Did a Fishing TOURNAMENT Devastate this Lake?!?!

Back in the day I used to offer a free seminar to bass clubs and tournament organizations that covered all the details on how to keep bass alive. Nobody ever took me up on it.

95 percent of the blame needs to go on bass fishing tournaments. That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen. Money tournaments are officially more important than the conservation of bass fishing. They won’t stop until theres nothing left. 25 giant bass dead due to tournaments. That’s a BUNCH of eggs that won’t contribute over the next 5 years.

Thank you for posting ! There have been several scientific, peer reviewed studies done recently that show an alarming percentage of bass die within 4 days of being released in tournaments that are held from May through October 😢. One study documented a 70% kill rate in one event. 70% !! The community is not focused on the real problem - it's not tech that is destroying our fisheries. It's the unregulated, out-of-control tournaments themselves that are the problem. At a bare minimum 'live-well' events need to go away.

I am very happy you put this out there. 100% behind everything you said Mike. We are all responsible for taking care of the wildlife we choose to pursue. Well done buddy!

Hi, I am the tournament director. I need to check your boat... I'm sorry you are disqualified you don't have the right live well and proper items to care for the fish.

Measure weight, picture and release. Enough of the unnecessary killing of fish.

The DNR needs to be involved more with these type of tournaments especially in the summer. It makes me sick to my stomach seeing dead fish because people don't give a flying fuck about anything but money.

Saw this at my first FLW at LOZ’s and was disappointed. Weigh ins are cool but there’s no reason that between May and September for most of the country MLF style weigh and release can’t happen. Pretty sure a version of that was done on the Lake Fork BASS tourney Livesay won a couple years back. Tournament directors can have a scout boat that cruises to pick up 5+lbers and put them in tanks for the anglers to show on stage later. Nobody wants to see anything under 5 anyways and half the time the Anglers appear embarrassed to hold up small fish. Can’t catch em if they’re dead.

Love the way and choice of words you use. Not blaming just trying to solve the problem.

Might as well eat em at that point.

Get the DNR off their ass and do some real work monitoring and penalizing organizations who kill fish. No more weigh ins..no tournaments during spawn...what happens to that 8# female that gets caught and released 10 miles away from her bed ? No circuits ever talk about this. Total garbage. Thx for showing what really goes on out there Mikey..guys like you ,Travis and Matt..should get some DNR officials on the show. ..unfortunately the tournaments have to be drastically changed and strict fines enforced for killing the resource..its not going to be easy..the time is now to get it done! Sickening!!! Thx again Mikey Jack B

We fish summer tourneys in Az. Our water is 82 as of today and we are catching em 25+ deep. Yes to G-juice and water bottles but also have fin weights and know how to fizz if the weights won’t work enough. But we also put hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle and give a few sprays every half hr or so. Warmer water has less oxygen and a few sprays of peroxide goes a long way!!! Only use recirc on the live well when close to the ramp. Aerate brings in new water and ramp areas have a ton of gas/oil on the surface near ramps. Haven’t knowingly lost a fish doing these things.

Hey Mikey it was great to meet you last weekend. Fully agree with you by the way.

I witnessed a similar situation several years ago at a High School National Championship on Kentucky Lake in June. The fish were on the ledges so they were being caught in 20-30 feet of water. So 40-50% of the fish were coming to the scale upside down and suffering because very few of the kids or captains were trained in how to “fizz” a fish. It’s an important step to take when catching them deep then throwing them in a live well even if you cool the water down. Thank goodness at the HS tournament BASS had their trained people taking care of the fish and fizzing those that needed it making sure the fish was able to swim up right before releasing. Don’t know if this was part of the issue but I know the bigs were on the ledges

Good old tournament fishing at it’s finest.

Yes, totally back you on this point Mike! Need to have the mentality to care for the conservation of the wildlife!! HAVE TO DO BETTER!!!!

When the water reaches 75° or higher, the fish die off is usually more than 50%! and lets be honest most people don’t add ice or cold packs to their live wells! so either stop tournament fishing,when the water gets hot or practice CPR. Do the length board game or don’t fish tournaments during the summer months! It kills the bass and kills the sport! Tournament Directors should stand up for the fish and the sport. Someone asked to!

So many great ideas here Mikey! We need action now! I’m not a tournament fisherman but I would definitely volunteer towards this effort.

This makes me livid. A local lake I fish that’s only 1750 acres has tournaments every weekend with up to 40 boats. But in one of those tournaments 2 years ago a guy had brought his biggest fish and I was talking to him about the tournament. He brought it out of a cooler and I said wow that’s a big fish. I noticed something very odd but didn’t say anything. He told me unfortunately this was my biggest fish and he’s 5 lbs and he died. I had no words. We definitely need better fish care among other things. But you need to teach people how to care for fish. I can honestly say I’ve never seen anyone take care of fish the way you do. You are excellent at fish care. I enjoy your videos and catches and how you care for these fish. They’re not objects. They are no different than any other animal, in my opinion. But you get my point. Keep up fighting for fish care. I’m there with ya.

Great video Mike. I agree with you whole heartedly. I only wish we had a lake like Guntersville in NJ.