Quote Originally Posted by Pac in Arkansas View Post
I'm a tournament fisherman. Bass though. I'm proud to say that whatever I bring to the scales goes right back into the water and I watch them swim away. I do everything possible to ensure the are kept in great shape so I can release them so they can be caught again another day. If I were a crappie tournament fisherman I'd say and do the same thing for fish handling and survival. From what I'm reading if I fish a crappie tournament and weigh in 10 fish that are then released what I am doing is actually hurting the population. But if I am just a guy that fishes several days a week (and I do) and keeps a limit just about every time I go I'm not hurting the population compared to the tournament fisherman. Did I get it right?
In hot weather many fish will die within days after swiming away after being carried in a livewell and weighed in . I have seen it ever summer after Bass touraments on Nimrod next day fish floating . I marked some fish last month and within days caught some of them again . Fishing pressure is really many times what it was just a few years ago . If I really believed a good number of fishermen were releasing their catches I would do it more often too .