I used to be a tournament angler – albeit freshwater bass – many years ago. I fished every tournament close to me, and most of them that were far away as well. I did well at the local level, but never had the resources or time to put in the hours required to “run with the big dogs.”
This time it was different. It was saltwater and the tournament was for redfish, a specie that went through some pretty tough times ten years ago and is slowly trying to make a come back. This time I didn’t have the excitement I felt as a bass angler.
As I reached the bait shop, I ran into part of the crowd. Thirty and forty thousand dollar flats boats with 250 horse engines were lined up buying live finger mullet. It seems this particular tournament was not artificial only. I bought my few shrimp and headed for the ramp. There I was treated to a line about a half-mile long waiting to launch. It seems I picked the ramp where the redfish tournament was being held.
What a day! Every place I usually fish had two or three boats lined up waiting to fish there. If a redfish had been in the area, he probably could have been snagged with as many boats as there were in one small area. I fished around and managed to scare up a few fish; some flounder and a few sheepshead.
As I watched these “pros” fish for redfish, I was amazed at how a freshwater phenomenon had made its way into saltwater. I watched as several boats culled a smaller redfish from the live well for a larger one they just caught. Hopefully, these flats boats have live wells large enough to accommodate a twenty-seven inch red.
I was back to the ramp and on my way home before their weigh-in began. At le3ast I avoided that crowd!
When I got home, an interesting article met me in my Florida Wildlife Magazine. The whole article was about the ethics of culling redfish. Florida regulations specifically state that you cannot cull redfish. I had just witnessed several anglers doing just that!
The article went on to say that redfish tournament organizers were lobbying to have that law changed. They even said that they turn their back on people who cull because it is in the best interest of the tournament.
I don’t fault anyone for fishing in a tournament. I did it for many years. But there is just something about using redfish as the target species. I remember not many years ago when the season on redfish was completely closed; the population had been decimated that badly.
I also read the rules for some of these tournaments and they specifically state that anyone violating state fishing regulations would be disqualified. Yet, here in print was an organizer indicating that they turn their back on culling!
Maybe they will be successful in their bid to change the law. Regardless, I still see over 100 boats bringing fish each to the scales – 100 fish – and hoping that they will live when they are released.
I know the survival rate of freshwater bass was always in dispute, and tournament organizers went to extraordinary lengths to keep fish alive after the weigh-in. I’m not sure what the survival rate is on reds. I don’t even know if they measure it.
What I do know is the ramps are more crowded than ever before, and a stable resource is being hit by a concentration of very targeted anglers. Tournament organizers make money at these events and they are held at public boat ramps. Perhaps we need a fee charged for the use of the ramps. Perhaps we need a “first fish caught gets weighed” policy. Whatever, I personally need to find another ramp when I remember that a tournament is going on!
