If you’re a fan of tournament bass fishing, or perhaps have taken part in a local tournament yourself, you’ve probably wondered: Where do bass go after being weighed and released?

While every tournament is slightly different in how it handles the process of releasing bass after the weigh in, most fish are simply placed back in the lake very close to the weigh-in site. In other words, the bass were caught elsewhere, perhaps dozens of miles from tournament headquarters, and they aren’t brought back to these spots.

As you’ll see in the video, there’s a difference in behavior between largemouth and smallmouth bass when it comes to distance traveled after being released. One thing is clear, however: The next time you’re on a new body of water — one that regularly conducts bass tournaments  — and you don’t know where to start casting, it might make sense to begin fishing near a weigh-in site.