West Virginia BASS Federation John Burdette President 25 West Main Street Buckhannon, WV 26201 (304) 472-3600 (W) (304) 472-6221 (H) jburdette@wvbass.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   www.wvbass.com   DATE: February 11, 2004

 
West Virginia Bass Federation
Releases 2003 Tournament Creel Data [ See Below... ]

[By Jim Matuga, WVBF Communications Director, February 11, 2004]

As part of its long-standing ethic of "Catch and Release," the West Virginia BASS Federation has taken a leadership role in developing stringent guidelines for tournament bass fishing in the state. Through the use of modern, aerated holding tanks, improved weigh-in procedures and enhanced boat live well design the WVBF has experienced a phenomenal live release history of tournament caught bass. The last three years are no exception.

During 2003 the WVBF Buddy Tournament Trail had a 98.51% live release rate, 98.19% for 2002 and 98.46% for 2001. This WVBF Buddy Trail has experienced a steady growth in participation over the last three years. The trail averaged 60.5 teams per tournament for 2001, 66.33 teams per tournament for 2002 and 77.5 teams per tournament for 2003, which was a 28.10% increase over 2001.

"One statistic that seems to hold true year after year is the average weight per bass brought to our tournament scales," said WVBF President John Burdette. "Invariably the average weight per bass weighed for any given year will be between one pound three ounces and one pound five ounces. The average weight per bass weighed at our Buddy Trail tournaments for the last three years was one pound and four ounces."

The WV Division of Natural Resources measures success rate as catch per angling hour. Using these guidelines the success rate for the WVBF Buddy Trail for 2003 was .13 bass per hour (1,075 bass divided by 8,370 angler hours) as compared to .12 bass per hour for 2002 (830 bass divided by 7,164 angler hours) and .09 for 2001 (584 bass divided by 6,534 angler hours).

The WVBF State Tournaments have also experienced a steady growth in angler participation. There was an 18% increase in angler participation from 2001 to 2003. The WVBF averaged 135 anglers per tournament for the four 2003 state tournaments.

The WVBF state tournament live release rate for tournament caught bass during the last three years was 98.21%.

Holding true for the State Qualifiers also is the statistics for average weight per bass brought to our tournament scales. The average weight per bass weighed at our state tournaments for the last three years was one pound and four ounces.

The success rate for the WVBF State Tournaments for 2003 was .07 bass per hour (660 bass divided by 9,180 angler hours) as compared to .12 bass per hour (908 bass divided by 7,854 angler hours) for 2002 and .07 bass per hour (552 bass divided by 7,786 angler hours) for 2001.

The WVBF has also contracted to conduct The West Virginia BASS Festival on the Ohio River at St. Marys for the past three years. That situation has also proven to be a positive step toward improved bass mortality. The live release rate for last three-year period was 97.14%. Average weight per bass weighed over the last three years was 1 pound 5 ounces.

Success rate for 2003 Festival = .08 (331 bass divided by 4,046 angler hours)
Success rate for 2002 Festival = .13 (599 bass divided by 4,658 angler hours)
Success rate for 2001 Festival = .05 (225 bass divided by 4,828 angler hours)

West Virginia Bass Federation
2003, 2002, & 2001 Creel Data

Date	Location	Total Teams	Total Bass	Total Weight	Dead Bass	LM	Species SM	SP
	2003 BUDDY TRAIL
4/12/2003	Burnsville Lake	98	150	190-02	1	133	0	17
4/27/2003	Sutton Lake	95	170	168-15	2	233	4	44
5/10/2003	Summersville Lake	94	294	357-12	6	78	216	0
6/1/2003	Charleston, Kanawha R.	82	192	236-03	2	68	111	13
6/28/2003	Ravenswood, Ohio R.	60	167	215-06	3	112	34	21
7/13/2003	St Marys, Ohio R.	36	102	114-07	2	33	60	9
	2003 Buddy Trail Totals	465	1,075	1,282-13	16	657	425	104
	2002 BUDDY TRAIL
4/6/2002	Sutton Lake	91	83	101-07	0	55	2	26
4/21/2002	Burnsville Lake	86	135	210-07	1	107	0	28
5/4/2002	Summersville Lake	75	304	387-11	1	40	264	0
7/7/2002	Ravenswood, Ohio R.	47	103	141-08	1	79	10	14
7/21/2002	Moundsville, Ohio R.	47	119	143-12	12	31	63	25
8/11/2002	Pricketts Fort, Mon. R.	52	86	110-07	0	71	6	9
	2002 Buddy Trail Totals	398	830	1,095-04	15	383	345	102
	2001 BUDDY TRAIL
4/1/2001	Sutton Lake	75	20	23-13	0	13	0	7
4/14/2001	Burnsville Lake	81	186	287-04	3	148	0	38
5/12/2001	Summersville Lake	69	193	229-05	4	40	153	0
6/3/2001	Ravenswood, Ohio R.	43	52	76-03	0	39	9	4
6/17/2001	Pricketts Fort, Mon. R.	55	92	123-13	2	74	7	11
7/7/2001	New Martinsville, Ohio R.	40	41	51-04	0	15	22	4
	2001 Buddy Trail Totals	363	584	791-10	9	329	191	64
	BASS FESTIVAL, ST MARYS
6/7-8/03	2003 Bass Festival	119	331	409-06	6	149	102	80
6/8-9/02	2002 Bass Festival	137	599	803-07	26	184	294	121
6/9-10/01	2001 Bass Festival	142	225	350-04	1	91	104	30
	Bass Festival Totals - 3 Yrs.	398	1,155	1,563-01	33	424	500	231

For additional Information:
West Virginia BASS Federation
Jim Matuga
Communications Director
1204 Macomb Street
Morgantown, WV 26501
(304) 291-9402 (W)
(304) 288-1503 (M)
jm@dominionpost.com