I know recently there was a brief discussion on striper tubes and keeping fish alive for tournaments. I must say seeing 90% of the fish at the SBCC tourney returned to the lake, including the 33lber, makes you feel real good. Especially when compared to the our local tournaments where 40-70 very nice fish are cooler bound.
I know tubes are expensive and sometimes hard to come by, but I must say I think I am going to have to look into one. Secondly the team weigh in for Saturday was 2 fish. That very much limited the number of large fish brought to the scales, as well as allowed many smaller fish to be culled and returned. Also only one striper tube was required to keep the two largest fish on the boat alive and well.
I know this will cause some feed back but i would ask the club board to discuss this for 2014. There were several side bar comments made about the way MSC takes so many fish. I know most of us catch and release on days other than tournaments, but as the club grows and our techniques continue to improve, we need to do all we can to protect and make Murray a big fish haven once again.
I understand a 4 fish weigh-in averages out the fish weight to determine a winner, but I cannot say how exciting it was to see 20+ men standing at the water’s edge watching and enticing a 33lber to swim away to play another day. I am certainly not on a crusade here but I am realizing just how much all of us at MSC are a voice for this lake and partly responsible in so many ways. I’m not a fan of giving additional points for live fish but that is an option. I would really rather just see the number reduced from 4 fish to 2 fish, and the use of tubes encouraged.
I just ask the PAC committee to discuss and insure we are on the right track for the long term in how we continue to handle our tournaments. There are pro and con’s to every side but just something we must reassess occasionally.
This is a great club with excellent leadership and support from all. I am so grateful to have met so many friends through
I’m probably going to ruffle some feathers with this comment, but here goes. The striper fishery, as I understand it, is mostly “put and take”. The fish are stocked, grow and are caught by fishermen. Except for those, usually larger fish, that tend to die off during the hot summer and fall months. You all know the ones I’m talking about if you have ever ridden over the lake Murray dam when one has happened. If I understand it correctly, only 1 of 10 of these dead stripers actually floats up and the rest sink. If you have better info on this please, please correct me!
I’m glad to see some folks thinking about protecting the fish they are catching. My bass club actually has penalties in place for each fish not released alive, but that’s probably because they aren’t stocked like the stripers, and it’s also rewarding to turn those fish loose, seeing them swim away to hopefully spawn and bite again another day.
As far as the stripers go. I’d like to see some way to tag some of those big released fish and find out if they actually manage to survive the summer die offs that seem to occur so often on Murray. Surely, that big fish had a place where he had ample food and oxygen, or he would not have survived to get so big. Maybe, the SCDNR could work with you striper guys and do a study, using your released tournament fish, after tagging, to help plan for the future. The scheduling would be pretty simple for them. All they’d need to do would be to show up at your weigh-ins and tag some fish. That would probably give a good idea of the survival rate of these released fish in the weeks and months that followed.
Otherwise, you are just hoping that the big fish and others, caught Saturday, will survive through the next die off (so am I). Good luck with your continued efforts to catch and release. I’m all for it!
I a the designer of the striper tube and a member of the MSC since 1999. I have never tried to push MSC into using striper tubes because I feel that is a decision for the club in general. The ASC club do encourage the use of them on Hartwell as they do a 2-fish tournament and target larger fish. Unlike Murray, Hartwell has fish consumption warnings also and the larger the fish the more potential they have to have the PCB contaminations from the 12-mile project. I also like to eat striper better than any other freshwater fish. But, I prefer eating the smaller 4-7 pound fish and let the larger ones grow so others can catch them. Like largemouth fishermen, striper fishermen get a thrill from seeing the big ones swim away. Also, we know the stripers release after being held in striper tubes have a great chance of surviving, especially in cooler weather. Let me tell you why!
The SCDNR and GADNR as well as Clemson University, have already completed several studies like you suggest but even better. Not only did they tag them with telemetry tags and track them until the tags were recovered, they also conducted scientific studies of the blood gases of the stripers and found that stripers held a striper tube blood gas returns to complete normal after just a short time. They found that stripers released after being held in a striper tube are in better condition than fish released right after they are caught because they are in the same condition as they were when the hook was originally set and not tired like when released right after beig caught. Stripers, similar to like long distent runners get cramps, have lactic acid build up as they are fought by anglers. The striper tubes serve as a recovery room for them. At one time the studies were posted on the SBCC site. They are probably still available on the Amercican Fisheries Society, Southern Division website or you can contact the SCDNR Fishery reserch group, Jason Bettnger, SCDNR. I will look for them if needed as well.
Warren,
is there a web page or site where you can view the current model of the tube? It would be good if we could post the size, weight, how much water they hold, how much battery power they require, etc. and basic operations so that people could be more informed, see if it is an option for their boat, and generate additional interest.
SCSTRIPER1,
Thanks for the ■■■■■■■■. I didn’t know about the studies that had already been done. It does sound promising for the cooler water catch and release fishermen. Did any studies target the undersized stripers that are released as soon as they are caught during the cooler months? I’m only asking because sometimes we catch 4 or 5 short stripers in with the white perch. They don’t appear to be stressed too much because they are too small to fight like the big ones and almost always lip hooked with the spoons.
We don’t need to offer bonus points for live fish, because there are already built in advantages to using tubes. First of all, a live fish weighs more that one kept on ice. Secondly, keeping and releasing fish out of tubes gives the anglers a creel advantage. Using a cooler, once you keep your daily limit, your done. I’m considering going to tubes myself.
I purchased 2 tubes thursday. With a couple new pumps and new tubing they were as good as new. It was like doing something new and exciting for the first time. To be honest I never really thought catching and releasing would be that fun…lol…But opening up a tube just to check on a fish just to see it sitting there alive i must say was pretty neat.
Then taking them to the scales weighting and then watching them swim away was another feeling in itself. My team is excited about using them more in the future as we will be doing so for all the tournaments that we can.
I have only been a member for 2 yrs but I will say I am all for the support of the PAC discussing a lower creel.
Hey chip, just curious but if you had any issues with their tails slipping out around the edges of the lid? I always place a couple of hand towels over the tubes and then secure the lids over the towels. If their tails stick out around the edges they will get dried out… The real hassle with culling fish is when you have 2 fish in each tube and you have to be sure you release the right one.
i think the pac or the tournament directors could look at what we are doing to improve the handling and release of live fish that are weigh-ed in… maybe do more to recognize and cheer the accomplishments when live fish are released at our weigh-ins. I wish we had tanks to aid recovery/releasing live fish at the places we have our weigh-ins. I know some tournament sites at Lake Lanier that have them installed permanently. Dreher Island would be a good place for something like that. Its always cool to see fish swimming in the tank at a weigh-in…
Team Shad Up & Fish
If you’ve had fun catching fish on the transom bait, you are welcome…
I’ve spent about 85% of my life’s wages on fishing, the rest I just wasted…
I did notice every now and then the edges of the tails would come up and get in between the lid and tube. When I noticed it was happening I put a wet towel over the top of both tubes.
Wasn’t as prepared as I thought I was. I had one smaller battery running both tubes. It did great from about 645 till 1 then the battery was just too weak to run both pumps. Put one fish in the bait tank and battery was fine running one. Before using again I will either have a larger battery to run both tubes or just add another smaller battery having one for each tube.
I must say it is quite nice having a 50gal Tank to fall back on. Put a 7# fish in there and he had all the room in the world to swim around in. I think it helps that my tank is more round than tall (34" diameter).
The only negative thing that I could find, (well it was pointed out to me by a young lady), is that it looks like I am carrying around a toilet for a VERY large person…lol
The SBCC provides about 6 or so large fish bags that hold water pretty good for the weighing in of fish in case someone does not have one on board. That is a nice touch so you don’t have to keep a large bag on board or if you forget yours there is one handy. Especially when bringing fish down a long dock or from the waters edge to the scales.
Good point Vanman…I have looked around for a large fishbag but haven’t found anything “slightly used” to fit my low budget yet…I think I will contact the guys that made my insulating cover for my striper tubes and see what they make for fish bags…Every king needs a throne Chip. Your set up looks great for culling fish and the occasional times when you need to drop a fish in the bait tank. I know you are a handy guy and I can share some other mods for the striper tubes that might be of interest to you…I run mine on a Bluetop Optima but don’t remember if its a group 27 or 31…it will run both tubes all day for now but I’m concerned that i may be discharging it too deeply. I should probably switch it with the bait tank battery about lunch time for better long term results.
Team Shad Up & Fish
If you’ve had fun catching fish on the transom bait, you are welcome…
I’ve spent about 85% of my life’s wages on fishing, the rest I just wasted…
I use a king mackerel bag I bought from BPS a couple of years ago. It’s a little large for most of the stripers we weigh but holds a lot of ice. Some of you might remember how we used it in the open a couple of years ago. We had it bulging at the weigh-in, waited until everyone else weighed, dramatically unzipped it at the scales, and announced that we had plenty of ice if anyone needed some:smiley: We SO had some of you guys going Fishing was tough for Hardcore that day, but the laughs we caused helped:smiley:
Thanks Wildman…Shane Causby / J&J Auto Upholstery in Lowell, NC …not too far from you…I’m sure he could make a nice fishbag. He’s won a Striper tournament or two on Lake Norman too…lol
Team Shad Up & Fish
If you’ve had fun catching fish on the transom bait, you are welcome…
I’ve spent about 85% of my life’s wages on fishing, the rest I just wasted…
I am not an electrical engineer or battery expert but if I remember correctly I believe you can calculate the total amps that the pumps are drawing and divide that number into the rated “amp-hours” of the battery that you are using (printed on top normally) to see how long the battery should run if under full charge and ideal conditions. I also believe you are not suppose to fully discharge the battery repeatedly below 20% - 25% to avoid permanent battery damage and buildup. In the case of a Rule 300 & 500 pump, they are listed around 1.9 to 2.1 amps. For an example lets use 2 pumps at 2 amps each for a total of 4 amps divided by a battery with 55 amp-hours. This should run approximately 13.75 hours. If we subtract the 3.5 hours to stay above 25% draw down (if the draw is a constant drop curve), that should provide about 10 hours of usable run time.
Again I am sure there are various opinions and a battery guy (or gal) could explain this in more detail. In a full days tournament we could easily run a pumps for 9-10 hours with fish caught early, so this would be pushing the example above. As the pumps get older and more friction develops, I would suspect amp draw may be even more than the rated draw of a pump. Also batteries get older and less efficient with repeated charges or long periods of setup.
Thanks vanman…my 1100 gph pumps in the striper tubes are listed at 3.5 amps each and the Optima battery has 75 amphour capacity so they should run a little over 10 hours, factor in the 25% reserve to prevent battery damage and 8 hours of continuous use is definitely pushing the limit… my bait tank has a 500 gph rule pump and I have it running by itself on a group 27 battery. It should have plenty of capacity to run my striper tubes for a couple of hours and prevent any damage to the Optima.
Team Shad Up & Fish
If you’ve had fun catching fish on the transom bait, you are welcome…
I’ve spent about 85% of my life’s wages on fishing, the rest I just wasted…
For planning purposes for those interested, I just got my quote from my supplier and even with the cost increases of the raw material it looks like I can continue to provide the larger (holds 2-big fish or multiple smaller fish) tank for $200. Once I run out of my existing 1000 GPH pumps I will have to re-evaluate it after getting a quote from the pump suppliers to see if their price has increased significantly. Remember that as the water temperatures rise the difficulties with keeping them alive and returning then to the water also rise.
Fishing was tough for Hardcore that day, but the laughs we caused helped:smiley: