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By Stan Fagerstrom
Tournament fishing has carved a permanent notch for itself on the American angling scene.
Cast-for-cash bass fishing provided the first real boost for what you now see going on all over the country for a variety of species. Today there are tournaments for everything from panfish like crappie to the big game fish of the oceans.
How much of an impact has organized tournament fishing had on the various species involved? Are there steps anglers can and should take to protect the fish they catch and eventually release.
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| Ray Scott, the founder of BASS, pictured above on the left, set the stage for today's fishing tournament scene. There have been many changes in the way fish are handled since tournament fishing really got going. |
Those are interesting and important questions. Because I’ve been involved in fishing and writing about it for so long I’ve had opportunity to witness as well as hear a wide variety of answers. Be assured there have been many changes since tournament fishing got under way big time more than four decades ago.
I was on hand to witness the very first Bassmasters Classic. That event was staged on Lake Mead way back in 1971. Tournament participants were headquartered in Las Vegas. I’ve always felt that first Classic was the launching ramp for the tournament scene we see today.
I’ll never forget what I witnessed during the weigh-ins at that first Classic. There were no live-wells in the tournament boats. Anglers came to the weigh in stand dragging stringers full of dead bass. I didn’t like what I saw. In fact I didn’t like it at all.
I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. I heard enough comments from area residents who attended those first weigh-ins to know they didn’t like what they saw either. I’ve always felt tournament fishing would never have survived long if the same conditions had been allowed to continue.
At the time I was doing a good bit of writing for Bassmaster Magazine. One of my stories that appeared in Bassmaster in the early days of the magazine was titled “A Tournament With A Twist.” The story was about a bass tournament staged on Silver Lake in Western Washington State. The “twist” featured in that tournament was that all the fish caught were released after they were weighed.
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| Chad Richardson knows walleye fishing from a scientific standpoint. Here he displays proof that he also knows how to catch them. |
I don’t know if Ray Scott, the founder of BASS and the man who really got tournament fishing off the ground, even read that story. I do know that it wasn’t long before Scott’s BASS tournaments started doing the same thing. Today catch-and-release is practiced all over the place.
Catch-and-release is one thing; eventual revival of the fish caught is something else. There’s no guarantee catch-and-release automatically assures survival of the fish involved. You can get a variety of answers as to just how effective catch-and-release actually is. I’ve heard tournament anglers themselves say one thing. I’ve heard fish biologists say something else.
That’s why I was especially interested to have a chance recently to visit with a likeable guy from Kansas who is both a biologist as well as an enthusiastic tournament angler. In fact, he’s not only enthusiastic about tournament fishing as a participant; he’s also successful at it.
The man I’m talking about is Chad D. Richardson, of Milford, Kansas. Chad is a wildlife biologist for the United States Department of Agriculture. Besides tournament fishing, this 30 year-old biologist also works as a guide for both walleye and hybrid striped bass. He is also a member of the Mack’s Lure Pro Staff.
I mentioned Chad was a successful tournament angler. If you’re a walleye tournament fisherman from Kansas you already know what I’m talking about. Among others things, Richardson and his partner won the 2001 Kansas State Walleye Fishing tournament. The tournament was sponsored by the Kansas Walleye Association.
As far as I’m concerned you’ll have to look pretty darn hard to find someone more qualified than Chad to discuss the basic steps a walleye tournament angler, or tournament fishermen after any other species for that matter, need to take to protect the fish they catch.
I had a chance to probe some of Richardson’s thought in this regard as it applies to the live wells tournament anglers use to bring their catch to the weigh-in stand. I’ll share some of his suggestions in my next Mack’s Lure column.
I hope you’ll watch for it starting September 1st.
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