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Wow – is anyone really surprised at this? Many discussions were held about this tourney before it started – and to OTWs credit they revised it to help alleviate a potential and somewhat perceived large “dead fish tournament”.
Now seeing how popular it has become I have to say I’m disappointed in our recreational striped bass fishing community as a whole. Even my own club agreed to enter the tourney and some of our members are participating. When I read the leader board I hurt inside as I tally up the pounds of quality bass killed – for the mere sake of a pin in some cases.
In my opinion a pin-hooker shouldn’t be participating in this tourney – and it would also be naive to think that a majority of the bass entered into this event are not also going to market. I have nothing against commercial sale, as long as it’s done legally, but we all know that strange things are done for a buck…
I am encouraged however by some of the younger guys I’ve been able to influence, they’ve taken some real nice fish that were eligible for this tourney, and released them alive. And they feel good about it. Congrats to them. I’m proud of you.
Keep the “catch and release” concept alive, especially for the cows.
“Limit your kill, don’t kill your limit”
DZ
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