Canada-US Walleye Tournament results ?

[Attila]

Dave the date of this tourney likely made better sense 20 years ago but thanks to global warming we now have 30 degree days in May..

They either need to move it to opening day or wait until late September if there's a hope for those fish to live.

True re global warming...that said, didn't we have snow flurries in the area less than 2 weeks ago on opener? It works both ways...

I have no proof that the fish didn't go to the food bank.
If my statement made anybody feel like I was calling them a liar I apologies for that.
I still believe that some fish must have spoiled and that a live release tournament that allows dead fish to be weighed in is not a live release tournament but a catch and keep tournament.
Let's call it what it is.
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But there are rules and penalties and advisories on the website that outline what the requirements were, as follows;

This is a live release tournament, which means operational live wells with working pumps are mandatory. There is an 8oz. penalty per dead fish that will be subtracted from a team's total weight.

Any live fish, unable to maintain equilibrium (swimming upright) will be considered stressed. It is the responsibility of all competitors to monitor and maintain the best possible handling procedures and fish care of their fish while in their control.

And my personal favourites…

10. Live wells: Operational livewells capable of drawing fresh lake water by means of an electric pump are mandatory. Portable livewells or large coolers are acceptable if rigged with capabilities for drawing fresh water from the lake (recalculating pumps are not enough, pumps must be able to draw fresh water from the lake).

10a. Recommended Fish Care: It is strongly recommended that you run your livewells on “constant” throughout the entire day regardless of how many fish you have in the livewell while fishing (no timers or intermittent operation). If traveling long distances (more than 15 minutes), anglers are encouraged to stop and “water your fish” (run your livewell pumps for several minutes) to replenish the water in your livewell.

So my thoughts are whether the rules were followed and if so what were the penalties that were incurred. Those stats would be interesting to see.

[Bandwagon]

I hate seeing portable livewells and I would be willing to bet many don't have the battery capacity to run there pumps all day.

Typically penalties are posted to the corresponding teams in the results. I hope changes are made going forward.

[redd foxx]

During the tournament, are participants allowed to catch fish outside of the slot limit legally?

[Attila]

During the tournament, are participants allowed to catch fish outside of the slot limit legally?

You can't avoid catching them, but you're not allowed to keep them.

[JBen]

No matter how it's sliced it's not good.Not good for the fishery, and not good for the industry. The MNR was there, and thus far no charges have been laid. The MNR was almost certainly there due to past problems, problems I might note Fenelon took a lot of heat for revealing. Everything from plenty of doubters, to just heat.

Never understand why people shoot the messenger. Today, organizers have brought in changes, the MNR is present and while there are still problems. Was this years mortality rate higher than previous years when it first started becoming "common knowledge" and on the radar?

We can thank Tournament fishing for many things, some advancements and even some favourable law changes. The law and reg's were changed a few years ago to define live wells, culling and catch and release. That favourable change came about specifically because of Tournaments.

I guess consistency, protecting declining stocks only applies when we want it to....aka "can't have it both ways"......

By and Large, when the organizers changed the rules for Sunday, the participants either were in complete favour, or while they didn't like it, understood the need. There were a number of participants calling the Live Release boat/operators onto the carpet as well, where apparently fish went into the tank to bake while....

There were a few/some who didn't agree, were angered who felt that the 3 bag limit and shortened time would make it impossible to move up in the standings, and thats problematic. Many of the participants are sponsored by big names and its as much a "black-eye" on them as well. Hopefully the dissenters were few. As always, its the few "bad apples"....................

No doubt there will be further changes for next year.

[Attila]

Icing your livewell will merely improve your pre-release mortality rate for Walleye (eg. get your fish into the weigh station still alive). Your oxygen level will be up a bit if you drop your livewell temp a few degrees (you've increased your gas solubility). You'll get them alive to the dock, but other than that, you've just given the fish a death sentence for post-release. The 3-4 rounds of thermal shock that they'll be exposed to prior to release, as well as the repetitive handling, and holding in a livewell for potentially 8 hrs, has just killed your fish. There are lots of really good science lit. abstracts on the matter - easy to find using Google. One of the better ones - http://mncoopunit.cfans.umn.edu/file...2010-NAJFM.pdf
To even ponder the thought of having a late-May walleye tournament is absolutely insane. That MNR has endorsed, and signed-off on it, is criminal (IMO). The outcome is completely predictable. Anything above a surface water temp of 10 degrees and post-release mortality increase becomes exponential, without even looking at the myriad of other stressors for the fish during the event. OMNR protocol for walleye transfer operations - they cease at anything above 12 degree C when working with fish that are the same size as your Sturgeon slot fish. Ice is not used in any of the tanks, because we know from experience that this will kill all the fish. Surface water temp on Saturday at 1130am off the Long Beach dock was a ridiculous 23.7 degrees when I checked it with a thermister. It's not even worth commenting on this, or wasting anymore breath on the matter. It's like beating the perverbial dead dog.
OMNR should be ashamed of itself, to allow this event to continue eg. existing stressed population in decline, on a special regulations lake that has a 15 year fully documented data set (FWIN and NSCIN) that indicates a vulnerable fishery. Someone in Fisheries Policy, with apparently a fisheries biology background, is responsible to every person in this province to make sound decisions and ensure the conservation of our resource. This person signed a permit giving this event the OK to proceed. They've disregarded all of their own science, and experience, in dealing precisely with fish health care, and common sense. If you want a good read, go to the Alberta DNR site and see what is supposed to happen in a province that values its natural resources. Read the BMP section for live-release events, and pay particular attention to the word "Walleye".

Dave

Re: "I've been fishing there the last 25 years and the walleye fishery has taken quite a hit, but with the slot now in place it should start to recover ". You've definitely got that right Atilla. I've been involved in index trap netting on the lake since 1985. The arrival of zebra mussels caused massive changes in habitat utilization by walleye throughout the Kawarthas. Fish all became concentrated inshore in the weedbeds and angling success/harvest went through the roof. To give you an idea of how drastic the pop. change has been:
1982-1992 - very routine to get 20 hour six foot trap net sets with 175 - 300 Walleye. Then came zebras and the boom years of 100% angling success. It was ridiculous. Spend 45 mins dragging a worm harness, or rip jig, in the 5-10foot weedbeds and you had your six fish. The lake got pounded.
1998 - trap net catch is now down to 20.4 walleye per set (this is based on a massive 96 set trap net survey)
1999 - 2011 - continued gradual downward spiral of population. By 2009 to 2011, the catch was down to about 4 walleye per set. This result was also directly supported by 3 FWIN (Fall Walleye Index Netting) gill net surveys. MNR finally decided to do something, a decade too late. New regulations, reduced catch limits and established slot were introduced to ensure recruitment to spawning population.

Now add to this: lake now open to winter angling. Additional poaching and hooking mortality adds to the pot. Scugog Lake is now closed. Can you imagine the "spill-over" pressure that is now going to hit this lake, and the majority of it will be targeting walleye. Add to this a non-sustainable tournament that has consistently demonstrated that it's being a major annual mortality factor, and I can confidently say that there will be no "come-back" or improvement in the health of the fishery. Overharvest/mortality of all those slot fish = no progression to older age classes = reduced spawning population. If you think about the angling pressure that this tournament is adding, and it is species specific, targeting the fish that special regulations are trying to conserve: 140 teams = 280 anglers X16hrs over two days = 4480 rod hours!!! Does this make conservation sense to anyone reading this?
There is some irony in all of this. Not sure if you can call it "funny", or not. The Bobcaygeon Chamber of Commerce has clearly demonstrated that it has/and is prepared to trash the fishery, and accept this as acceptable collateral damage so they can have an annual economic boost. The restaurants, gas stations, and donut shops will be busy for a few days, but then what is left? How much economic benefit does a healthy fishery bring to this region? How much summer-long money does the cottage crowd, GTA anglers, resort and cottage rental fishermen, repeat rental customers, etc. bring when the fishing is worth coming up for? Shooting yourself in the foot comes to mind.
Stay tuned to next year. The 2017 tournament is already planned, and no doubt it will be in late May again, with lethal water temps again. Shake your head when you realize that your Ministry Fisheries Policy Section Manager will cave to political correctness again, and a permit will be signed, even though they know the fish will be dead. Not sure what else you can do. Maybe shame them into action with some social media exposure, newspaper articles, pictures of dead fish, or more letters. You can start by writing to your local MPP, The Minister, the manager of Fisheries Policy Section, The Bobcaygeon Promoter, and the local Lindsay and GTA newspapers.

Dave

Hi Dave,

Thanks for sharing all of the details which outline the impact on the fishery and the great synopsis on walleye tournament mortality found in the link you provided. I certainly learned a lot reading it, and it was fascinating to see the science involved in it as well.

What are your thoughts on moving the event to the fall, which would result in cooler water temps, say into late October?

Late edit; for some reason your posts didn't show up during my initial reading of the thread, which is why I never noted them in previous responses. It's nice having someone on the board who is familiar with the lake and the fish population therein.

[Sinker]

Dave the date of this tourney likely made better sense 20 years ago but thanks to global warming we now have 30 degree days in May..

They either need to move it to opening day or wait until late September if there's a hope for those fish to live.

Hi Dave,

Thanks for sharing all of the details which outline the impact on the fishery and the great synopsis on walleye tournament mortality found in the link you provided. I certainly learned a lot reading it, and it was fascinating to see the science involved in it as well.

What are your thoughts on moving the event to the fall, which would result in cooler water temps, say into late October?

Late edit; for some reason your posts didn't show up during my initial reading of the thread, which is why I never noted them in previous responses. It's nice having someone on the board who is familiar with the lake and the fish population therein.

IT would never fly in the fall because most of the guys fishing this tournament are BASS anglers, and would turn up their noses at a walleye tourney during the BASS season. The only reason they participate now is because their beloved BASS aren't open yet.

I have always disliked this tournament. Live release, and walleye just don't go together. You either release them right away, or kill them, there is no in between. Retaining them in a livewell never works, even in the fall.

S.

[Attila]

IT would never fly in the fall because most of the guys fishing this tournament are BASS anglers, and would turn up their noses at a walleye tourney during the BASS season. The only reason they participate now is because their beloved BASS aren't open yet.

I have always disliked this tournament. Live release, and walleye just don't go together. You either release them right away, or kill them, there is no in between. Retaining them in a livewell never works, even in the fall.

S.

I get that you dislike the tournament, but I think that your comment about those who fish bass tournaments is pretty unfair. While the bass tournament scene is by far the biggest in this province and in North America, I think that you'll find that many anglers are multi species focused. Greg Klatt comes to mind on this board.

The chance to win a decent payout is what draws tournament anglers, and if the payout is there and the fish can be protected, then there will always be a cross section of anglers who will take part if they have the time to.

[Sinker]

Ask the bass guys if they would fish a walleye tourney during bass season.

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[Bandwagon]

I think the answer is no, sponsors do not want to see you chasing toothy critters...

The tournament culture is really focused around Bass fishing. FLW and B.A.S.S both have grassroot tournament series now north of the boarder.