I have often wondered weather tournament fishing is good for the sport we are all so passionate about. My personal opinion is that I am not so sure that it is. I understand that correctly or incorrectly my opinion is largely formed from the fact I was taught to fish by two true gentlemen my father and my grandfather and I enjoy fishing for what I believe to be the purist aspects of the sport and none of those aspects include a standings chart, weigh in's, nor monetary payouts. I also understand that tournament fishing appeals to a lot of people and this extra appeal generates more interest which can serve the sport well. My thoughts however are at what cost?? There is definatley more boat traffic on our waters and more pressure. Heck I live in a little town in Iowa and most of the big lakes here has a tournament every weekend. All this attention is not necessarily good attention. I have noticed tournament anglers tend to hit the water like they own it an everyone else be damned. This is not what I was raised to think when I thought about fishing. Furthermore, while I have no concrete facts to back this thought up but I suspect the mortality rate of the fish caught in these tournaments, and held in a tank for hours and then "released" cannot be all that good. Again that's just my opinion and I have no facts to back that up. Not to mention all the fish being yanked off beds this time of year and relocated. To be honest the idea of a fishing club does appeal to me. Spending time with people with similar interests and passion for fishing sounds great, but I think that wholesome idea has been perverted by money and overbearing competition for who catches the most and biggest and who has the nicest and fastest rig when they do it. Not trying to stir the pot. With the continued expolosion of tournaments I am just honestly curious what my fellow anglers think. Thanks for your responses..