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Largest fish kill in history of tournament fishing.

9K views 33 replies 15 participants last post by  jrbasser 
#1 ·
The Lake Falcon tournament fish kill is beyond comprehension in the day of C & R.
See Elite 50, lake Falcon post for details.
What amazes me even more is the lack of interest from the bass fishing fraternity.
7,000 pounds with over 500 big bass included in the kill and only 3 members are interested enough to commit!
Proof and a report will be out next Wednesday, with pictures of the dead bass.
I'm all for selective harvest and keeping over stressed bass so they don't go to waste. This is what happens when over stressed bass are released and die, some float and people see them, most sink and you don't.
Tom
*source; Lane Gregely; 800/846.6524, Sure-Life, makers of Catch & Release livewell conditioners who assist in the Texas tournaments with C & R.
 
#27 ·
SureLife said:
Castaway, Your first paragraph is precisely WHY we need to not only address this
issue, but push for better management of the lake. Falcon definately meets the criteria for a trophy bass fishery. A high limit slot restriction would ensure that it continues to crank out big bass for OTHERS such as yourself to enjoy. The reason why that lake and others down south are so good right now is due to periods of drought, but that is not a constant factor. Managing the population and various ages classes are constant factors that can sustain the fishery.

The Mexican gill netters really don't harvest many bass. Their net placement and design catch shallow schooling fish such as Tilapia, etc. We spoke with the TPW gamewardens and they said the most bass collected in the nets were 17 during the spawn. The new government in Mexico is doing a much better job, because they realize the economic value in a trophy bass fishery. Mexico is the destination of choice right now for numbers of trophy class bass. Tournament organizations can
do their part by adopting weigh in and format protocols that minimize the impact
to the larger female bass.

BTW, Tom is really Tony. Things can get screwed up in translation.
No, I am speaking of our Bassholes member, oldschool, whose name is Tom.
 
#29 ·
The only problem is that there will not be a next time. BASS has already declared that this was the first and last trip to Falcon. Their reason? The facilities were too bad for them to attempt another tournament.

I don't know if I fully believe that they weren't "prepared" for it. Someone above stated that BASS had touted Falcon as the lake that would break ALL the records BEFORE they left Florida, which they did. I have the proof on DVD.

All I want to see is BASS admit that they did wrong, be willing to contribute to the relief effort, and to sign a couple of biologists, with permission from TWP, to assist in finding out what exactly happened and to assist in getting Falcon back to 100%. Is 100% fully possible? In time, yes. In 1-2 years..........probably not. 3-5 years, perhaps.

I was also under the impression, and I believe that someone here mentioned this, that all these bass in this lake were the hybrid bass that are "stupid" for a lack of a better term. They eat and eat, and grow and grow. This particular hybrid is called the "Gorilla" hybrid. It's not the F-1 that are being stocked in a lot of places. I read a BASS article, and this evening, when I get back from fishing, I will try to find the article that I read, that describes this species. They say that this species is great for existing ponds where bass fishing is tough, because these bass are so aggressive in feeding, that they will basically train the existing bass to either eat or die.

If that's the case, I do believe that 3-5 years down the road, Falcon will be at 100% or better, but it's going to take a lot of effort from all parties involved. BASS has the means, but do they have the will? :dunno:
 
#30 ·
First off, ESPN/BASS DOES HAVE INTENTIONS TO COME BACK NEXT YEAR. They
have already sent the Zapata Chamber of Commerce the, "letter of commitment".

Second off, They DID KNOW BEFORE HAND that hugh sacks would be caught, and
that was HIGHLY PUBLICIZED. The Zapata Chamber along with others are not pleased
with how this was handled by the TPW biologist(s) that were there. I was not there
so I can't comment on this. But there is video footage that will be presented to the
Inland Fisheries director regarding this. I have no doubt that this will addressed in
the future meetings.

Most of the BASS Federation Nation organizations do a good job from what I have seen. They do a good job with education, conservation and fish care. The TBFN
conducted a smaller tournament down at Falcon last weekend and their mortality
rates were VERY LOW.

ESPN/BASS only had TWO release barges, at 700gallons each. There is NO WAY that
1,400 gallons can keep UP. We pushed the envelope last weekend with 2,700 gallon
release tank. We weighed in 112 teams with 5 fish limits, not 10 fish. I posted the
mortality results on another thread.

"You take this many fish catches to any lake in the country, with another tournament
organization OTHER than BASS, you will have more than 50% more dead."

NOT TRUE! We did it last weekend! It just can't be done with five fish PER livewell and two release barges. Anglers were given very detailed instructions BEFOREHAND, which made a BIG DIFFERENCE in our mortality rates.

Excuses and denial don't cut the mustard! Solutions and acknowledgement will! I don't think that anybody down here expects them to pay for what happened, but we
do expect them to fess up and come up with some solutions. Changing the time of
year and the current format would be solutions that everyone can live with.
 
#32 ·
I really wish that they would leave our lakes alone down here. First Amistad and now Falcon. They go and kill of all of the fish, and then people from all over the world come to see if they can catch fish, which puts more pressure on the lake, which of course, makes the fishing worse
 
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