I've gotta say I have enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts and viewpoints on this topic. At the end of the day it's just fishing and I believe we all want to be/get better at the various aspects of our sport.
In Zeeter's original post he mentioned "front-ending", which in my part of the Left Coast is referred to getting "back seated". Different venacular, but the same meaning and if it isn't intentional it's all part of "fishing". In my experience, sometimes the perception of it can be the contrasting styles and abilities between the front and back of the boat. If the person in the front of the boat is picking the bank apart, that style will definitely conflict with someone whose skill set and is set up to cover a lot of water and vise verse. Making the correct adjustments, while being aware of how and where the other person is being successful helps us all get better.
Regarding club tourneys, I believe everyone involved pays their monies to fish, but the boater assumes the greater investment in time and money. Pre-fishing before a tournament is an investment, as is the boat and tow vehicle, gas, two stroke oil (a gallon of Opti), insurance, launch fees, and other incidentals are things boat owners are aware of that some co-anglers take for granted. I personally don't think boaters and co-anglers should directly compete against one another, because this format favors the guy in the front of the boat. An unintended consequence of this is it may force a co-angler with a boat in the future to fish as a boater than remain a non-boater.
In the club I fish, boaters fish against boaters, non-boaters against non-boaters, and each boat is a team against the other boat's. The winning team concept is further emphasized in that team with the most weight also had to have caught the most fish (two limits) regardless if another boat had greater weight but fewer fish.
I didn't mean to get long winded, but I wanted to share my thoughts. I hope everyone has a great tournament season. JB
