Massive bass kill follows tournament

Michael A. Sawyers

Between June 25 and June 28, there were four bass fishing tournaments on the tidal Potomac River near Smallwood State Park and Mattawoman Creek in Charles County.

Shortly thereafter, there were hundreds to more than a thousand dead largemouth bass floating. The number depends upon who is doing the talking.

“Our estimate is that there were 600 dead bass,” said Joe Love, tidal bass biologist for the Maryland Fisheries Service.

“Our guy counted 1,000,” said Ken Penrod, veteran Maryland bass fishing guide who owns Life Outdoors Unlimited.

Here is what Love and Penrod agree upon, though their deliveries are slightly different.

Love said he suspects that the dead fish were bass caught in the tournaments, most coming from the FLW Stren event, and then released. Penrod is certain that is the case.

“You could easily double the state’s mortality estimate of 600 and then add some to it,” Penrod said.

“By the time DNR took a look there had been 12 or 13 tidal flushes that would have removed some of the dead fish.”

Actually, Love agrees somewhat. “We don’t know how many dead bass may have been eaten by osprey and coons,” he said.

Love believes the fish died sometime during the tournament. He compared the decomposition of the dead bass to fish known to have died at a certain time and saw similarities.

“There is always some mortality at a bass tournament,” Love said.

“Our biologists usually expect to see 100 to 200 dead bass after the fact, but this is a very big kill.”

According to Love, the largest of the tournaments that weekend was the four-day FLW Stren event in which about 3,000 bass were caught. An FLW College tournament brought in 180 bass. Another 200 bass were landed during an American Bass Anglers tournament. Finally, a junior bass tournament brought in 66 bass.

In all of these events, the fish are caught, kept in live wells in boats, transported to a weighing area, put into release boats and taken back to the river.

There are tournaments at this location every weekend, according to Love.

“We know for sure that handling of these fish creates physiological stress,” Love said. “That weekend, the water was 83 degrees, which is pretty warm, so that likely played a role.”

Maryland does not regulate bass tournaments, Love said, though that may change.

“We have started discussions about how to keep something like this from happening again. We may ask the tournament officials not to have events during the hot months,” Love said. “We will likely start to monitor delayed mortality by having staff go to the tournament sites a day or two days after the events.”

That’s not enough, according to Penrod.

“All they have to do is look at other states and how it is handled. They don’t have to reinvent the wheel. A lot of states won’t allow tournaments during the spawning time (March 15-June 15) so that is why you see them all coming to Maryland,” he said.

Penrod said he anticipates that Charles County economic spokesmen will bristle at any regulations.

“They will say they don’t want to lose the money,” Penrod speculates. “I say we don’t want to lose our bass.”

Penrod dislikes the fact that organized tournaments create liquid gridlock at the good bass spots, in effect eliminating Joe Angler from fishing for fun. The guide said tournaments should be limited to 100 boats, not 150 or 200.

He says too that there is a simple answer to bass mortality that comes from tournament competition.

“Weigh the bass as soon as they are caught and where they were caught and put them back in the water right there,” he said.

Contact Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com