The C.Y.A.s of C.P.R.s

by: Bo Crawford

November 11, 2008

 

Our club has developed complex rules governing our Catch, Photo, and Release (CPR) contest--just like we have with every other aspect of our club.    But just because the rules are complex doesn't mean that the fun has been taken out of the contest.  You really have to only remember two things:  1) Be honorable and report an accurate weight, and 2) try to take decent pictures.  That is common sense and about as simple as it gets.  If you follow those two guidelines you will not have a problem regardless of how complex the specifics of the rules are.

 

George Perry caught his world record bass on in 1932 and there is still great controversy surrounding that catch.  The world record smallmouth has a great deal of controversy surrounding it as well, and that record has been revoked and reinstated several times if memory serves.  There is a degree of common sense involved that is difficult to translate into written rules.  I don't care how complex we make them we can never take "the honor system" out of the picture with the CPR contest.  By it's nature the CPR contest involves you fishing without a judge present.  And while you completely trust yourself, who can blame your competition for being skeptical of that big fish your just brought in that just so happens to beat his by one mere ounce?

 

The bottom line is that the bigger the fish you submit, the more doubts are going to surround your fish tale.  That is just the nature of fishing.  You can offset that by getting in CYA mode and documenting your catch to the max.  What follows are some relevant examples.  We recommend sending two pictures in: One picture is just a good picture of the fish where you don't worry about proving anything.   The second pictures offers some kind of verification of the weight you are reporting.  I will rank each according to aesthetic value and proof value. 

 

AESTHETIC = 8 / PROOF = 4

 

Here is a nice spotted bass that weighed 4-04 and will probably be accepted because you can tell by the picture that it is probably in the 4 lb range.  But had the angler taken the time to submit a second picture comparing the fish to a size reference it would have removed much doubt.  This member should have taken a moment to CYA his CPR. 

 

 

 

 

AESTHETIC = 0  / PROOF = 1

 

These pictures are awful.  Because the submitter claimed they were small fish there was no controversy.  But had these been decent size fish it would have been a mess.  First of all, the pictures are terrible and do not match the quality of many fish on our Top 10 Lists.  As proof you can hardly see any frame of reference at all.  This angler knew that this fish didn't have a chance of making a cut and therefore didn't put much effort into the pictures--and it shows.  But hypothetically had these been big fish there is a chance his submissions would be rejected. 

  

AESTHETIC = 3 / PROOF = 9

 

 

 

The scale by itself doesn't prove much, but doesn't hurt either.  The length-weight chart says that the average 14'' bass weighs 1.71 lbs.  So the scale and the golden rule agree exactly, leaving little room for doubt here.  The picture is not very pretty obviously, but the angler probably knew that a 1.7 lb spot wasn't going to make the final cut. 

 

 

 

AESTHETICS = 1 / PROOF = 3

 

You can tell this guy is weighing a big fish, but you can hardly see much of the fish at all.  So the aesthetic value is low.  As for proof, you have no way of knowing if the fish is alive, or if the scale was tared correctly.  The picture of the scale does not hurt if it is combined with a size reference, but does not help much by itself.  This picture would be rejected from making the Top 10 Bass List because you can't see enough of the fish. 

 

 

AESTHETICS = 4 / PROOF = 6

 

 

   

Here is an oldie but goodie that demonstrates a real dilemma that is a major focus of this article.  Namely, what do you do when you are alone?  This was a large bass caught on Lake Burton many years ago before digital cameras were common.  And this fish was caught out of the beloved original Mighty Boat, a boat that did not have a livewell.  In this situation it is tough to get a good aesthetically pleasing picture because there is no livewell to put the fish in while the angler could get setup to use a timer on his camera--or to find someone willing to snap a picture.  So he was stuck between a rock and a hard place as far as documenting the fish.  Using the ice chest as a size reference is the right idea, but because the top of the ice chest is closer to the camera than the fish, it makes the ice chest look bigger compared to the fish, and therefore makes the fish look smaller than it really is.  The only thing he could have done differently is use something better to compare sizes like a golden rule or a fishing rod.

 

AESTHETICS = 5 / PROOF = 7

 

Here is a picture of a 3-09 spot that is about as good as it gets when you are taking one picture for both proof and aesthetic value.  At the time it was one of those days where the weather wouldn't let you stop boat control long enough to mess with a timer on the camera.  Also at the time the angler knew that a larger fish was already leading the CPR tournament that year,  and therefore was taking the picture for Top 10 Spots purposes only.  The fluke and the pedestal baseboard would allow the judges to interpolate the length of the fish if it were called into question.   Also, the full-sized version of the picture allowed you to see the fish in detail and it is easy to tell it is a large 3+ lb size fish. 

 

 

 

AESTHETIC = 4  / PROOF = 1

 

This is a great example of a controversy fish.  What this article is all about is an attempt to prevent any controversies from popping up.  If this fish was submitted today it would take the lead in the 2009 Spotted Bass CPR.  Or would it?  I think there would be a strong chance this entry would not be accepted.   This picture was submitted by itself with no "proof" photo to accompany it.  This is a camera phone picture.  It kind-of looks like a big spot, but the way the photo is there is no size frame of reference and there is no way to know for sure.  So the bottom line is that this angler should have taken the time to take a "proof" shot to go along with this one and not risk this nice fish being rejected. 

 

AESTHETICS = 2 / PROOF = 6

This fish was submitted by a bank fisherman who was fishing alone.  Similar to the previous Mighty Boat story, the angler had no livewell available and therefore had to think fast.  The foot is an excellent frame of reference for size.  The original photo was rather large, so the judges would be able to interpolate the size of the fish if it this entry were called into question.  Next time it would be better to use a fishing rod rather than a foot though. 

 

AESTHETICS = 4 / PROOF = 7

This is a decent picture but not wonderful.  It is hard to take pictures by yourself when current is running.   Had this been a potential leading fish at the time it would have been worth taking better pictures even if it meant he had to put the fish in the livewell while he relocated to a calm area. 

AESTHETICS = 3 / PROOF = 3

  

If this were submitted now there would be a controversy.  You can tell that it is a big bass but there is no frame of reference to tell EXACTLY how big it is.  This angler was fishing out of a flats boat with a livewell and his friends were fishing on the lake the same day.  He should have put the fish in his livewell until he met up with his buddies so they could take a picture of him for great aesthetic value.  And he should have taken the golden rule shot for proof. 

AESTHETICS = 4 / PROOF = 4

 

Here is a similar picture by a different angler.  He gets higher marks for both aesthetics and proof because the spinnerbait looks cool and serves as a size reference.  If this picture was submitted by itself today it too would be controversial.  This angler should have used is livewell until he could ask his wife to take his picture back at the ramp.

AESTHETICS = 5 / PROOF = 7

   

This pair of photos was correctly submitted together.  The angler took a good "proof" picture that proves size.  The angler asked a stranger to take his picture with the fish, so it is hard to critisize a drafted random lake person for his photography skills.  The proof ranking could have improved had he gotten the witnesses contact information, and if he videoed the fish being weighed.

AESTHETICS = 7 / PROOF = 10

After catching this fish the angler quickly vacated the area to find a fellow club member willing to witness the catch.  The fish was weighed on multiple scales.  A video was submitted as proof with the fish, and additional video was offered to the club showing the raw footage of the fish being weighed on multiple scales.  So there are multiple pictures, a witness, video of the catch.  CYA to the max.  The bigger the catch the more CYA should be used. 

CONCLUSION

 

The take-aways from this article are the following:

 

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