CATCH WEIGH AND RELEASE. STOP THE WEIGHINS!!!!!!

It’s not just FFS. Anyone that thinks holding spawning females in a live well for ten hours, or catching fish in 92 degree water and releasing them hours later doesn’t kill fish is insane. There are way too many tournaments on our lakes, almost everyday of the week down here in Florida. Turtles, alligators, gar, birds, and other predators eat most of the dying or dead fish, so what you see is probably about ten percent of the kill. Tournament fishing is about corporate interest, and is a total waste of a resource……bass. Anyone that participates in that is a part of the problem, and I hate saying that because I respect and appreciate what tournament fisherman have done on an individual level.

Takuo Ito was the only Pro I seen Fizzing his fish. All the rest had Belly up fish in their livewells. No respect for the resources.

You're making a great case for outlawing all tournaments. I'm fine with that.

So much for respecting the bass !

Itd be nice to see tournaments "fizz" out!

I did see Taku Fizzing his fish on camera. Wait until Lake St Clair later this week. You will also see a lot of dead fish. Sad part is letting the go to float around for people to see. Got to admit Catch / Weigh / Release makes sense in these derbies.

Bass is to busy making college dorm videos to sucker in the kids, instead of making fish care videos

I fish for food. I live in an area where there are 4 lakes 2 dams and obviously a river. I can support the fact that every time there is any tournament around here there are always massive amounts of dead fish afterwords. It kills me to see it and it's extremely frustrating especially since I fish for food. People who say that tournaments don't effect the fish are repeating lies that are consistently being propagated out there. Thank you for being one of the very few even willing to even talk about it.

Been there seen that. All i can say is when you introduce money and ego into anything it will eventually morf into something unrecognizable from the original intent. People will sell their souls for money unfortunately. 😢

All tournaments kill bass especially in the summer

Im sure they did and they are about to do it at champlain and the st lawrence, sad its 2024 and we still do livewell tourneys

“Spotlighters’ Benefit Tournament” lol

I learned a long time ago watching Bill Dance coin the phrase. C.P.R (Catch Photograph and Release) that was in like 1983. Still to this day I do that. If Kayak anglers can do it and the MLF can. BASS surly can too.

If these people can send you an email depicting all the dead fish?Why can't they add a picture to it or a video?

Randy, it always takes somebody. Somebody willing to stand up, call out the injustices and wrongs, take the heat, and keep with the fight. Everyone always says "somebody has to do somehing" then sit back and do nothing! I know you catch a lot of #@$&, but keep up the fight and making noise! All the care abut is the cash flow, period!

Tell that dude to take pics and post em

Their are dead bass everywhere after each tournament doesn’t matter what kind of tournament this is nothing new I’ve witness this myself it’s after any event any time of year it’s aweful to kill out what your supposed to love

Excellent video and thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Having tournaments in the south this time of year is ridiculous. The Texas Parks and Wildlife along with others has done studies on the mortality rates during and after tournaments and it’s not very good no matter what time of year it is.

Professional Bass Fishing tournaments should be like you said from October to March ! If this is your career path you should decide if you want to be a professional bass Angler or Hunter ! Just hunt on one of your practice days lol…..

There should be more with photographic proof.and weigh and release officials on all boats in all pro tournaments.

Guess that is why I heard them say during the broad cast that they were giving fizzing classes before they launched.

Don’t worry about it. After the tournament moves on those of us that live here will do what we always do, clean up the mess and dispose of the corpses

Thanks Again Randy for your support!!!!

This is a real concern. After one of the Elite tournaments out of Plattsburgh on Lake Champlain last August, a member of an online fishing group I belong to reported that a friend of his who is a diver went out on Cumberland Bay the week after the tournament and the bottom of the bay was littered with dead smallmouth. They have got to go to a catch-weigh-release system. I understand all the hoopla and fan stuff associated with the weigh-in, but they are literally killing hundreds of bass at these tournaments. Got to make a change. Thanks for speaking out Randy

Bass doesn't release Bass at the launch site they use pontoon boats to release at different areas. So that claim is false

The happy medium: Tournaments have a season based on latitude and when the spawn is. The spawn is off season. Tournaments need to do all weights/measurements immediately after the catch in the boat (MLF style) for all tournament days leading up to the Championship day - then have an actual weigh-in FFS - allow it for practice days, ban it on tournament days

I'm curious - why don't tournaments use length instead of weight. This would allow anglers to measure the fish and release right away. No need for live-well. Fewer dead bass. And less chance of cheaters stuffing weights down fish mouth. A lot of local kayak and other tournaments do this using basic length measurements. Makes way more sense

Im a local from near Lewis Smith Lake . Yes, there have been several reports of bass floating in several different areas each day after the elite series tournament .It's sad . But I personally believe the lake is overpopulated . Most fish are under the slot limit . It's very rare to hear of a 4lb + fish. Everyone I talk to says we caught a bunch of dinks

Preach on buddy!!! We should be ambassadors of conservation and ensure future of health fish populations!!! We are all representatives of bass fishing… let’s act responsibly and not kill fish!!!!!!!

Went bass fishing at my local lake for the first time this year,knee replacement, anyway the water temp was 89 degrees. I i had to keep the live well running constantly. With just five fish in the live well it was hard on the fish. We have scrambles every Tuesday from 530 to 830 with water temps at 89 most of those fish are not released as they will die anyway. Only about 18 to 25 boats participate is more of a local visiting event among pals buddies and out lying participants. Fishing is tough on this lake at this time of year , only 3 boats had fish to weigh in the last scramble.

2pm 7/5 I fish tournaments and some in summer. I learned this trick a couple years ago from a buddy Ricky Green. I fill my livewell before the tournament with well water 55 degree water. I then do not circulate lake water I just recirculate, with oxygenator. I then carry a couple frozen plastic Gallon milk jugs. I put them in as needed. T h e fish have been lively and fresh at the end of the day. Have not lost a fish since I've been doing this.

The Japanese fisherman seem to have already adopted a respect for the resource

I’ve posted my opinion on Bassmaster’s X account before and get pounced on lol that’s ok because I’m taking it to state legislators too. That’s exactly where I stand and couldn’t care less what the pro spotlight guys say..

I've seen water in the south during the summer that gets 90 degrees on the surface. I've never seen water near that temperature in the northern states

Sir Randall spot on with your view

I've seen thoudands of bass killed in tournaments. Lots of dead fish at weigh-Ins.. Tons of bass die in livewells esspecially during the hot weather months. They don't take care of the bass. I've witnessed this sad scenario for over 60 years.

Randy I was there and it was 99 degrees and pros had to wait a very long time for bags that didn't set well with the pros after coming in on time Shortage of wiegh in bags I think your right on

Just a couple of comments/questions. I was there during the tournament as a marshal on Thursday and Friday. Yes, FFS was used extensively and the water temps were in the 85-87 degree range. The fish I witnessed being caught were in the 10-20 foot depth range. When we took the five fish from the live well they were all very much alive. The anglers used different means during the day to keep the fish alive. That’s my personal experience. I was not there the Monday after the tournament so I cannot dispute the report from the local fisherman. My question is that the fish brought to the scales were placed in the holding tank(s) on the BASS pontoon boat and I assumed they would be released well away from the launch area. If they did not release them away from the launch area would we not have seen the fish weighed Thursday “floating” there when we launched Friday or when we came in for weigh-in Friday afternoon?

Good job randy

Here's a funny one. The boat tanks that haul all the fish back out to deep water is a joke also. The fish just float where no one can see them float. CATCH WEIGH RELEASE is the answer for better fishing days to come.

Other food for thought Randy is fish handling. Australian Bass Tournaments, Bass are usually landed using knotless landing nets and if held up by jaw the body is supported. It may not affect your bass but ours have shown it may tear their throat latch, they will swim away but they can die. Not worth the risk for a glory shot. I know I wouldn't want to be held up by my jaw.

Is there anything you don’t know Randy , you have got too be the smartest person in the world hands down

Totally agree with October to March for tournements.

If they want to fish tournaments in the summer fish them in the northern lake's the water is much cooler.

Didn't know BASS released the bass at the launch site. I thought they had live release boats to distribute the bass around different parts of the lake.

Great video. Unfortunately the bassmaster tournaments have very little to do with Bass or the conservation of anything. The tournaments are now all about the high power shiny boats and the fishing is nothing but a measuring stick they use so they can call it a competition. If large mouth bass become endangered they would just change the the of fish and continue the promotion of the boats and the equipment. 200HP boats screaming down the lake or river means more to those sponsoring these torunments than the sport itself . The reason the tournaments are when they are is because it enables the advertisers amd sponsors to get maximum exposure. The bass and there conservation is trumped by the $$! I love fishing but quite honestly Bass Masters turned me off to bass fishing tournaments years back watching things get out of hand and few pointing it out. If you look at the $ and where the money is going and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize the entire sport is to sell more 70k plus boats to the consumer! Only way to combat this is to not participate and do not support those who have pretty much destroyed a great sport! Also while catfish tournaments at the moment are much more of a sport and have much more concern for the resources that enable the sport but once money and sponsors take over these torunments will end the same way

Do you fish in these tournaments that you speak of? Just curious

I've noticed some summer tournaments are going to a 3 fish limit . I'm for not having tournaments on the hottest summer months

I always thought there was DNR boat around for these events. There always at Georgia Lakes.

I agree with all of this. I recently began doing monthly kayak tournaments here in PA. Its 100% CPR and most of our lakes are shallow. Im stll sure that the fish suffer, especially on the daily tournaments with 100 plus anglers. I am also sure that the mortality rate is much lower with the CPR requirements. Also, the cost and weight of the FFS units make them the exception on a kayak. With the wind blowing you around, I would question how effective that would even be on a kayak. The whole GPS locking trolling motors just arent a thing. The best way to fight this is for states to regulate this type of sonor, just like they do for hunting deer. It is not just the bass that are getting crushed, but crappie and bluegill also. What is next? Smart lure drones that see the fish and swim in their mouths?

Damn- it has nothin to do with FFS - fish in livewells all day this time of year will likely die

Tournaments October through March sounds great! Unless you live up north and change it to an ice fishing contest. LOL

Not taking up for BASS but they normally have a release boat. They take fish to middle of lake and release them. Not sure there all going to wash back to boat ramp. They said same thing about Sealy tournament in Alabama. They have a release boat fish were not released anywhere near ramp but everyone said they were floating at ramp.

Probably the "spotlighters" fault. Everything else is.

Talk to a freshwater fishery biologist. I just heard yesterday. They said bed fishing. It's not doing any damage to Lakes and river system, they said we can't hook. Enough fish to do serious damage. But they said the most damage being done to our spokennoise rivers and lakes. Is not harvesting enough fish straight out of their mouth.Talk to one

I thought bass Didn't release the fish at the launch site? I thought they distribute them throughout their system

Agreed. No tournaments during the spawn or warmer water. Just not the smartest idea

Hey Randy did you see the Texas and BPT biologist talking about bass populations and bass tournament mortality rates on Tyler’s Reel Fishing? It’s definitely worth a watch

Although I disagree with you on the whole FFS issue ( I can respectfully disagree with you on that issue for a variety of reasons) I COMPLETELY agree with you regarding times of year and would add that the "weigh in" (though it's intended as good for tv and drama) mindset should be changed. If it's a major tournament, the MLF has it right...catch weigh, release. Orrrr...the kayak model of length versus weight is a good alternative. If desired, "for drama" each angler can keep one big fish (minimum weight TBD prior start of tournament) to have a big fish weigh in. This would greatly reduce the mortality. I know there are still risks to those big fish, but those risks are already there in the current model. As for the "deep water" FFS model, I am a Northern CA angler and here, deep water in summer is just the way we catch fish, so FFS isnt as much an issue. I've been catching fish out of 40+ feet of water over giant rock piles for 35 years. FFS hasn't changed things much for me, over old school flasher and paper graph and buoys.

doesn't Bass have a release pontoon that takes them out into different areas of the lake?

Really can’t understand why these big organizations have these tournaments in May through August, I don’t know why they don’t fish in the fall all the way through early spring, who cares about deer hunting if you really want to fish. I wish local tournaments would stop fishing in the summer,.

Delayed mortality is even worse on smallmouth fisheries.

With tournament anglers killing ever bigger bass, down the road, we'll all be catching ever smaller bass.

You guys should go look at the interview on TRF with a wildlife biologist. Very informative. Might settle some of y’all’s feathers.

What's the difference between a guy catching bass to eat. Or tournament fishing catching bass only to die a couple days later.

Always follow the money.

BASS is usually very good about fish care. They have someone who oversees the fish care and the live release boat. They do not release at the weigh in site. There is no reason to have tournaments in the summer when the water temps and the air temps are 90degrees plus. There was a Big Bass tournament at Guntersville a few weeks ago and there were dead fish everywhere the next day. That should never happen!!!

What kills more bass FFS or keeping bass in live wells?

My local lakes are very hard the last 5 yrs to fish. I think this is the issue.

Tournament weigh ins have been killing fish since the beginning of their time. Now imagine how many dead bass that equates to. Catch and release PEOPLE!

Same problem here in CA. Clear lake , water is so warm and those fish die in the live wells. Same on the delta. I'm sick of the lack of respect for our resource.

The rare times my health allows me to fish I'm more of a musky angler than bass. Watching a well known Minnesota tackle store's UTube channel they had their 17ft boat loaded with 3 big screens. And they caught 3 muskies. FF sonar has the fish of 10,000 cast down to about 3333 cast for now until the next generation cuts that down even further.

If it's as bad as the local said he should have pictures. I want to believe this guy. But if something big like this happens I'd believe pics would be taken. Also your right. Bass are a large part of our season. Think about it... without bass we don't have a bass fishing sport or tournament. It's like if we didn't have leather or footballs let's say than what do we do if football went extinct. Sounds stupid lol but you get my point.

Bubbles + Oxygenaror + circulation + gjuice + ice. I transported a giant across my state one time to put in my pond. She’s still in there alive and kicking 3 years later.

MLF in the BFL and TOYOTA series allows the culling of DEAD bass! That really sucks!

I’d be happy if tournaments went away for good.

Could/would DNR help. They shut down flounder fishing for a year in NC. Control permits. Another angle maybe.

Just a question Randy, have you ever seen tournament anglers eat the fish that died at or shortly after the weigh in?

What about the lakes where spots are an invasive species? I know alot of guys that keep spots after derbies to try and help control the population.

Randy making another negative video about the sport he supposedly loves and cares so much about! Lol what a suprise! Tournament angler bashing tournament trails on how they take care of fish....

I thought fish were hauled to different areas of the lake by pontoon boats

Saw alot of guys just putting those fin weights on ? DONT THEY STILL GOT TO BE FIZZED? IM SURE WATER TEMP DIFFERENCE WAS SOME OF IT ?

The guy should have had pictures of the dead fish and send to newspaper in Cullman

Bassbi is a distant cousin of Bambi and lives in Japan. Like Bambi, Bassbi is a poor defenseless orphan bass whose mother was killed by mean fishermen who were fishing instead of hugging trees. In Japan, many lakes have laws mandating that all bass caught be killed and not returned to the lake. The bass have been deemed invasive and harmful competitors to food source and native species. Kill boxes are strategically placed on these lakes at boat ramps and popular fishing spots. One such lake requiring the use of kill boxes is Lake Biwa, one of Japans most famous trophy bass lakes. The lake has a do not release mandate for largemouth, and anglers are by law required to remove captured fish from the lake. Bass were first found in Biwa in 1965, again in 1974, and exploded in population in the 1980’s. Since that time, efforts to remove the species (and blue gills)have been underway. Many in Japan view bass quite differently than in the States. American tree huggers wouldn’t fare well with some of the locals on Biwa.

Where’s the pictures and videos??? Anyone who seen dead fish is going to document it period!!!

Randy, until change is effected, since there is delayed mortality from ffs and fishing deep, rather than releasing fish that are going to die anyway, can they be donated to an organization that feeds the hungry? Similar to “Hunters for the hungry” that donate the deer to be processed to feed people that are in need. Just an idea.

RB says MLB and Bassmaster have a "vested," interest in maintaining and sustaining the sport. That doesn't seem to add up.

I bet you didn't care if the fish died, when you were fishing tournaments long ago. Just have catch and release tournaments, but don't blame it on FFS.

But like you said you was still in the tournaments

It sounds like "conservation" should be no more fishing tournaments. Only a few people profit hugely and the fisheries are mercilessly battered. The fish suffer. The waters are polluted. How about no more fishing tournaments and all states just ban "live scoping"?

Many of the new young elite and MLF tournament fisherman are not conservationists they are only there to make a living fishing

OK, I have a honest question Randy, and absolutely serious, no bullshit. But it seems to me, if these organizations had people like you, or like minded people as you, there wouldn't be these issues. It's no different that any body of governance. Is there truly not the quality of leadership out there who desires the job of (and lets be honest) being the asshole when the hard shit needs done? how busy are you these day? Had a seasoned veteran of a regional manager tell me when I was having difficulty as a new mgr, "There comes a time when someone has to be the asshole, get used to it" As for all the dead fish? I watched the weighin's and Sunday - those fish were kicking like mules. It felt pretty good to see that. Maybe it happened? but if it's that bad the DNR would be on it I have to believe and they can be some real pricks, especially the short ones.

Maybe stiffer penalties for dead fish. Bass is 2.5 oz per dead fish. So 5 dead 5 pounder still gets you 23.75. Do that every day and you will be near the top in almost every event. Don't even bother using the livewells.

I do wish you would watch it and give use your opinion on it.

Is it any wonder that this occurs? The ammount of time tournaents keep bass out of the water is rediculous. You have seconds, not minutes, to expose the bass to non-aquatic environments. Holding the bass up to showcase the catch, running them to a hospital tank and then, on top of that, extended bladders and eventual death is stupid folks.

All catch and weigh tournaments in the Summer months should be outlawed. Pickwick lake never recovered from a 400 boat high school tournament held in July. Dead bass floating down the lake for days. The ledges were ruined the rest of the Summer and the lake never really has been the same. This was in 2018.

The only downfall I see is more people on the water in the fall. I enjoy being the only one out there. It's going to be so busy you can't even fish.

Here we go again