Lake Washington crappie contest

[Katoman]

There are 50 boats with two people in each boat. My question is how many fish are removed from the lake? These fish are pre spawners. Do they return all like the bass fishermen? So, if they are not all returned is it worth the cost to the lake to allow this? The lake is not that big. I understand they are doing it again tomorrow, some thoughts.

[toadbelly]

not any different than any other day on the lake when the word gets out that the fish are hitting

[DLK]

i for one do not like the contest, way to many fish taken out of here. it is not a typical day out here with all the fisherman, after the contest is done, you wont see half the boats crappie fishing

[flipper]

Personally I am not for any of the tournaments and contests. To me fishing should be getting out and enjoying good old mother nature. The fish you catch are a bonus.

The outlook of tournament fishermen is too much like catching these fish is a matter of life or death. Zip here, Zip there, giver heck to get to a spot before the other guy, be rude to others who are trying to enjoy a day out on the lake, then full throttle to the finish line so as not to be late. Is that what enjoying our resources is all about?

[pikerliker]

I second that flipper. No interest at all in tournaments for me. I fish for the love of fishing and getting away from things. I love to catch fish but I personally don't need to make a contest out of it to enjoy it.

~piker

[NTW]

The tourney is live release only. Every fish weighed goes back. Many father/son/daughter teams out there today and all "competitors" got along well and enjoyed the day.

[Comit 2]

Katoman. It sounds like one day of ice fishing to me. Do they put all there fish back? Maybe we should close panfish season to give them time to spawn. NOT!

[7outof10]

there is nothing wrong with a tourney some people just don't like to fish that hard ......its different

[TruthWalleyes]

Take it easy boys....Very few fish caught in the tourny this year.

It is a lot of fishing pressure, but these guys don't show up to kill as many fish as they can, they must weigh live fish to win. Biggest fish of the entire weekend was 1.05#.

[Willy]

Zero fish are removed from the lake. It is not a kill tourney, instead it is live release. Also, most if not all of the fisherman that do this tourney year after year are very respectful and get along with everyone else. You have the wrong impression here.

Maybe a few of you should throw your hat in the ring next year. It is a fun time.

[luckycrank]

I still cant for the life of me figure out why tournaments and tournament fisherman get a bad wrap.

As stated before everthing is released. sure you can get into the delayed mortality issue but not likley the case with water temps as cold as they are currently. It just drives me nuts when people started blowing smoke over tournaments.

Some debate that tournament anglers think they own a paticular spot. and are rude to others using public waters, why is this any differant than a wheel house parked on the end of a point in winter. Does the wheel houses owner own the point ? no but try to set up next to some body . i bet they are rude about it . but instead as outdoors man and women we give respect and keep our distance regardless if a tournament is in progress or not , unless where invited. and in the winter likley every thing brought up the hole for the vast amount of people is killed some by many of the people who posted in this thread. yet many are patting them selfs on the back for it

[Comit 2]

How about the boats that shadow me when I'm trolling. I hook a fish and they anchor on that spot before I can get the fish back in the water.

[Scott M]

Different strokes for different folks guys and gals. There are bad apples in any group. Minnesota regulates tournaments more strictly, and I would argue better, than any other state in the union. Most MN tournaments with any history are very good with rule compliance and participant etiquette. If you see problems while on the water, ask who the tournament director is and bring it to their attention. Those people want the tournaments to be good, fun events with little impact on the resource that promote the sport of fishing. They want to know when things are bad or good.

As was stated, this tournament and most tournaments are live release. Live release is a condition of most tournament permits.

[Comit 2]

90 percent of my fishing is in water that doesn't see fishing contests and that isn't by mistake. Case in point I haven't put a boat in Washington in ten to fifteen years, Francis for four or five years. Why would I want to? The last thing I want when I'm fishing is a water skier going back and forth, back and forth so they can make sure I see how cool they are and if other fisher man want to see me put on a show they can get in line with all the other boat shadowing me around the lake.

So let me ask a question. Were they fishing on your spot?

[TruthWalleyes]

I fish washington probably the most of the local lakes...On the bright sunny summer days, i'll be on the water early in the morning, and off by wakeboarding time...On the windy days, you've got the lake all to yourself. The washington crappie tournament is the only tournament i do all year, with the exception of maybe one or two ice fishing tournaments.

[Matt C]

I don't see the point of the discussion here?

Tournaments are great for the sport. Gets more people interested in fishing, which makes more people buy fishing licenses, which in turn gives more money to the DNR to stock and up keep our MN Lakes.

Its public water, anyone with a valid MN fishing license can fish any lake, at any time and any area of the lake they wish. Don't like there is a tourney on 'your lake' in 'your spots'? Try a different lake that day. Variety is good for the soul.

[luckycrank]

well said

[SouthernMNFisher]

I cant stand water skiers or jet skiers as well. They run around like they own the entire lake... Even people cruising the lakes on pontoons are sick of having to worry about letting their kids swim off of a pontoon for fear of someone on a jetski running in to them. They all try to break some sort of speed record hauling A** across the lakes. I have had a some times when they are no more than 20 yards from my boat...

Im tempted to bring out the paintball gun next time

[Comit 2]

Ditto.

I'm sorry it's just that when someone posts something like " We used to be able the bring home a limit every time we would fish that lake " I feel compelled to say something like " and you didn't think there was ssomething wrong? Or. And you wonder what happened all the fish, look in your freezer! "

I will try to control myself in the future.

[kg2]

I don't mind it when someone is taking limits of 4-5" sunnies as long as they have a use for them. Those little guys need to be thinned out in most lakes.

That is way better than someone taking limits of 8-9" sunnies everytime out!