Our home lake now has 4-7 different tournaments a week. 10 years ago there were only 4-5 tournaments a month. Weights have dropped significantly. I’d say average winning weights have dropped from around 23 to 16 pounds. I’m not pointing all the fingers to the increase in tournaments as our local regulators have done little to help but you can’t tell me the added pressure and shear number of fish hooked arent playing a role in the decline. 
 

To play devils advocate on tournament lakes that receive this much pressure I don’t believe the Elite series or other pro 5 bagger trail is going to effect much. Not when there are hundreds of non pro boats riding around with stuffed livewell each week. 

Catch and release is what makes the fish hard to catch, sounds backwards but it’s true. Every tournament competitor could legally eat 5 bass and most fisheries could support it. Which is why the limit is usually 5 (it’s 10 in most of Alabama ) 

 

then there’s the ethical dilemma of “do I quit fishing once I’ve got my limit,” a whole other ball of wax. If we as bass fishermen weren’t relentlessly determined to sore lip every single bass in America, they would be far easier to catch 

6 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Catch and release is what makes the fish hard to catch, sounds backwards but it’s true.

He’s right. Tournaments, competition, and leagues make them harder to catch purely based on a pressure stand point. Tournament anglers are good at keeping their catch alive for release later, but every fish that sees a lure is going to get smarter by the day. There are studies proving that the more pressure there is, the harder they become to catch. There’s probably just as many bass in the lake, in addition to big bass, but they’ve simply become a smarter quarry.

 

Mille Lacs is a really good example up here. 10 years ago, it was a gold mine that no one knew about. Now everyone knows about it and the fishing is extremely tough. Has the population declined? Absolutely not. They’ve just seen so many lures. Even Seth Feider said “you can only catch a bass so many times” after those 2 AOY events here.