I had a guide trip on a local lake in RI on Saturday night. This lake is small, at only 220 acres. But the bass population has always been healthy, due to a decent population of alewives for forage.
As I was on my way to the lake, my client sent me a text message to let me know that he had gotten there early and found that the launch area was busy/packed with other boats and trailers.
I arrived 10 minutes later to find the parking lot full, as a club was getting ready to start a tourney. I spoke with them briefly and asked who they were. They told me the club was called IBA (Independent Bass Anglers).
I then asked them about their tourney... how many anglers, what time they were fishing until, etc. They told me they were expecting up to 30 anglers (15 boats) and were fishing from 5 PM until 10 PM.
I was a bit disgusted that they would try to pack 15 boats on this little lake, let alone jam the parking lot with that many trucks and trailers.
Thankfully, they had less than their expected 15 boats. But they managed to do some serious damage to the fishery while they were there.
Apparently, many of the boats participating didn't have suitable livewells, so they used stringers and un-aerated coolers to hold their fish. Keep in mind that the water temp was up over 80 degrees.
At one point I witnessed an angler remove a bass from a cooler and place it in a small trout net and then place the net in the water, apparently in an effort to keep the bass alive. After moving it around in the water for a minute or so, he then turned his trolling motor on and moved the boat forward, with the net (and bass in it) still hanging in the water.
When my guide trip was over at 1 AM, I pulled in to the launch to find a bunch of dead bass floating around the area (surprise, surprise). I also spoke with another angler the next morning who was also there and witnessed the bass being kept on stringers. And he had spoken with a friend of his who was also there, who witnessed a lot of dead bass at the launch immediately after their weigh-in.
I was so disgusted when I saw the dead fish. But I wasn't surprised at all.
DEM (Department of Environmental Management) has been contacted and this club has been reported by more than one person. They are apparently investigating this incident. They may lose their tournament permit privileges in RI. Time will tell.
Either way, these people need to learn how to properly handle bass, or they need to get out of tournament fishing.
Losing 30 adult bass in a fishery so small is inexcusable and detrimental.