CastAway, Posting pictures on the internet will not solve the problem. It will
only fuel further recruitment for the anti-fishing groups. I know, because my
only sibling is a member of PETA. What happened must and will be dealt with
in an appropriate manner with input from all stakeholders and public agencies. There will be public meetings on proposed future ordinances. I am hoping that TPW will take an active role in protecting Falcon Lake from the overharvest of broodstock fish. The 13lb Sharelunker that died was approximately 6 years old, which is well below the national age average for a largemouth of that size. We will attend the public meetings, and offer input. Until that happens, there is not much that can be done. I will however post the link to the Falcon Lake Tackle report/blogs. There is also
a report on the recent BassChamps tournament that we were a part of.
I posted the mortality ACTUAL mortality results, including estimated delayed
mortality on another thread.
Here is the link:
http://www.tackleandrods.com/lake/flash.htm
His statement about what happened during the Elite Series was posted on
April, 21st
As far as tournaments go, the goal to conduct tournaments with TOTAL
mortality rates well below 15%, and that includes delayed mortality. There are plenty of scientific studies dating back to 1974 indicating that the overharvest of a particular age class of largemouth bass in a SINGLE day
can impact a fisheries. My main concern was the overharvest of adult
broodstock connected with this event. We received our BassTimes today,
and there was NO MENTION of the high mortality rates. Of course
I did not expect them to write about it. I DO expect them to acknowledge
this fact at the public meetings, and more importantly publicly state what they intend to do in the future to lower mortality rates. Changing the time
of year and format would definately reduce mortality rates down at Falcon
and Amistad. Folks, this FAR from over!