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DNR accepting applications for bass tournament pilot program

MADISON -- Applications are being accepted through Sept. 1, 2005, for bass catch-and-release tournament sponsors who want to be involved in a pilot program allowing participants to cull or sort, fish.

A law enacted in 2004 established the pilot program and authorized culling for four bass tournaments each year between June 2005 and Dec. 31, 2006. The law requires the Department of Natural Resources to select participating tournaments whose competitors will be allowed to "cull" bass, or replace smaller fish with bigger fish in their live wells and continue to fish once they reach their daily limit.

DNR is required to evaluate the pilot program and report back to the Legislature by Dec. 31, 2006.

Mike Staggs, DNR fisheries director, says the department is looking for a range of tournament sizes and geographic locations to help evaluate the economic and social impacts of the tournaments, as well as the biological impacts of whether culling affects the fish that are later released.

To apply to be one of the four tournaments participating in the pilot program for 2006, bass fishing tournament sponsors should submit a fishing tournament permit application and a letter expressing interest in being part of the bass fishing tournament pilot program by the end of the day on Sept. 1, 2005, to Patrick Schmalz, FH/4, 101 South Webster St., Madison, WI 53707-7921. If a permit application has already been submitted to the local DNR biologist, include a copy of that application and the letter of interest.

Pilot program applications will be reviewed by the fishing tournament advisory committee established by DNR as required by Act 249, and recommendations will be made to DNR for final selection, Staggs says. Selection of pilot program tournaments will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Number of fishing tournament participants and popularity, with special consideration given to national events new to Wisconsin.

Successful applicants will be notified by Dec. 1, 2005. Applicants not selected for 2006 may still hold their tournaments under existing state laws but culling will not be allowed.

The tournament law's provisions establishing the pilot program responded to contentions by some bass anglers and tournament sponsors that big-time bass tournaments skip Wisconsin because of the state’s culling rules.

The first event held under the new pilot program brought 50 top bass anglers from across the United States to Lake Wissota in Chippewa County for the ESPN/BASS Elite 50 event. As part of DNR's evaluation of that event, department staff worked with the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, University of Wisconsin, and the Chippewa Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau to collect information to help determine the local economic impact of the tournament, according to Pat Schmalz, the DNR fisheries biologist coordinating the pilot program.

The second event held under the pilot program featured 200 anglers from throughout the Midwest for the FLW Everstart Event on the Mississippi River near La Crosse. As part of the evaluation of that tournament, DNR and researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point collected field data to help determine the biological impacts of culling on bass captured, transported, weighed and released, Schmalz says.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Steve Hewett (608) 267-7501; Patrick Schmalz (608) 266-8170

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