undue tournament pressure

[Lee Borgersen]

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

                    Tournament put undue pressure on Stump Lake.

By Dan Jurek, Bemidji  on Aug 15, 2017 at 2:33 p.m. 


 
  .....
Jason Rylander's Aug. 11 letter to the editor misses some very key points. Why in the world was there even a bass tournament on Lake Bemidji? Bemidji and the connected lakes of Irving, Marquette and Carr, have very low bass populations. Only Stump Lake has a healthy population. Any halfway knowledgeable local fisherman knows this, so the organizers of this tournament obviously have limited knowledge of the fishery in their own back yard.


 

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Instead of having 90 boats spread over thousands of acres of water, you now have the vast majority of boats crammed into 300-acre Stump Lake. Who in their right mind would ever support a multi-day tournament with 90 boats on only 300 acres of water? That much fishing pressure for six days certainly had to take a toll on the bass population there, and I would bet the delayed mortality of these fish was actually quite substantial. No wonder Mr. Weaver (Aug. 9 letter) was so upset. Who can blame him?




  ....
Although most anglers enjoy a day on the water no matter the circumstances, I have to believe some of these anglers feel they were "duped" into driving their rigs across the country to fish a bass tournament on water where 95 percent of the water has few if any bass. At the first day weigh-in, several anglers commented they hadn't caught any bass in three days of pre-fishing (mostly those who hadn't figured out to go to Stump Lake yet), and many had only one or two in the first day of the tournament. Were they made aware of the low bass population on most of the water in the tournament before they came?


Mr. Rylander should also realize that many local anglers do not see a personal benefit from the exposure tournaments give the area. Many like the quiet, peaceful atmosphere and don't like the high levels of fishing pressure that tournaments bring and certainly do not feel "blessed" by their presence. Although I have nothing against anglers coming to fish, many residents don't feel any of the benefit personally.

  ...
Finally, I'm surprised the DNR would approve this tournament. They certainly had to be aware that most of the fishing pressure would eventually be directed at little Stump Lake. Their support shows an alarming disregard for the Stump Lake fishery. It's another one of those DNR decisions that leave the sporting public scratching their head and saying "huh?"

Dan Jurek, Bemidji

[LPS]

Those are all questions I had also.  Sure surprised me to hear it was going to be there...