart of caught fish. There are millions of fish in that lake and 77 boats keeping 20 fish each, 1540 total for them all if all limited out, means nothing. Talk to the ODNR if you think the seasons or limits need to be changed but don't whine and cry about legal tournaments being run or legal sportsman partaking in an enjoyable pasttime.

[Swat1]

As I said Before The spawn is DONE! Water temps are 50 degrees now most of those walleye spawned before the tourney started.

Now stick a fork in it and your argument because you should both be done.

As I said I congradulate you for your relesing your fish, Durring prefishing we relesed almost all of our fish and only kept a couple smaller ones for the frying pan. However I do not believe the 15 fish My partner and I took durring the tourney hurt your fishery at all. If we were hurting the fishery the ODNR would have not requested that the fish be donated to charity either!

Dan
Swat 1

[eye crosser]

Check your dates again,"PEAK" of spawn over the last 5 years was in late March not April 15! Please get your facts straight before you start a fight! The river fish aways spawn earlier than the lake fish do!

[Al]

And maybe you'd like to shut off charters until after the spawn? And close Hiway and Maumee tackle stores until after the spawn? They all will either take or direct you to the females. Or do you just have a selective hard on for tournaments and the poeple who fish them?

[ohio]

river lake .. whatever ... the fish are spawning now and thats all i know... and thats all that matters. found a 31 inch female full of eggs floating yesterday off PC.

[ohio]

I agree with much of what you said.. and I don't think your ruining the fishery..and i never sais that either. I think WE all are making an impact. I said that you pros are leaders and set the example for millions. The walleye fishery has steadily declined year after year. i have been fishing here for 20 years. The DNR is now taking action by limiting limits to 4 instead of the previous 10.... and its for a reason. I don't think you guys are ruining anything. i think the tournaments are a great thing. I just think it would be better for the fishery to wait till they are completely done spawning and this is mostly because you set a large example to many. its good the DNR is finally stepping in. I just wish they had more support. I know that our major problem is the commercial fishing and gill netting in Canada. And i know that anglers take more that the tourny dose. Good luck.

[ohio]

I agree with much of what you said.. and I don't think your ruining the fishery..and i never sais that either. I think WE all are making an impact. I said that you pros are leaders and set the example for millions. The walleye fishery has steadily declined year after year. i have been fishing here for 20 years. The DNR is now taking action by limiting limits to 4 instead of the previous 10.... and its for a reason. I don't think you guys are ruining anything. i think the tournaments are a great thing. I just think it would be better for the fishery to wait till they are completely done spawning and this is mostly because you set a large example to many. its good the DNR is finally stepping in. I just wish they had more support. I know that our major problem is the commercial fishing and gill netting in Canada. And i know that anglers take more that the tourny dose. Peace.

[Terry/JNR]

If no one put a line with a hook in the water, you'd still find some dead fish, usually females. It's the same for all species.

[Den]

I usually keep out of these discussions, but i fished the rcl,and most of the fish taken in the tournament were spawned out females, very few fish had not spawned yet. and as another post said, go there on any weekend and i can just about gaurantee that there will be more than tthe 77 boats that there were on the first day, or more than the 60 that were there on friday, and wow there were a whole 12 of them yesterday.another thing , there were 2 anglers in each of the tourney boats, i saw a few boats that were fishing and i did not see any boats that had just 2 people in them, all were 3 or more. we were allowed to go in with 5 fish in each boat, if you caught that many. i am sure that on wednesday a lot of boats had 5, but that still is not as many as the local boats took in. on friday out of 60 boats, there were just 2 boats that had 5 fish, 14 had none, and some had just 1 or 2 fish. how many local people had more fish?? i personaly know a lot of guys that were fishing friday, that had anywhere from 8 to 16 fish that were kept friday. now be honest, and tell me who hurt the fish population on the rcl tourney? the fish factory (erie) can withstand the tourneys, and the local people fishing, but it has to be done with a little courtesy, and common sense. we that live by erie have a gold mine , but i dont doubt that a lot of people cant get here and go anytime like we can. Just go when you can and enjoy , and share what we have with other fisherpeople. good luck and good fishin. Also no fish were wasted on this tournament either.
Den

[Ohio with Cap "O"]

Little ohio, The Big Blow Thursday did more damage to the Future Eyes than all of them caught so far this year has! Why don't you give Mother Nature a hard time & give us a Break!~~~

O

[Al]

He's yanking your chain...He said that the females get stressed being caught and released, then later he said he releases the females he catches. So suddenly his aren't stressed?

Next he said the peak spawn is now.....BS. The full moon last week pretty much slammed the door on that. The guys practicing were catching mostly females that had already dropped them.

One more thing. I thought the hawg females were poor reproducers because of the toughness of the eggs not allowing sperm to penetrate? I've read this several times. If this is the case....your point is moot. What they did is legal...get over it...or get a petition and get something started. Wait, forget I said that. We don't need uninformed people starting stuff like that. Just leave it to the pros in the DNR>

[ohio]

I can see any discussion about fishing tournies at better times for the fish really hurts many of your feelings. WAA.."leave us alone" "we will catch all we want during spawn" I'll stop. I thought I'd have more support about adjusting dates and such. Typical selfishness. I still havn't heard a single good reason to have tournys during spawn. Just a lott of whiney leave us alone crying. Like I said I don't think you all are doing much direct damage.. and the anglers are taking most of the fish. I just thought what a great example you all could set for all to se. But nope.. everyone is greatly upset over someone asking about tournaments during spawn. Some of you are just thinking of yourselves rather than the Walleye. The DNR is stepping in this year by cutting limits in half till May. We're lucky we can fish during the spawn in oHio.. but it won;t last because of selfish people. I'd bet your dates will be changin in the near future if not the whole season. Our limits are already being cut for the fish. I agree with a lott of what you all have said. I just don't understand why my inquirey has offended so many of you so much. I'm just thinking about the fish instead of myself. I'm all for tournaments. I'm also for conducting them in the best possible way for the fish and to set an example for the rest of the countries fisherman.
Over and out.

[ohio]

ok I'll leve it to them .. as the fish population steadily declines... well they did cut limits to 4 from ten till may. Why do you think they did that?

[ohio]

and to clarify the stressing the females comments... MY females don't spend any time in a boat! like many may in a tournament. Thats the difference. I'm not culling. Daa

[JCarp]

People are always focused on the spawn. What's the difference when a fish is harvested? - none. The fish advisories for Ohio recommend a maximum of 52 walleye meals per year, subtract 4 meals for every steelhead kept. Personally, I prefer to see the fish harvested from Erie rather than smaller lakes and that goes for our out of state guests too.

The walleye population on Erie is based on the success of the spawn. Changes in population dynamics are normal. We catch just as many (sometimes more)fish than we did 10 years ago, we just have to be more adaptable now. I suspect lowering the limits had more to do with politics than actual biological need to protect the fish. The tournaments are a drop in the bucket.

The early season fishing (rivers and lake) allows the opportunity for small boaters and non-boaters to participate. I've never fished the rivers and doubt if I ever will, but I can certainly appreciate that the non-boaters deserve a chance to fish. I enjoy the nearshore opportunity.

That said, I could support a statewide no culling law. If you put it in the livewell, you keep it, you could still immediately release small or large fish. At Erie, Tourney folks could keep a legal limit and weigh their best 5. More for the food banks. It would add an interesting dimension to the game.

[fishfinder]

I used to worry about tournament stress on fish myself but than after joining Walleyes For Tommrow and getting in to a few tourneys myself I realized that the more intrest in walleyes there is the better off the fish will be. Think about it before the big boom in the walleye tourneys not enough people cared what happened to the lakes much less the fish in them. But now with large groups of people taking intrest in fishing we are able to do somthing about tacking care of the fish. In my area of WIS we used to call Lake Winnabago The Dead Sea. Now with all the improvements made by area fishing clubs which alot of the members including myself fish tourneys,we can go out most any time and expect to catch walleye. So I say the more intrest the better.

[CMB]

"to the meat fishermen"
Stay within the law and ignore idiotts like this who can not see past their own ego or eleitist attitudes to consider other peoples views. there is nothing wrong with keeping (and yes regularly keeping) your limit. as long as you don't waste your fillets, and consider the type of fishery you are harvesting from, there is no reason to loose sleep (or even get annoyed with) people holding the holier than thow C&R only or "selective harvest-according to me" gosphel.

and to those with the anti "meat hunter" attitude towards other law abiding fishermen--PLEASE take up flyfishing for trout!! that way you will fit in with the other eleitist arogant "fishermen" out there.


as for fishing during the spawn, the only reasons not to fish are purely emotional and not scientifically supported! It makes no difference when a fish is removed from the population! if it is taken during the spawn or during any the preceding 52 weeks the fish will not have the opurtunity to add to the geene pool. PERIOD!! So, your conclusion must be that either we can harvest a controlled number of fish annualy, or that walleye harvest must be stopped. as fisheremen we all know (or should know) that a sustainable harvest of fish will not hurt a fishery and can actually help it!!
SORY if I offended or upset annyone, but I am tired of unsupported whining and pouting and the elitest attitude of many people that preach C&R or do as I do "selective harvest-occasional keepers". MANY OF US REGULARLY KEEP FISH FOR DINNER-THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS!!! and yes I do enjoy sharing my bounty of fresh fish and a bottle of wine with family and friends!

[cmb]

I am not sure why my post ended up down here but it was intended as a responce to STEVE (IL) (NUMBER 4)

[800proX]

well it think you brashly stated what alot of us feel CMB, and i commend you for putting it so bluntly. the world would be a better place if everyone took care of their own front porch before trying to clean/mess up their neighbors IMHO.

jeff

[eyefish]

I can understand your concerns about stressing spawning females and delaid mortality. I fished both the PWT on Detroit River and the RCL on Erie, both had near 100% live weigh-ins. RCL was a harvest tournament, the PWT was live release, even with delaid mortality figured in, the survival percentage for the walleye caught in tournaments is much higher than the thousands and thousands of walleye caught by NON-tournament anglers and fileted in the same time frame. Tournament fishing is nothing more than what you do every day with a time frame (when we can get on and off the water) and a chance to win some money. We too enjoy catching the big hogs and putting them back to be caught again and I also enjoy taking as many 22" and smaller as the law allows for the table. So tournament or non-tournament the end result is the same and always will be.
Tight lines Rod Hill

[Skeeter]

Just look at how many fishing clubs raise money to
pay for fish stocking?? Not only Walleye but other fish
also. So how can we knock tournaments when these are
the people that pay, in a round about way in some cases,
for the stocking of walleye for the future of the sport
we all enjoy. Course we are going to have the people
that think the fish will do it all on their own which may
be true in some areas but in most not true, especially
with all the fishing preasure we have these days. So
the next time YOU or I think about knocking a tournament
be sure to wonder if that tournament is putting anything
back into the resourse???? If they are not, hey ask they
why not???????

[River_eye]

I love all this usefull, practical insight from intelligent fishermen/women. Oh, I see, you don't mean Airwave, you mean AirHEAD!

Sorry, but one useless post deserves another.

River eye

[River_eye]

Swat1, just because it's within the law, does it mean it's right and nothing could be done to improve on the situation? You take an Authoritarian perspective. Whatever they say is right, is right, no need to think for yourself, when others can do it for you.

An evolving society must continually review laws and assumptions, to improve on current situations.

The guy is just trying to help by suggesting alternatives to current regulations. They make sense too.

River eye

[River_eye]

CMB. Not to cut you down or anything, I have agreed with several of your past posts. Just maybe not this one.

Personally, I'm sick of all the Authoritarian points of view on this message board. The rules are this, so this is what we do. It doesn't matter whether these rules are well founded, or scientifically supported, we accept them as right, just because they are the rules. This was one of the main supports of Nazi Germany. Maybe if a few people had thought for themselves, a big mess could have been averted.

These are the rules, and if you stay within them you are a law abiding citizen, but I strongly believe that in 20 years from now, we'll be looking back, and saying, man, were we wrong on that one!

River eye

[Jethro]

CLOSE ALL FISHING TIL ALL SPECIES OF FISH HAVE FINISHED SPAWNING. CLOSE IT COMPLETELY FOR AT LEAST TWO MONTHS.

[River_eye]

ohio, you aren't saying anything to deserve this treatment. Just a few simple suggestions, and everyone gets on your back. We are subject to the rules of sociology even on the internet. In a crowd, people have no mind of their own. If most people think it's a bad idea, they all will.

I commend you for hanging in there and not flying off the handle or attacking anybody like they have attacked you.

River eye

[cmb]

maby so, however we can not condem a fellow sportsman for staying within his legal rights. we need to question the laws and regulations, not those who operate within these bounds. It has been stated time and time again that science does not support closing fishing during the spawn. emotion and a sense of moral ethics makes it hard to swallow for some,but it simply is an unfounded belief that harvesting egg laden fish will hurt the next generation of Lake Erie walleye.

yes my previous response was a bit harsh, but we need to realize and accept the fact that there are many people out there with different opinions and views that are just as good as our own. while we may not be on the same page we need to accept and understand their views without an "I am better than you are" attitude based on our beliefs.

QUESTION THE LAWS AND REGULATIONS NOT THOSE WHO ABIDE BY THEM

Personaly I do practice selective harvest, and I C&R most if not all inland and stream fish. However, I will not chastize someone who choses to keep up to a limit of fish. It is their right under the law!!

[cmb]

Why? What will this do? does this include my friends farm pond with an overabundance of stunted bluegill?

[Fish Bait]

Where's the outcry about Indian spearing and netting? In my state,Wis.,they're allowed to spear before, during and after spawning--walleyes, muskies, whatever. Thousands and thousands of fish, every year. And you're worried about tournaments!

[Al]

Jeez, you certainly like to type a lot. From what I gathered, and I'm not saying I like it, the limit was dropped to cut a deal with the commercials and Canadians. I might be off on that, but that isn't the point either. These tournaments are not hurting things. You give them a lot more credit than they are due for damage. If you are really concerned, then your target should be the folks like the commercial netters, the supposed folks who get the "subsistance" fish as someone else pointed out, and the guys who are taking advantage year round poaching. It's a bigger problem than you've been led to believe and just a few guys doing it does more damage than a season full of tournaments. Besides that, when fish dies, it dies whether it's spawned or not. Somewhere in the cycle you stopped the next spawn. And besides that, the larger fish are NOT the producers during the spawn. In fact, I've read they are poor producers. I know this won't change your mind because it seems that you think you know better than the DNR. I still never heard if you are going to shut down charters too? I mean hey, they harvest day in and day out...if you are fishing or not. They are getting one up on you too.

[River_eye]

I believe that everyone should abide by the rules. In our topic of discussion, it was proposed by ohio that these rules do not extend far enough, and some moral issues must come into play.

I'm not sure whether he was suggesting more regulations all together, or just in the tournament circuit.

Regardless, my belief is that our fisheries in general, could be a lot better than they are right now if we could implement better management practices.

The thing that bothered me is that a guy put out his idea for helping out the fisheries, and recieved almost 100% negative feedback, although none of these people had ideas of their own. Obviously, people are more interested in proving other ideas wrong, rather than trying to come up with the right ideas.

Also, more can be done than just following the rules. We know how slack these rules actually are, and that it's impossible to make rules for everything, so that's why some morals and common sense have to come into play.

River eye

[River_eye]

You know darn well that native relations is a whole different issue that we don't want to get into.

kind of sounds like an argument a child would put up, "but mommmmm, Johnny gets to do it, so why can't I?"

River eye

[Cangl]

We have are enjoying the best decade of walleye fishing in the history of walleye fishing here in Michigan hands down. The interests of the sportsman, clubs, and groups and their dollars have been the most obvious reason for this. The clearer water has led to fish roaming further for forage and spooking quicker when angled for, this makes the old days pass after pass of trolled spreads and fish less effective, and with fish holding deeper that gives you more area to cover and further runs out.
Our license's say what we can and can't do, taken any further than that and one more angler or more quits fishing. These sportfish are the rewards all of us pride ourselves with.
Haven't caught an eye in over a week don't know if I need to hear it!
Digginjiggindeep!

[Ffish Baik]

Why is your argument any different? Oh mommy, I know those tournament fishermen pay taxes and bought a fishing license like I do, but I don't care because it's my lake, blah, blah, etc....come on!

[Don]

Ohio,

Your turning females back won't make a difference in this fishery. 70 Pros in a 3 day tournament also not turning females back won't make a difference either. I'm not sure where the difference begins,but I'm pretty sure it's with all of us who fish these and connecting waters (including commercial operators). I still think you make a valid point, by asking the question about having the Tournament post-spawn. My impression is that the same number of walleyes would be caught, however weight would be down, and mature females would not be
egg laden. Would it be a bad idea to try and time the Tourmnament post-spawn?

[Scott Richardson]

Every year it's the same. Someone demands that tournaments defend themselves. Sorry, nothing to defend.

Each angler in a tournament has a state license that would allow them to take limits every day of prefishing and everyday of the tournament. They don't, but no one could say a word if they did.

Walleyes are broadcast spawners. They are unlike bass that can see reduced egg survival by being removed from nests. Release a prespawn female and she will find the nearest school and release her eggs. There may be a study that has found otherwise, but I havent seen it.

Tournaments barely touch the number of walleyes in any system. Even fewer are killed in the process.

It's the DNR's responsibility to monitor the health of the fishery and they do a good job of modifying limits when necessary. When they do, it's usually bad spawning conditions over a period of years or overharvest by locals that are to blame.

Some DNR's, such as Illinois, rely on tournaments to provide spawning males and females for their stocking programs. The DNR could not produce sauger or saugeye in Illinois without the MWC at Spring Valley. A special re-stocking effort on the Kankakee is using tournaments to collect a small number of native walleyes to replenish walleye numbers there without contaminating indigious strains.

The Spring Valley Walleye Club pumps $10,000 into the DNR's hatchery for equipment, etc., every year. They are just one of hundreds of local walleye clubs that do similar work. The circuits all collect and distribute a conservation fee, too.

Without tournaments, we would not have the advances in boats, motors, equipment or tackle that we have each year. They are the testing grounds. Also, we would not have the advances in our understanding of fish behavior and angling techniques.

Tournaments are good things. Not bad. They do far more positive things for the sport than negative. They contribute far more than any individual angler does through his/her license fee.

Tournaments don't need defending.

[fishfinder]

Right on Scott, finnaly someone is telling this Ohio brainsurgen the facts of walleye life. Walleyes need all the fishing intrest they can get,and that includes all times of the year. No intrest no fish. GET IT!!! If we followed every suggestion by all the experts out there we would all be home every saterday cutting our grass diagnally, or worse yet playing golf.

[Just because]

I just wanted to say that we caught a bunch of fish Fri.& Sat the same place as the RCL pro's caught theres and not one -I repeat not one had even one egg left in it. This tourney was done POST SPAWN..Shut up and Fish

[curt quesnell]

yes, yes and yes scott....

there will always be this contingent of antis around, i cant
figure it out...but we probably agree on lots of other stuff.

curt quesnell

[twogun]

BULL!!!

[twogun]

Have tournaments after the spawn. Remember the tournament on Minnetonka? The weigh-in was at Mall of America some 20 miles away. What was the % of fish killed at that tournament? about 70%
nice job!

[Al]

It is no different and if you ever saw what the Wapole Indians did with them, you'd puke.

[Al]

And now you are going to tell me they moved the WalMart in Port Clinton 20 miles away?This is getting worse the longer it goes on. I hope none of you are keeping ANY fish this summer. They would be spawners next spring.

[Buckeye]

Al. I'm keeping what I am allowed! (If I can get them in the boat)Isn't this fun?

[ohio]

once again. I'm not against tournaments. I was questioning the timing. And that question refered to leading by example ... not to one tournament doing much damage.
thanks for the input everyone.
See ya.

[twogun]

This tournament in MN. on Lake Minnetonka all ready happened a couple years ago. The fish kill did happen.I bet the public and dnr were very proud of that tournament. Yes, they weighed the fish in 20 miles from the lake they fish. Nobody is talking anything about port clinton or walmart. tournament guys know the true story that day...How sad it was.

[ohio]

thats impossible unless they were male.. lol

[ohio]

that was my question.

[ohio]

this post was supposed to end up i another location.??????