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Walleye Fishing -> General Discussion -> Fish handling techniques during tournaments
 
Message Subject: Fish handling techniques during tournaments
RSR
Posted 6/28/2016 10:30 PM (#114976)
Subject: Fish handling techniques during tournaments


Member

Posts: 174

I have been talking with a number of fishermen lately about what works and what does not for keeping fish alive during a tournament and also after the weigh-in.

Can anyone tell me what they have seen that has helped keep their fish alive before weigh-in ?

Has anyone seen different tournament setups that keep the fish alive better in the trough so they can be released?
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GNWC Rookie
Posted 6/29/2016 10:40 AM (#114977 - in reply to #114976)
Subject: RE: Fish handling techniques during tournaments


Member

Posts: 625

Location: LaCrosse, WI
One of the biggest things I've seen has been limiting how many people can come up at a time. Far too often, I see tournaments with 30-40 weigh bags, then you have people standing with bags full of fish in quickly warming, low oxygenated water. I hear it all the time (My fish were fine when I went up, but they were all upside down by time I got weighed in). While not as good for the spectators, how cool would it be to have a a weigh station on the water, like a big pontoon to eliminate carrying those fish over land, and not having to leave them in a bag for so long.

I've fished some tournaments that weigh fish right at the end of a dock, which also reduces the bag time for those fish. With video working the way it does now, would it really be that hard to broadcast video of that remote weigh in to a monitor/screen somewhere?
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FishnFool
Posted 6/29/2016 11:29 PM (#114980 - in reply to #114977)
Subject: RE: Fish handling techniques during tournaments


Member

Posts: 113

Rookie good point,one of the thing that i'm experimenting with is a baffle in my live well ot keep the water splashing around beating the fish up I am using bubble wrap one small bubble and then a bigger bubble on top of that keep the splashing down and then I use a floating airator to really aid in keeping the oxygen level up and reduce the amount of ammonia build up in the well. I think if the fish can be brought up in a fresher state they could survive.The best thing is photo and release no livewell time is the best option
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GNWC Rookie
Posted 7/1/2016 1:41 PM (#114981 - in reply to #114980)
Subject: RE: Fish handling techniques during tournaments


Member

Posts: 625

Location: LaCrosse, WI
I make sure that my batteries have a good charge before tourney day, because I try to run my livewell on fish all day, not just recirculate. They are always in great shape when I do this, even on those hot July days. I learned this from running a jon boat with a center bench livewell. If I just left the plug out, it always had about 6-8" of water in there. I threw a bunch of bluegills in there one day fishing a wing dam in the hot summer sun, and every time I'd throw more in there, I'd see water bubbling in, and the water was as cool as the river. They were in great shape when it was said and done, so I figured, keep dumping water on them and the cooler water will sink to the bottom while the warmer water floats to the top and out the drain.

This also introduces oxygen into the tank, should help reduce ammonia, and keeps the water moving in general.
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Larrys
Posted 7/2/2016 5:39 PM (#114984 - in reply to #114976)
Subject: Re: Fish handling techniques during tournaments



Member

Posts: 340

Location: McFarland, WI
I think the Survivor injector works well when under power. Keeping water cool( 5 degrees below lake temp), salt to reduce osmotic stress, aeration. That applies to livewells, holding tanks, etc. Minimize time out of conditioned water. Don't have tournaments when water temps exceed 70 degrees. Even photographing fish results in major losses in warm water.
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RSR
Posted 7/2/2016 8:35 PM (#114985 - in reply to #114976)
Subject: Re: Fish handling techniques during tournaments


Member

Posts: 174

Has anyone used U2 treatment or run an oxygenator? I have both but have not tried them.
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Shep
Posted 7/8/2016 1:43 PM (#114992 - in reply to #114985)
Subject: Re: Fish handling techniques during tournaments



Member

Posts: 3899

I always ran my livewell pump whenever I had fish in the livewell. Coming in from my last spot to the weigh in, I would plug my overflow cover with a plastic shopping bag, to pack the livewell full to the top, and let the excess water overflow out the top. That way, it limited sloshing during the final run back. The EZ Pump on my Tuffy helped when on plane. Once I got close to the weigh in, I switched to recirculate, so I wasn't introducing warmer harbor water into the livewell.

A few years back at an FLW League event at Oconto, and someone was doing a survey of livewell temps at the weigh in. Don't recall the exact temp he recorded, but he did say my temps were many degrees cooler than all the other boats he recorded to that point. He asked what I did, and I told him. I think that procedure works well.

Never put bagged commercial ice in your livewell. It has chlorine, and will kill your fish.
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