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In 1972, this was much more difficult.
Bass boats, as we know them today, did not have a livewell, much
less an aerated livewell system. At
best, some fishing boats had small “bait wells.”
“But, they tried,” says Scott. “They used coolers, stringers and nets.”
By the second tournament, Scott figured out by
“giving a one-ounce bonus for each live bass weighed-in” the incentive
would spark even more efforts to “save the catch.”
At the time, biologists had told Scott that
“hook and line fishing pressure” could not possibly harm the bass
fishing resource.
“But,” Scott reasoned, “public pressure
could be a problem.” As
bass tournaments grew in popularity, Scott realized that even though the
fish at weigh-in were donated to charity, the site of a johnboat filled
with dead bass on ice wasn’t the best public relations image.
So, Scott approached his friends in the bass boat
manufacturing business to design a functional livewell system.
In the meantime, tournament director Harold Sharp and Don Butler of
Tulsa, Oklahoma, the head of Okiebug Fishing Tackle, designed a portable
aerated livewell system in a 48-quart size Igloo ice chest, complete with
a spray bar, run off the 12-volt marine battery.
The system served the purpose, and later was the basis for the
first aerated livewell in Ranger bass boats designed by Forrest Wood.
The catch-and-release bassin’ concept had
just got off the ground, when the B.A.S.S. Tournament Trail stopped at
Ross Barnett Reservoir, near Jackson, Mississippi, and ran head-first into
a road block.
“We’d made a lot of progress,” says
Scott. “Fishermen were
beginning to realize the importance of catch-and-release as to the future
of bass fishing. Angling
attitudes were changing.
“But, not in Mississippi.
A local group, the Mississippi Association of Bass Clubs, had not
been releasing fish and didn’t want to arouse any adverse publicity,”
remembers Scott.
The situation turned into a political
tug-a-war. Fish and Game
Commissioner Avery Wood got word from Gov. William Waller that “the fish
were not to be released.”
When Scott asked the 64-dollar question, “why
not?,” Avery Wood replied: “Because we don’t want you to turn those
fish loose that have been stressed or diseased and go out and spread
disease all over the lake.”
Scott felt in his heart that there was no
scientific evidence to support the anti-release stand.
Scott’s explanation that his
B.A.S.S.
organization was trying to set the example with catch-and-release and
teach fishermen “you don’t have to kill every bass you catch”
didn’t phase Avery Wood’s mind.
“We had some harsh words and neither one of
us changed our position,” says Scott, who told the Commissioner,
“we’re going to release every bass possible, unless you’ve got
someone there with a baseball bat to kill’em.”
At the moment, the future of catch-and-release
bass fishing was at the crossroad. “We
couldn’t back down,” said Scott.
“If we didn’t make an effort to
release the fish, the momentum we’d generated would grind to a
halt.”
There was a compromise, of sorts, in the
standoff. The Game and Fish
biologists showed up with an aerated tank truck, but deposited the fish in
a small, netted-off area about a mile from the weigh-in.
“This was August, a bad time of year,”
recalls Scott. “The average
depth was only two feet and the combination of heat, shallow water and no
shade took its toll. The
water temperature was over 90 degrees.”
As it turned out, despite the horrid
conditions, 25 percent of the released fish survived.
In 1997, B.A.S.S. returned to Ross Barnett for another tournament,
and the exchange between Ray Scott and Avery Wood was an interesting
sidebar:
“I never thought you’d speak to me,” Wood
told Scott, who responded, “Man do you know what you did?
You made me more determined than ever.
It was gut check time. Ross
Barnett was the turning point in the ‘Don’t Kill Your Catch’
movement.”
Numerous other studies and efforts by state
Game and Fish Departments have proved the validity of catch-and-release
bass tournaments.
“With improved livewell systems,
catch-and-release chemicals, improved handling at weigh-ins to reduce
stress, and holding tournaments in cooler water conditions, the B.A.S.S.
national tournaments set the example for others to follow,” says Scott
proudly.
From that lowly twenty-five percent release, at
Ross Barnett, the average success rate has reached ninety-eight percent at
B.A.S.S.-conducted tournaments.
“But, that’s not the full story,” claims
Ray Scott. “The angling
public, in general, and tournament organizations everywhere are on the
catch-and-release bandwagon.”
There’s a footnote to the Catch ‘n Release
success story: “Delayed
Mortality.” That is the
loss of bass, seemingly in fine shape upon being released following a
weigh-in, but may die days later due to stress or injury.
“This is more of a concern when tournaments
are conducted in the summer in hot weather conditions and high water
temperatures,” concedes Scott. “The
obvious solution is to hold events only in cooler weather, but that’s
not the answer folks can live with. Warm
weather is fishing season.”
Scott says, “Taking care of your catch before
the creel reaches the weigh-in is the right answer.
If bass arrive in poor condition, not even the best life-support
system – cool, aerated live tanks, Catch-and-Release chemicals or
‘prayer’ – will be strong enough to save the more stressed out
fish.”
Here are basic hot weather lifesavers for
tournament-caught bass:
(1)
Smaller tournament creel limits and shorter fishing hours. Reduce time in livewells and captivity.
(2)
Water temperature is the key.
Before surface water warms, fill livewells in the cooler a.m.
Use aeration system to automatically keep water oxygenated.
(3)
Bass boats with double livewells, use stern wells, and distribute
catch between the compartments.
(4)
As temperatures rise,
add ice to cool water in livewells, rather than pump in hotter lake water. Add special “Catch ‘n Release” chemicals to also help
slow metabolism and reduce stress.
(5)
Continually monitor your catch.
Later on in the day, partly drain the wells, add fresh water, and
cool down with more ice and add “Catch ‘n Release” as directed.
(6)
Limit the handling, such as in culling your catch.
Marking smallest bass with colored floats reduces time sorting fish
out of the livewell.
(7)
At weigh-in, add water from the livewell in plastic tote bag, and
quickly move to aerated holding tanks in the check-in area.
(8)
Stagger anglers in flights and arrival times to limit the elapsed
time in the weigh-in line.
“To their credit more tournament officials are
streamlining weigh-in methods to return bass safe and alive,” believes
Scott.
“Recently, I observed a system of water
flowing through PVC pipes, funneling bass from the weigh-in stand right
into the lake. Al Redding,
president of the Alabama B.A.S.S. Federation, demonstrated his system at
the St. Jude Children’s Hospital benefit tournament on Lake Martin.
“It’s a slick system,” continues Scott.
“Another worthwhile approach is now being employed by national
B.A.S.S. tournament’s Dewey Kendrick, using a pontoon boat with special
aerated holding compartments, then releasing the bass away from the
weigh-in area, dispersing the catch over the lake.”
As a postscript to the “Don’t Kill Your
Catch” story, Scott adds, “Just think, a piddlin’, little 12-inch
trout has made a difference in the future of bass fishing.
I might conclude a big difference.”
MAN WITH THE CATCH ‘N RELEASE PLAN – In 1972, Ray
Scott, the founder of the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.),
introduced the idea of catch-and-release bass tournaments.
Today, the future of the sport of bass fishing has never been
brighter thanks to support of the “Don’t Kill Your Catch” program.
But, it was trout anglers – not bass anglers – that spawned the
now widely accepted Catch-and-Release act.
Scott says special efforts need to be practiced to insure
tournament caught bass survival during summer and hot weather.
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