Alleged meat fishermen at TWK

[Bassmar]

I fished TWK on 26th December. Great day on the water and caught some decent fish. In the early afternoon I returned to Fish Eagle Island to fish it a second time that day. There were two gents wearing floppy hats in what can best be described as a cross between a boat and a canoe with a small outboard and a trolling motor. They were tied up to a tree stump and were evidently on a good school of fish. In about an hour they probably caught 8 fish and every one of them went straight into a cooler box (no it was not a livewell). No telling how many more bass they caught before and after I saw them. Although TWK is fishing well at present it is by no means a healthy dam with an over abundance of fish. And this sort of pillage will send it right back to a "fish a day if your lucky" fishery. They definatly did not look like the sort that could not afford a couple of chops for the fire. Probably giving the fish to the gardener or the cat. Although there is nothing illegal in their actions and I do not begrudge anyone a fish or two occasionally, one would think that anyone with even the slightest bit of common sense or that calls himself a bass fisherman would abstain from such senseless slaughter. :evil:

[Jim_From_Zim]

I know the person you are talking about and was also there on the same day with him at Eagle Island. I seriously doubt he was doing what you allege him to have done. He is an ex divisional fisherman, been bassing for the last 30 years etc, so I really dont think this was the case.

I will however, chat to him for his side of the story to put matters straight.

But thinking again, are you sure it was not a live well? Normally when you get onto a school of fish, there is no point in putting them back otherwise they will chase away the rest, then once you have fished them all out you pop them back in. I've also done this regularly myself.

[Bassmar]

No it was a cooler box. That much I could see. As you know it was a hot day so whatever their intentions were, keeping 8 or more fish in a non aerated cooler box would not be doing them any good even if they were to be released.

[smurf]

I have to wonder,why not release the fish straight away,a bass has a very short memory,and as JFZ will recall on the day we hit the big ones in October,we had a few fish that we had caught less than an hour previously.There is really no point in subjecting the fish to potential life threatening conditions if they were going to be released...and eight (or more) fish in a cooler box ...not good.By the sounds of it,this dam is only now starting to produce some decent catches...preserve it for as long as possible because it does not take much to get things right back to the days of "one fish a day "...I do not know who the ex divisional angler was,but he would surely be aware of how to take better care of bass...if they were not destined for the pot ,that is.

[Brenden]

Unless the intention was to relocate those fish either to another area, which is pointless or to another dam???????

[nutt]

Hi guys

Let me set the record straight here, Bassmar you need to be very careful when publishing a seriously defamatory comment about people under a heading like this on a public forum. There are very well defined and tested laws against this. Secondly if you had taken the time to chat to the Big guy on the trolling motor, you would have learnt a few things. That chap has probably restocked more fish than you have ever caught (not that this was what he was doing at the time). I don't know what boat you have but I am willing to bet you that his cooler box as you called it has more space than both your live wells and believe me it is a livewell and air rated, the full monty. The chap on the trolling motor is also one of the most accomplished bassfisherman that I know. I am sure you will be man enough to apologise when you see the guy again, in fact I strongly recommend it. PM me if you need his contact details.

Kind regards

Colin AKA Nutt.

[Navrik]

Great to hear this was a false alarm!

[Bassmar]

I see nothing defamatory about my statement.I saw two guys in a boat placing every fish that they caught in a coolerbox. That is a fact and my fishing partner was a witness. As there was no competition I can only think of a few reasons to do this. Either to take the fish out to eat, to restock to another venue or to relocate them. As we were fishing in 3 to 5 feet of water I have never heard of anyone placing all their fish in a livewell to avoid scaring others(as per JZ 's suggestion). Interesting you should mention restocking. Is this what they were doing? Hope they had permission from Nature Conservation.
Do not threaten me with legal BS. No names were mentioned and I stated what I saw. Interesting though that you immediatly seemed to know who I was refering to.
So why were they placing all these fish in a "livewell".

[Riprap]

Guys, all things aside, Bassmar aired his concern (quite rightly.....) and what actually transpired has yet to be made known here? If the angler is so prominent, tell us what he was doing to clear the air before lawsuits and failing friendships dominate this discussion........!

Happy new year to those active on the site.

[Juba]

It was very hot that day.... i sometimes put the bass in the cooler to cool them down after a fight...

[smurf]

Rip,I have to agree with you.The initial post from Bassmar was what he observed while on the water.I feel he was a bit harsh on his description of the boat...anyone's pride and joy !Seeing as there was no comp underway at the time,another conservation minded angler's point of view should not be challenged with the threat of legal action,but rather a simple explanation as to the reason so many fish were being loaded into a livewell to be released later in the same spot,released at another location on the dam in the hope that they may still be there in an upcoming event where prizes are to be won (this practice is,if not illegal,it is seriously frowned upon,as the prominent angler in question would know) or,to be removed from the dam for whatever reason.Assumption is the 'mother of all f ups',and that is what everyone posting here is doing,so if there is someone out there that has the gonads to tell the truth about loading up a beautifully functioning large livewell with fish,we are all ears.And if he did want them for eating,well,that I am afraid is also ok...because he can.But it would surprise me to know that so many bass are removed from the current hot spot of Theewaters to be eaten,particularly if the anglers concerned have a long background in bass conservation.
Juba,putting a fish straight back so it can regulate its own body condition is the best thing to do for any bass on a hot day...1,5 meter deep water is far cooler than your livewell water,and the fish can recover in its own environment.

[nutt]

Bassmar

The legal aspect is not a threat, just your topic heading says enough (there are at least ten guys on this site that know the owner of the described boat and that he spends two weeks there every December, so you don't have to mention him by name. Still a law suit my friend no matter what you call it). Then un-informed surmising of what was in fact a live well. As I said if you had taken the time to approach them you would have learnt that he was firstly introducing a new fisherman to the sport and if you had spectated long enough not only would you have learnt something you would have witnessed the release of these fish when they left the spot. As a responsible angler when you witness a case of supposed fish slaughter, rather approach the said angler in a friendly manner and try to convince them of the error of their way and in so doing you may just win over another ambassador for the sport. if all else fails then at least you may have ruined the spot if only in their eyes. I have posted at least one or two posts on this subject before. Rip Rap, about him being one of the best bass fisherman around i'll put R10k on the table and you put R 10k on the table we select our fisherman and a dam randomly from a hat and lets see who wins, money talks.........

Cheers

Nutt

[Bassmar]

Nutt

I must say that now I am even more concerned. It is one thing to be needlessly subjecting 8 or more fish to the trauma of being placed in a livewell for hours in hot conditions (the surface water was 27 degrees that day). But to teach a new fisherman such practices..............the mind boggles.
BTW I still have not heard a valid explanation for placing all those fish in a livewell. Please teach this uninformed fisherman something new. I am all ears.

[nutt]

Bassmar

If you read JFZ'z explanation earlier you might have picked up something, if not then you will have to try it for yourself, you were spectating on the Triton if I'm not mistaken. pay some school fees my friend we all have. Also Bassmar, I suppose you don't fish competitions then because you don't believe in driving around all day with bass in your live well? Smurf all the best for the new year to you sir, just a heads up on the relocation of the fish on the same body of water, if you are not relocating the fodder fish to sustain the fish that you have relocated at the relocated point, you might as well be water skiing, a much better use of petrol and time. The anglers who believe they can "Load" a spot need to read a bit more.

Cheers

Nutt

[Bombasstic]

I understand that the scene of this "crime" is the hot spot on TWK at the moment. I have just left the camp site on my kick boat and all going well, I should be there in 3 and a half days. If the fish have all been caught and relocated by the time I get there - I am going to go F@#KING ballistic. :eusa_wall: :eusa_wall: :eusa_wall: