Impact of Tournaments on the Largemouth Bass Population at Sam Rayburn Reservoir, Texas

Abstract

There have been concerns regarding tournament-related impacts on black bass Micropterus spp. for 40 years, but few studies have quantified those impacts. About 52% of anglers at Sam Rayburn Reservoir (46,356 ha) participate in tournaments, and the annual number of events probably exceeds 300. In 2003, we tagged and released 6,021 largemouth bass M. salmoides to estimate the annual proportion of the population caught and retained by tournament anglers. Tag returns were obtained via creel sampling to avoid nonreporting uncertainty, adjusted for recruitment and tag loss, and expanded to estimate the total annual tagged fish catch and harvest. We conducted simulations to evaluate the impacts of tournament mortality using rates of 10, 30, and 50% and compared those estimates with nontournament harvest and catch-andrelease mortality (simulated at 5, 10, and 15%) to assess the specific contributions to annual angling and total mortality. From 3,447 angler interviews, creel clerks identified 40 largemouth bass caught by anglers during the interview day (27 of which were immediately released, 6 harvested by nontournament anglers, and 7 retained by tournament anglers). Expansion of tag returns resulted in 1,620 fish immediately released (27% of tagged population), 372 harvested by nontournament anglers (6% of tagged population), and 274 retained by tournament anglers (5% of tagged population; 242 were released). Tournament and catch-and-release mortality each comprised a total of 1-6% of the population losses across all simulations. Tournament mortality comprised 6-28% of total angling mortality, whereas catch-and-release mortality was 10-31%. Tournament mortality contributed 1-16% of total annual mortality, compared with 2-17% for catch-andrelease mortality and 16-38% for nontournament harvest. We conclude that the tournament-related impacts on the largemouth bass population at Sam Rayburn Reservoir were low.

Exploitation and length limit evaluation of Alabama bass in a South‐easternUSAreservoir

“…Exploitation rates of Alabama bass in Allatoona Reservoir were higher than the 3-15% found for populations of largemouth bass in south-eastern USA reservoirs in the 2000s (Slipke et al 2004;Driscoll et al 2007;Fontaine et al 2010;Hysmith et al 2014). However, largemouth bass have been the subject of a rigorous catch-and-release programme for the past three decades (Quinn 1996;Myers et al 2008).…”

Dispersal and population-level mortality of Micropterus salmoides associated with catch and release tournament angling in a South African reservoir

“…Estimates of Z could therefore provide inference about the mortality associated with tournament utilisation on the bass population at Wriggleswade Dam. Similarly, Driscoll et al (2007) found low overall fishing mortality rates associated with bass tournaments at Sam Rayburn Reservoir, Texas, and Allen et al (2004) indicated low population-level impacts of tournaments in the Southern USA. Overall, our results revealed low population-level impacts of tournament mortality, and more studies like this are needed (e.g.…”

“…Angling tournaments are an increasingly popular recreational activity (Wilde, 2003;Driscoll et al, 2007Driscoll et al, , 2012Schramm and Hunt, 2007) that impose additional stressors on fish populations through their potential for increased removal of fish in localised areas and the continual selection for larger fish by anglers, which may influence population dynamics and ultimately alter the genetic stock structure (Meals and Miranda, 1994;Quinn, 1996;Wilde, 1998Wilde, , 2003Cooke et al, 2000;Wilde and Paulson, 2003). As a result, live fish weigh in and release has long been mandatory in some tournament fisheries, particularly those focussing on black bass (Micropterus) species (Clark, 1983;Schramm et al, 1991;Quinn, 1996).…”

Global Patterns in the Motivations and Behaviors of Tournament Anglers Targeting Bedding Bass

“…For example, in water bodies such as Sam Rayburn Reservoir in Texas tournaments account for a significant part of total fishing (52% of all anglers participate in competitions; Driscoll et al. ) despite the relatively low relative number of tournament anglers in Texas (<6% of all licensed anglers; Kyle et al. ).…”