07-01-2011, 01:10 AM
I'll share an experience I had back in 2000, I believe was the year. I'm not a competitive tournament type - for me, fishing is as much a social event as the catching. At any rate, after reading about the walleye fishing on Fort Peck Reservoir for quite some time I decided to apply for an amatuer seat in a scheduled Professional Walleye Tour tournament at that location. Having no ideal what to expect, I rationlized that it'd be like a 3-day guided trip [considering expenses] but these "Pro's" would have greater incentive than guides to produce since my fish would count in their tally for the prize money.
With my beginner's luck I was fortunate in being drawn with 3 top notch Pro's, including Mike Gofron, the currently seated Champion Pro for the year. Fishing was tough but I surprized myself by maintaining an amatuer position in the money for the 1st two days. Unfortunately the 3rd day was a bust for me with no keepers o maintain my "winning form". To me it was no big deal because during my day with Mike I managed to catch my all-time biggest walleye which scaled over 9 lbs.
If you're familiar with the In- Fisherman sponsored event, all fish are kept in the boats through the long day for eventual weight-in and TV filming at the end of the day. At each days' filming event the IFcelebrity announcer would explain that all fish would be released alive, but they liked their other events where local charitable organizations would welcome the filleted tournament catch provided by the sponsors. These words didn't strike me until a week or more later when I read a full page article on the subject in a Missoula newspaper. The article claimed that the local interest groups in the Glascow area, and others around the state were totally put out with the results of the event when recovered "floaters" indicated that overall mortality from the 3-day catch was in the 90+ percentile range. In other words, even the majority of the fish considered as survivors and not penalty-worthy during the weigh in ceremony in fact did not survive after their release back into the reservoir. In contrast a Governor's Cup Tournament held a week or so earlier had little mortality which was attributed to their procedure where caught fish were immediately taken to strategically located weigh in boats where data was collected and fish were quickly released instead of pounding around in a boat's live well for several hours.
The resulting outrage was a resounding proclaimation that the IF event was no longer welcome on Fort Peck. Since I don't keep track of that event I don't know if the situation has changed since.
I can tell you that I was personally very disappointed for being a part of that poorly run spectacal -one that was more interested in theatrics for later broadcast versus concern for the welfare of the resources.
[signature]
With my beginner's luck I was fortunate in being drawn with 3 top notch Pro's, including Mike Gofron, the currently seated Champion Pro for the year. Fishing was tough but I surprized myself by maintaining an amatuer position in the money for the 1st two days. Unfortunately the 3rd day was a bust for me with no keepers o maintain my "winning form". To me it was no big deal because during my day with Mike I managed to catch my all-time biggest walleye which scaled over 9 lbs.
If you're familiar with the In- Fisherman sponsored event, all fish are kept in the boats through the long day for eventual weight-in and TV filming at the end of the day. At each days' filming event the IFcelebrity announcer would explain that all fish would be released alive, but they liked their other events where local charitable organizations would welcome the filleted tournament catch provided by the sponsors. These words didn't strike me until a week or more later when I read a full page article on the subject in a Missoula newspaper. The article claimed that the local interest groups in the Glascow area, and others around the state were totally put out with the results of the event when recovered "floaters" indicated that overall mortality from the 3-day catch was in the 90+ percentile range. In other words, even the majority of the fish considered as survivors and not penalty-worthy during the weigh in ceremony in fact did not survive after their release back into the reservoir. In contrast a Governor's Cup Tournament held a week or so earlier had little mortality which was attributed to their procedure where caught fish were immediately taken to strategically located weigh in boats where data was collected and fish were quickly released instead of pounding around in a boat's live well for several hours.
The resulting outrage was a resounding proclaimation that the IF event was no longer welcome on Fort Peck. Since I don't keep track of that event I don't know if the situation has changed since.
I can tell you that I was personally very disappointed for being a part of that poorly run spectacal -one that was more interested in theatrics for later broadcast versus concern for the welfare of the resources.
[signature]