Fishing tourneys aren't goin anywhere

[Lee Borgersen]

 Fishing tournaments aren't going anywhere

  ARTICLE:

 
Every summer since the mid-1980s, people send me notes to air their grievances with fishing tournaments and suggest I rally Wisconsinites to ban them.

I'm flattered that anyone thinks newspaper scribblers wield such influence. They don't. In fact, if you want your idea to last longer than a walleye fillet on a dinner plate, get anyone besides an outdoors writer to endorse it.

For the record, I've never fished a tournament with entry fees or prize money. The only event I've fished is the annual row-trolling muskie tournament in Presque Isle. It's free, and if you win they just loan you a trophy for a year. Then you hand it over to next year's winner unless you repeat as champ.

In other words, I'm indifferent about fishing tournaments. But years ago, I wasn't. As they grew in popularity during the 1980s, I wished they'd go away. I probably even clapped to myself in 1987 when the Natural Resources Board released this position statement on tournaments:

"Sport fishing should remain a true amateur sport which combines the pleasures and skills of angling with wildlife and scenic enjoyment, contemplation, and other subtle pleasures; not competition."

The Board didn't realize it, but it had already lost this debate. Walleye tournaments were in their infancy, but bass tournaments were entrenched. In 1978, an estimated 12,000 bass fishing tourneys were held nationwide. By 1990, that number had risen 66 percent to 20,000 bass tournaments.

The Department of Natural Resources didn't keep tabs on fishing tournaments then. When the Legislature gave the DNR authority to regulate tournaments in 1994, the agency issued 318 permits.

By 2002, that number was 400, and in recent years tournaments leveled off at about 550. However, small events with no registration requirements, and regional events held simultaneously on unspecified lakes, do not require permits. Therefore, Wisconsin likely holds about 700 fishing tourneys, derbies and fisheries annually.



Most events go off with little notice and few spectators other than scattered friends and families watching the weigh-in. And unless you're squeezed out at the boat landing some weekend, or find yourself constantly reeling in planer boards to avoid collisions with tournament competitors, you can usually ignore them.

But every time something bad happens with tournaments, you wonder if the Natural Resources Board had it right nearly 30 years ago. For example, why did the Legislature ignore its constituents and exempt bass tournaments from the state's culling laws, even when a 2007 economic impact analysis of tournaments found no justification for this special treatment?

Then again, I get less excited than most people when walleyes die in tournaments and their fillets go to charities. Years ago, before fishing boats were sparkly and tournaments turned pro, catch-and-release wasn't possible. Organizers kept the fish and held free community fish fries. Personally, I liked that. It was the only time some folks tasted locally caught walleyes, and no biologist ever claimed it hurt the fishery.

Even so, many folks consider it sinful that walleyes die for prizes, which is bound to happen regularly in tournaments, no matter how carefully they handle these fish. DNR data collected at tournaments from 2010 through 2012 found 35 percent of the 60,000-plus walleyes registered in tourneys statewide couldn't be released.

And more recently, two major tournament suffered humiliating, widespread criticism when walleyes died in their care. In 2013, a reported 600 walleyes died in a Masters Walleye Circuit tournament in Oconto, a 30 percent mortality rate; and The Walleye Federation's Cabela's National Team Championship in Green Bay last year lost 918 of 1,969 walleyes, a 47 percent mortality rate.

Meanwhile, tournament proponents say it's not all about prizes, fun competition, advertising for manufacturers, and publicity for cities and local retailers. Many tournaments are primary fundraisers for community charities; and most are sponsored by local resorts, fishing clubs, bait shops, tourism bureaus and chambers of commerce. In fact, of the 566 permit-holding tournaments held in 2012 in Wisconsin, 316 (56 percent) were considered "traditional" events, which meant they'd been operating for decades.

If you know how to let one group run a tournament but forbid another without spurring a legal dispute, contact your mayor or legislator. Enlighten them.

And make no mistake: Tournaments are popular across Wisconsin. In 2012, fishing tourneys were held in 64 of Wisconsin's 72 counties (89 percent). Winnebago County had the most, 45; followed by Dane, 31; La Crosse, 28; Oneida, 27; Polk, 26; and Vilas, 21.

Numbers like that suggest the obvious: Some of us might dislike fishing tournaments, but they aren't going away any time soon.

(About 35 percent of walleyes caught in tournaments from 2010 to 2012 could not be returned to the water. Dead fish are filleted and donated to charities.)


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