a plan to keep
By Tony Stoltz
T
here’s no doubt about it, tournament
bass fishing is harder on the fish then
recreational bass fishing. When you’re
fishing tournaments and you intend to retain those caught fish, the ball game changes,
as does your level of responsibility towards those
kept fish. Here are some basic rules of thumb to
help the survivability of your tournament caught
and retained fish. The distinction is made because
most recreational anglers release their caught fish
much sooner then their tournament brethren, who
retain fish
42
for up to several hours to be weighed in and then, subsequently released.
WET YOUR HANDS
Therearestepsthatanglerscantaketohelpupgrade theoddsanditstartsbyalwayskeepingyourhandswet whenyouhandleanyfishthatyou’vecaught. dryhands willtakeawaythefish’smucoproteinprotectiveslime coatthatcoversthescalesandskin.Thisslimecoatacts asabass’sdefensesystemagainstattackfrombacteria,
parasites,andfungus.Handlingyourfishis
okay,anditispreferredoverbouncinga
fishontothedeckofaboatanddragging
itacrossthecarpet.Thatcarpetisan
abrasivesurfaceaswellanditwillalso
striptheslimecoatfromafish.
FILL UP FRESH
afteryou’velaunchedtheboatthe firstthing youwanttodoistofillupyour livewellswith freshandcoolwater. idle away fromtherampareatodosoas many launchrampsareinareasthat arelikelyto havemorestagnantwaters
andthereforelessoxygen.
once you’ve got the water in
the wells go ahead and shut off the
water intakes and start circulating
the water. it’d be a good idea to add
your live well chemical treatment
at this time. regardless of which
treatment you use, figure out the
required dosage for your tanks
based on the capacity of the wells.
You’ll find instruction on how to
determine how much additive
to use on the labels of just about
Photo by tunaman