Sea Bass tournament?
 

I am thinking of doing a fund raiser for JCAA and would like to try something different. I was wondering if there would be enough interest in a sea bass tournament to make it worth while.

Paul Haertel
Past President, JCAA

Re: Sea Bass tournament?
 

Could be a great venue..... When would you propose? There are "target" venues for inshore and offshore/deeper water that would impact the results...IMO

Re: Sea Bass tournament?
 

Probably in the spring at a time when there are nice fish inshore, not late in the year when the big ones are stacked up far offshore.

Re: Sea Bass tournament?
 

Please don't give the govt any additional reasons to lower the bag limit!

Re: Sea Bass tournament?
 

Ridiculous response! It is still a free country.

Re: Sea Bass tournament?
 

lol

Re: Sea Bass tournament?
 

I dunno... Personally tournaments of any type leave me cold... There are hundreds of them up here, and the
"weigh in areas" where the fish are weighed and released are covered with dead bass by the hundreds after each one, and even in the big upstate NY lakes it has had a major impact on the fishing.. Its a pale shadow of what it was years ago...
Do we really need a sea bass tournament to go along with Striper, Blackfish, Bluefish, Fluke and Weakfish tournaments, not to mention the million bass,trout and salmon, and even carp and catfish tournaments?..
Never been a fan..
Years ago there lived a wonderful salt water fishing author, contributor,editor named Frank Woolner.. Read some of his stuff sometime, its timeless..
He once wrote these profound words..

"Fishing is a contemplative sport, it should not be a competitive one".. I wish more fishermen both fresh and salt took those words to heart... bob

Re: Sea Bass tournament?
 

Appreciate your perspective and at times, yes. a very contemplative and more so reflective sport for me. Thinking back to when I was a kid being taught how to fish and spending priceless time with family members fishing in lakes, streams,rivers and creeks and now the ocean. I also find it nourishing to be competitive at times. The thrill of the opportunity to be involved with a "team" to fish or single handedly attempt to catch...."the big one" for the prize money or bragging rights

Re: Sea Bass tournament?
 

If the weigh-in site is full of dead sea bass that no one wants, I will be there will a cooler full of ice...

Re: Sea Bass tournament?
 

Most people keep the sea bass to eat and there are tons of them out there. I don't see how a tournament would hurt. Unfortunately, the quota is far too low for the entire east coast. The population of sea bass continues to grow and as it does so their range increases as well. Now all the states to our north catch a lot of them that causes us to go over the quota and again it results in tighter restrictions for us. JCAA believes it is time to rebel against the ASMFC for setting these ridiculously low quotas.

Paul Haertel

Re: Sea Bass tournament?
 

Hey Sal. Always good to hear from you!!!!

Re: Sea Bass tournament?
 

Indeed there are a lot of them out there.. for now...
However, there were once a lot of Whiting, Flounder, Mackerel,Weakfish, etc.. Hell, even eels are under pressure, and from what I have seen past few years, Ling are even starting to become scarcer. Fishing pressure is fishing pressure, regardless of the form it takes.

Tournaments are short lived, but for the time they are active, they put intense pressure on localized fish populations.. You may disagree, but in my area I am surrounded by tournaments, and I have seen the damage first hand.. As I said, personally I am not a fan.. I know my opinion is the minority one, and I accept that.
Actually I agree that some restrictions on Sea Bass should be lifted.. I think the size should be 12 inches actually, which on any given trip would give a fisherman plenty to take home. However tournaments just cause too much concentrated fishing pressure in small areas.. This wasn't a problem years ago, but today there are too many great fishermen with too much great equipment that can take an awful lot of fish out of a small area in a short time... bob

Re: Sea Bass tournament?
 

Nice to see you still don't get it??:confused::confused::confused::confused::confu sed:

Re: Sea Bass tournament?
 

Bob
The problem with a 12 inch biscut is there is not enough meat to eat.

Personally I won't keep a SEABASS unless it is a few inches above the current limit. That is just me. In fact I never target SB but will keep them as bicatch if big enough.

Re: Sea Bass tournament?
 

nobody likes a sea bass snob...eat em whole, plenty of meat on them barely legals...for some of us:eek:

Re: Sea Bass tournament?
 

Agreed, .. Problem is we see them going back by the hundreds with thier innards hanging out their mouths... It kills me to know they aren't going to make it, and last few times i didn't see any mates needling them to aid in survivability. I guess that isn't done on inshore trips but I dunno, maybe it should be. I would rather see smaller sea bass get taken home and eaten than going back in to a certain death... Many bottom fishermen even take very small ling simply because they are not going to survive anyway.. Thats one of the problems with any kind of bottom fishing in deep water.. Too many small ones that will die anyway. bob

Re: Sea Bass tournament?
 

Snob? If you knew me you would know that could not be further from the truth! :mad: if you want to keep a 13.5 inch fish to eat more power to YA. It's leagal and I have no problem with it but it's not for me so I CHOOSE not to keep them. Never criticized anyone else for keeping them.

Bob, once again I agree. Throwing those small fish back without venting is a death sentence. One of the reasons I don't target them.

Once again, this is just one humble mans opinion. As stated previously, I will keep the knuckleheads as bicatch as they are tasty bastids:D

Re: Sea Bass tournament?
 

No confusion here Sal. It's "free country" as you put it and someone was asking for thoughts on a tournament. Since sea bassing is one of my favorite fisheries I provided my take on it. Funny, I don't remember seeing a response from you on this subject topic. Perhaps you are in this thread for malintent, which is not why this board is here.

Re: Sea Bass tournament?
 

Sounds good and should be fun, worthy cause. ( You know the old saying about opinions including me).

Re: Sea Bass tournament?
 

lets do it!!!! nobody saved me any buffalo

Re: Sea Bass tournament?
 

Always a basher and a poster of self centered BS.When did you become an expert on all things on this site?This site gives you the right to post but you are a self proclaimed expert on all topics.A sea bass tourney is a good idea! God forbid the big bad governmemt will see a bunch of dead sea bass and lower the limit lmfao!!!!! There not stripers you expert. Get real and stop the ridiculous posts. Now have a nice day and let these nice people get on with there thread!!!!!

Re: Sea Bass tournament?
 

Didn't bash, say I was an expert or anything to that extent in this thread. If I did please feel free to quote me where in the thread I did. I also believe this site was for fishing purposes and for sharing ideas and advertisements????? If it's not than please explain. Don't forget since u are not an advertiser here now you must watch what you say :p

It's ok to have a bone to pick with me in an online forum, especially since I don't fish with you!

Like I said Sal...always good hearing from you. But we should probably leave each other alone now. Don't want Gerry deleting more posts, and after all this place is for nice people.

Re: Sea Bass tournament?
 

Im beginning to think tournaments are dumb also. I support catch and eat. If you dont want to fish for food, stop torturing the things. Same as people supporting size limits over creel limits. Just cruel to the animal, go hunting with tranquilizer guns ,pick the deer up by the antlers weigh and measure it and let it go to be tranquilized another day.

Re: Sea Bass tournament?
 

he is a close friend & I can assure you the only thing he is an expert in is not meant for a family friendly website