We used creel survey data combined with a simulation model to assess how tournament-associated mortality could increase exploitation of largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides and influence largemouth bass fisheries. We obtained estimates of total largemouth bass harvest (HARV) and total tournament catch (TC, i.e., the number of fish brought to judging stations) at nine lakes from Arkansas, Florida, and Texas. The ratio of TC to HARV exceeded 1.0 at five of the nine lakes studied and ranged from 0.35 to 5.18. We simulated potential tournament-associated mortality rates ranging from 0% to 70% applied to TC fish. Because exploitation was not known, we modeled harvest estimates to represent four potential exploitation rates (5, 15, 25, and 35%). The age-structured simulation model predicted that at three of nine lakes where TC/HARV ratios exceeded 3.0, tournament-associated mortality rates of 20-30% could cause 5-12% declines in the abundance of largemouth bass larger than 300 mm total length and resulted in declines in population size structure. At lakes with TC/HARV ratios of less than 1.0 (N = 4 lakes), the model predicted that tournament-associated mortality would have a negligible impact (i.e., <5%) on the abundance of adult fish and population size structure, regardless of the tournament-associated mortality rate. Tournament-associated mortality may not significantly influence most largemouth bass fisheries. However, in lakes where tournament catch was substantially higher than harvest, tournament-associated mortality could encompass a large portion of fishing-associated mortality and would influence largemouth bass fisheries if harvest estimates corresponded to exploitation rates of 15% or more. Exploitation measures based solely on harvest may not reveal significant portions of fishing-associated mortality for fisheries where tournament catch can exceed harvest.
