Spring 2025
®
“Tournament anglers just don’t realize what goes on behind the scenes – myself included,” he elaborated. “Before this, I fished a tournament. I caught my fish. I went to the scales and weighed and then I took off. I didn’t know what it was like behind the scenes, setup, tanks, fish care. I knew about fish care in my livewell; but then I brought them to the bump tank and let ‘em go in the lake, and that was it.”
With a season of the BAM Tournament Trail in the books, Lassagne has expanded his knowledge in many aspects and fish care and conservation of the resource that continues the sport is a giant part of that.
“I’ve learned so much; things we never think about as the anglers,” he said. “Things like using the lake water in the tanks and not tap/hose water, because tap water has chlorine in it and there is no way to remove it.
“I didn’t know when fish got stressed, they released ammonia, which went into the water and makes the fish even more stressed.”
These and other factors are now part of what BAM has taken into account in advancing fish conservation as a tournament circuit.
page 26
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Although it is extra cost, time and effort, BAM uses their own Live Release Boat, sponsored by Fisherman’s
Warehouse at their
tournaments. Their Release
Boat holds about 1,000 pounds
of water. It is able to pump in
lake water and accommodate
aeration and recirculation.
“It allows us to recirculate the lake water, keep it fresh and keep the fish in good shape,” Lassagne stated. “We’ve done a lot of work to the Release Boat, since we got it. We’ve replaced the stones and the pump and squared everything away.
“In addition to that, we add ice to the boat and the bump tanks, and survival additives. We limit the number of weigh bags, to limit the amount of anglers at the tanks. We also use a special bag. It is a bag within a bag. We have a bag that retains water and