Healthy fish a priority at IFBC

Technology and knowledge has improved to aid in the care of fish caught during tournaments, according to the International Falls Bass Championship fish care team.
Scott Skifstrom and David Hebig led a team consisting of Mark Brunett, Lyndon Lauzon, Rick Socholotuk, Tom Fairhurst, Sandra Kruse and Wendy Matiski.
“We never lost a fish over the two days,” Skifstrom said of the mortality rate.
Fish caught during the two-day live release smallmouth tournament were released within the zones they were caught on Rainy River and Rainy Lake.
Skifstrom, in his first year of the fish care team, said he was a bit skeptical until he took part in a release Friday on Rainy River.
“We released 172 fish in the river... two fish were a little stressed when they got (to the weigh-in), but were fine when we released them.”
Socholotuk has worked for years with the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship and operates Outdoor Education in Fort Frances.
He has been involved in the Falls tournament since its beginning.
Anglers competing in the tournament are required to have operating livewells, where they store the fish until weigh-in.
Anglers are penalized for any dead fish, which presents motivation for good care while in the boat, noted Socholotuk.
When fish are taken from the livewell, they are placed in bins which the anglers place in tanks of oxygenated ice water as they head for the stage for weigh in.
Fish are only out of water for a few seconds while the weigh master sets the bin, minus water, onto the scale.
After weigh-in, the fish are quickly taken out of the tent and placed in tanks which are carefully monitored for temperature and oxygen.
The fish are later taken by boat to the zones on each body of water in which they were caught.
Skifstrom said he was impressed with the care of he fish. He said he was reminded of a walleye tournament conducted in the 1990s on Rainy Lake, where he said a majority of the fish died. In that tournament, he said anglers were allowed to keep fish in coolers with ice.
“I was really impressed with the fish care in this tournament,” he said of the IFBC.