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Daily Herald, April 14, 2009
Lake record bass caught at Sand Hollow
Sand Hollow Reservoir, located a few miles north of St. George is quickly becoming one of Utah's best bass fishing waters.
"Sand Hollow is one of my favorite places to fish," said Mandy Myers of Santaquin.
On April 4, Mandy boated a 7.48-pound largemouth bass while fishing a team fishing tournament with her husband Tracy. Though unofficial as of yet, the bass could very well be the lake record for the relatively new reservoir.
The Myers fish as a team in the American Bass Association Southern Utah Division and are the 2008-09 Anglers Of The Year.
"This is my third year to fish this circuit," continued Mandy. "We fish in places like Otter Creek, Piute, Minersville and of course, Sand Hollow."
Team tournaments are becoming more and more popular each year. Some team circuits in Idaho and Washington, for example, draw over 100 boats to each event. Normally, team events are weekend one- or two-day tournaments with a championship fish off held at the end of the season. Prize money is paid at each event for the heaviest five fish and for the big fish of the tournament; and a fully-rigged bass boat is often awarded as the grand prize for winning the circuit.
In the recent tournament on Sand Hollow, Tracy and Mandy began their day "dragging" Yamamoto 4-inch tubes in 20-to-30 feet of water.
"I caught a four-pounder within a few minutes of starting the day," Mandy said. "Then Tracy caught a smaller fish and my big one came at around 9 a.m. The rest of the day we caught lots of two- and three-pound fish, but we couldn't keep any of those."
The fishing regulations on Sand Hollow allow only one fish per person over 12 inches in length, so in the case of a five-fish-limit team tournament, each team can weigh two fish over 12 and then three fish under 12 inches. The Myers only caught one fish under 12 inches ,so they only weighed three fish. However, their three fish were enough to win the tournament and Mandy won "big fish" honors as well.
When Utah officials realize the potential of tournament angling in this state, and the economic benefits of attracting major events to our local waters, they will change the regulations to allow a five-fish limit to be caught, kept in a live well, weighed, and then released. Until then, anglers like Tracy and Mandy Myers will have to settle for fishing smaller venues, though no one can take away the fantastic feeling Mandy had after catching her huge bass.
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Nice! That is very encouraging. I love that place.
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[quote JBinUTAH]
When Utah officials realize the potential of tournament angling in this state, and the economic benefits of attracting major events to our local waters, they will change the regulations to allow a five-fish limit to be caught, kept in a live well, weighed, and then released. Until then, anglers like Tracy and Mandy Myers will have to settle for fishing smaller venues, though no one can take away the fantastic feeling Mandy had after catching her huge bass.[/quote]
BS! Utah officials should never break down and allow special interest groups to keep fish outside of slot limits in live wells...slot limits are in place for a reason and the laws we have in Utah are in place for good reason. If fishermen want to have tournaments fine, but they should never be allowed to hold tournaments where fishermen are exempt from following laws.
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Ohhh boy here we go agian on this topic.
[:/]
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Thanks for your in-put????
Do you ever post about fishing you have done????
Or do you fish???
Or do you just try to make trouble????
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THROW ALL BASS ON THE BANK!!!!!!!!! Just my 2 cents!! ][:p]
TS
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Ya ever wonder why there are fewer fishing licsenes sold every year. Mandy did a good job overcoming Trace's teaching(I haven't yet[:p]).
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Worm is just bitter cause he cant catch fish lol!
Poor old bait dunker
There wouldnt be any Bass in this state to catch if it werent for the tournament fisherman god forbid they should enjoy doing what they love.
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Are you sure he knows what a worm is, or even what a fish is???
I can't remember one post where he has caught any kind of fish...[crazy]
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[quote wormandbobber][quote JBinUTAH]
When Utah officials realize the potential of tournament angling in this state, and the economic benefits of attracting major events to our local waters, they will change the regulations to allow a five-fish limit to be caught, kept in a live well, weighed, and then released. Until then, anglers like Tracy and Mandy Myers will have to settle for fishing smaller venues, though no one can take away the fantastic feeling Mandy had after catching her huge bass.[/quote]
BS! Utah officials should never break down and allow special interest groups to keep fish outside of slot limits in live wells...slot limits are in place for a reason and the laws we have in Utah are in place for good reason. If fishermen want to have tournaments fine, but they should never be allowed to hold tournaments where fishermen are exempt from following laws.[/quote]
This is subjective to a particular body of water. There are only two lakes in Utah where a major event [200 boats] could be held [excluding UT Lake], the Gorge doesn't have the faclities to host it and the City of Page doesn't really lobby for these events [shell out cash incentives]. Even if they so choose to host an event the State of Utah would not see much money. They may not even see the license sales if AZ or WY has a cheaper non-resident license.
I would question the actual economic impact tourneys would bring in on our community ponds [Jordanelle]. Most of the participants are locals who will drive home every night and have dinner. Sure there will be a few diehards who travel and lodge, but the majority will drive home or stay with friends.
However, if the state wishes to attract tourism, promote license sales, increase park use, and sell this "live the outdoors" theme, then what better tool than to have some angler holding a 25lb limit of smallies from Lake X. As a added plus there is no better way to check the health of a fishery than to monitor tournaments throughout the season.
It would be an investment that would pay long term dividens and cost them absolutely NOTHING.
I'm convinced the only way to make this happen is for the local county/city officials to apply pressure on the state. They are the home team and these deals are made behind the scenes, not in some ill preceived RAC meeting where the "choosen few" can puff their chest out and grandstand.
Oh yeah, slots limits should be waived for officially sanctioned events. They are open to anyone who wishes to participate.......
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If the limits are waived only for the event, the fish are kept in livewells, and then returned to the water, I don't see what problems could arise?
If bass fisherman having way toooo much fun is a problem, then I guess they should not allow it.
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That is a nice largemouth. I was down there two years ago the dwr lady at the gate told me that a person caught a 10.6 pound largemouth. The day before. So i said that was a huge largemouth. So i went on my way. while i was fishing this guy came up to me and asked how i was doing so i told him. He asked me if i heard about the largemouth that was caught. So that is what i know about the lake record. Pineviewfisher
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[quote smallmouthman]If the limits are waived only for the event, the fish are kept in livewells, and then returned to the water, I don't see what problems could arise?
.[/quote]
The problem is simple--the DWR has a slot limit to protect certain sizes/age classes of fish. Most fishermen think that fish released from livewells will automatically live and survive another day. Research, however, has shown that summer bass fishing tournaments often result in high delayed mortality of fish released from livewells and that smallmouth bass have significantly higher delayed mortality rates than largemouth bass after being released. IN fact, one study has shown that even the livewells with the most optimal livewells have higher delayed mortality rates than simple catch and release.
So, why give an exemption to tournament anglers and allow them to keep bass in livewells? Because, by doing so, fishermen are having an adverse effect on the very fish the DWR is trying to protect.
www.state.tn.us/twra/fish/Reservoir/blackbass/livebass2.pdf
http://www.texs.com/bass_mortality_study/study.htm
http://www.seagrantfish.lsu.edu/resource...elease.htm
A sample paragraph from the third link:
"The bass taken by electrofishing and held for comparison with hook-caught fish suffered a 3.7% mortality rate. Those caught and released immediately had 1.3% mortality, bass caught, held and culled had 14.9% mortality, and fish brought to weigh-in had 39.1% mortality. The researcher in charge stated that bass mortality due to tournaments can be much higher than many fishermen believe."
Sorry, but such increases in mortality of released fish from livewells is unacceptable for fish outside of slots....
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[quote lakextackle] As a added plus there is no better way to check the health of a fishery than to monitor tournaments throughout the season.
[/quote]
BS....there are much better methods of determining the health of a fishery than monitoring the catch at a fishing tournament. Electroshock samples and gill-net samples are just two...
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[url "http://www.oxyedge-chum.com/tournament_mortality_bass,_crappie_&_walleye.htm"]http://www.oxyedge-chum.com/tournament_mortality_bass,_crappie_&_walleye.htm[/url]
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Trouble maker[ ]
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[quote wormandbobber][quote lakextackle] As a added plus there is no better way to check the health of a fishery than to monitor tournaments throughout the season.
[/quote]
BS....there are much better methods of determining the health of a fishery than monitoring the catch at a fishing tournament. Electroshock samples and gill-net samples are just two...[/quote]
Mate, how about posting a fishing report? Bass tourneys would be a great thing for UT ponds, revenue for business owners and maybe, just maybe, DWR will start a warm water fish stocking program. Imagin the bass fishery we would have if DWR started to manage them?
Imagine Utah Lake!
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Gil netting better then a tourney? Doesn't make sense to me. Gill nets have a real high mortality rate from what I understand. I would love to see the DWR manage warm water species more. I'm not a bass fisherman per say. If I can't catch walleye or N. Pike I typically try and see if bass are biting. I was at Sand Hollow when that monster was caught. I didn't see it but talked to the guys who had just weighed it.
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