Car topper announcement.

It has come to my attention that a team may have been culling from a higher number then 5 fish at Knopps pond. Although there is no official rule saying you must cull from 5 fish it is expected that you do. In other words once a 5th fish is caught and put in the livewell, you must cull when a 6th fish is caught. That means stop fishing and decide which 5 fish you are keeping and put back 1 fish. You can put that 6th fish in the livewell but Under no circumstances should you ever be fishing ( casting and retrieving a lure) with more then 5 fish in your llivewell. If you are a team that has fished a car topper with us and are reading this, please make a note of this and always cull at 5 fish.

Thank You.

Last edited by stratos1966 on Thu Jul 31, 2014 7:39 am; edited 1 time in total

for what it's worth, I am NOT the one who brought this to Rich's attention but I did see this too. Bogus on so many levels.

for what it's worth, I am NOT the one who brought this to Rich's attention but I did see this too. Bogus on so many levels.

it should be clearly stated in the rules. new comers may not know these things.

Rich, as a casual observer I am wondering why this makes a difference. If you are always dropping your smallest fish for a larger fish the outcome is the same whether you drop them one at a time or three at a time. Just curious.

Just a Question / clarification? I would word it as no casting/fishing till you have culled back down to 5 fish in the livewell. I always try keep the fish in the water as much as I can and have all 6 in the livewell as I sort out the smallest fish to let go.

No one is mad at anyone or out to ban anyone. This was just a friendly reminder.
When you set a tournament limit of 2 fish, 5 fish, 8 fish or 10 fish, that is the "limit". The word "limit" means " the most" You cannot posses more then that at any given time. This is a standard procedure in every single tournament I have ever been in. It is a no brainer IMO. It is in the rule when it says "5 fish limit"
At what point is it too many fish? Can you put 10 fish in a livewell? 20? 30? There is NO TOURNAMENT I have even seen or heard of that allows you to keep more fish in your livewell then what the "limit" is for that tournament.
This should be especially true for a car topper tourney where some of us have smaller livewells ( coolers) then others and that are borderline safe for 5 fish, never mind 8 or 10.

I did change the wording to reflect the fact that you may add the 6th fish to the livewell but cannot resume fishing till you cull back down to 5. That was a good point made and that is what is the standard proceedure in 99.9999999999999% of tournaments

Last edited by stratos1966 on Thu Jul 31, 2014 7:43 am; edited 1 time in total

Rich, as a casual observer I am wondering why this makes a difference. If you are always dropping your smallest fish for a larger fish the outcome is the same whether you drop them one at a time or three at a time. Just curious.

This is the issue he is addressing. Team comes in at the end of the day after tournament time is up. They have 8 or 9 fish in well. They then proceed to get rid of dead ones and then weigh up the rest and keep their best 5 fish. I think health of the fish is top priority of not allowing this. Its hard enough to keep 5 fish alive let alone 8 or 9.

If I come in with 5 two lb fish and you come in with 6 two lb fish, if one of mine dies and one of yours dies, I take deadloss and you have a backup two pounder?

also maybe just maybe a culled fish can be caught by another team. If ten teams come in with 9 fish, thats 40 fish out of the lake that cant even be factored into results.

The ramp at the last car topper was a fish massacre from the previous days tourney. many many dead fish and all good size 3 and 4 lb fish. MAFF can do better than this and has. That is why coming in with packed livewells beyond 5 fish needs to be a big NO.

Thanks for the explanation Kman. Since I never fish with a livewell, never keep fish, and only fish kayak tourneys (photo and release) it didn't occur to me that deadloss was major issue. I assumed that it was in the best interest of both fish and angler to keep all fish alive and healthy. Sorry to hear that tourneys can have such a detrimental impact on the fishery though.

Thanks for the explanation Kman. Since I never fish with a livewell, never keep fish, and only fish kayak tourneys (photo and release) it didn't occur to me that deadloss was major issue. I assumed that it was in the best interest of both fish and angler to keep all fish alive and healthy. Sorry to hear that tourneys can have such a detrimental impact on the fishery though.

John, dead loss is usually not an issue, especially in Maff events. It becomes more of an issue when guys start putting more fish then there should be into their live wells and coolers, or guys do not constantly run their livewell pumps. I have now been a part of running these car topers for 2 seasons covering 20+ tournaments. I can count on 1 hand the number of dead fish weighed in at the car toppers. I am sure the total number of fish weighed are well over 1000. I'll take a .5% mortality rate. Thats point 5 percent, not 5 percent. Recreational guys are killing more fish on Senkos.
There are times when in general , mortality goes up. Mid summer tournies probably see the highest mortality rate because of high water temps and the stress that puts on the fish. We clearly put in the rules and write up on the right hand side of the main page ideas on how to care for fish, proper livewell size, frozen water bottles to cool livewells during summer months.
Are there tournament trails out there that do not care how they impact a fishery? Sure, but they are few and far between. Most bass fisherman I know care about the fish and the resource.

Good stuff Rich and Kman! It all makes sense and is 1000% necessary for our fish to stay healthy and our great sport to continue on!

for what it's worth, I am NOT the one who brought this to Rich's attention but I did see this too. Bogus on so many levels.

it should be clearly stated in the rules. new comers may not know these things.

Its common sense

I am new to fishing the Cartoppers and assumed this was a rule, stated in the rules or not.... As I would assume that if someone had a dead fish they wouldn't cull that fish out for a live one, although not stated in the rules.... As stated beofre " Common Sense" or am I wrong in stating that?

All good stuff.If you have a dead 5 pounder do you cull it or keep it then take the half pound penalty.Of course if you have 4 more like it you cull it.We know it can't count as lunker but can count to you're total weight.As far as keeping more than the bag limit,I say don't do it.It only creates problems with the fish in the livewell.The more fish in it the more oxygen used,and the less chance they can survive.
I think Rich forgot to mention the hydrogen-peroxide additive.This stuff works great.

I didn't think you could cull a dead fish. I thought u had to keep it.

I didn't think you could cull a dead fish. I thought u had to keep it.

It depends on the organization running the tournaments. Some, not many, but some allow culling of dead fish.