Talk About A Lack Of Respect...

[Pa Angler]

I totally agree with you, I also agree that people should respect other anglers.

I always respect other anglers, if they are fishing a tournament or not. People should have the common sense to stay back from the pro anglers, if they are spectating, just as tournament anglers shouldn't run in on you if you are setup at a spot fishing.

The biggest problem I have, is the local tournament fishers that get the "local pro" ego and are just rude and disrespectful.

Yes, i agree the local tournament guys not all but some look at themselves as Gods and you need to get out of thier way were ever and whenever they want you to.

 

Tight Lines

Pa Angler

[SPEEDBEAD.]

Here's another thought....it's not like anyone of the pros is being singled out by a group and having their spot burned. There is potential for any single one of them to have guys fishing their spots they found. While I don't agree with it during the tournament, the playing field is still "fair" for all those involved.

 

While it may suck, I don't think it diminishes the competition or gives one competitor a distinct advantage over another.

[Zach Dunham]

 because they have to put up with what everybody else has to put up with when they get on the water! 

 

Sorry, but the average angler does not have to put up with being surrounded by and followed by a flotilla of 100 boats that are all trying to see what you are doing.

[tomustang]

For 362 days a year, we are bombarded by the fact that these gentlemen are the best bass fisherman in the world.  They supposedly have abilities far beyond any of us.

If they are better than everyone else then that would mean it wouldn't matter if they had to fish through other people or not

[Brian Needham]

Here's another thought....it's not like anyone of the pros is being singled out by a group and having their spot burned. There is potential for any single one of them to have guys fishing their spots they found. While I don't agree with it during the tournament, the playing field is still "fair" for all those involved.

 

While it may suck, I don't think it diminishes the competition or gives one competitor a distinct advantage over another.

 

 

 I go one step further: the higher you are on the leader board the more likely to be poached...... Boom boom probably wasnt going to get poached, but he caught that 9# then here come the spot burners like sharks smelling blood.

[Trek]

  I love to travel and fish new places. I love Guntersville but there is no place worse for that right there then Guntersville. When the bite is on it is like a zoo all day long. I love the lake but I hate it too. And I have fished other lakes around there and they're not bad. It's just Guntersville. It is the way it is. The pros had to know it going in.

[lmoore]

^ Interesting point.  I have noticed even along the river there are some spots that are much worse for people using you as a fish finder than others.  Some places you catch fish after fish and people respect your area, some places you put one in the boat and can't make another cast because you're surrounded.

[Lund Explorer]

Sorry, but the average angler does not have to put up with being surrounded by and followed by a flotilla of 100 boats that are all trying to see what you are doing.

 

The average fisherman also isn't putting themselves out as being the best fisherman the world has ever known, and they aren't spending a couple of days on the lake for a guaranteed paycheck just for showing up.  It's all relative.  Big name pros draw big time crowds, and weekend warriors or crappie fishermen only draw tournament snobs and jet skis.  And while we are speaking of the average angler, go back and look at the picture.  Did you see any tin boats in that crowd?  Bucket fishermen?  All I saw was a crowd of fiberglass rockets.  The same kind so many average fishermen complain about when they are cut off by.

 

Maybe we've discovered that some of these pros are just like the rest of us.  Maybe when things don't go exactly the way they want it to, that they can't perform at the level they're competing at. 

 

I can only repeat the same thing I've said before.  These pros have been held up as having the knowledge, skills, and equipment that we don't have, but need to learn or more importantly buy (from their sponsors), so that we can be just like them.  And then we find out that they also need to have a lake devoid of all others to succeed.  Big time bass fishing will wither and die when the fans they are trying to attract are told to stay away.  The tournament directors know it, the sponsors know it, and I guess it's about time that the anglers know it.

[Lund Explorer]

If they are better than everyone else then that would mean it wouldn't matter if they had to fish through other people or not

 

Exactly!

[bass1980]

Here's my thoughts.......

- Whatever happened to common courtesy? There is an unwritten rule about respect even if it's not a tournament. Why would you feel to break it during such a prestige event?

- It could effect the outcome of a tournament with rude spectator boats. The more popular the pro is, the more fleet of boats he will attract.

- I'm not in favor of closing the lake off to the public, but I believe it could be done if they really wanted to. When a major sports team wins a championship, they close off public streets for parades. The team is not public or state owned, but the streets are state owned. I believe the Classic wants spectators but the pros don't but as long as people have common courtesy then there shouldn't be a problem. If this ever happens in the future only the classic should be allowed to, not just any pro tournament otherwise you're going to open a big can of worms.

- Crowding is one thing, but wacking an area right when a pro leaves is unethical because they may come right back, and fishing right next to a pro is classless.

- Lastly, if I was a pro I would ask for a volunteer from the fleet of boats following me. Ask them to help herd the boats when they are too close. Right when I stop at a spot I can yell at my helper and tell him I'm going to fish this area and work my way around that direction. Hopefully the helper can troll around and tell the fleet my strategy so they know how to position their boats. I know it will never be that easy though.

[bass1980]

Also while watching Randy Howells gopro clips I just couldn't believe that Randy was fishing that area for hours already and these guys decided to fish literally 8 feet away from him. I have no idea why any of his supporters didn't tell those two guys to back off. There was actually two boats under the bridge. Here he is telling them to stay back in there and not come out as he was on fish and been working back and forth along the bridge. A-holes !!!

 

[bass1980]

Here's the clip right in the beginning.

http://www.bassmaster.com/video/randy-howells-day-3-afternoon-charge

[etommy28]

I fished the southern open with an Elite series angler from Alabama who fished the classic. he said he that as an angler and one from Alabama he was embarrassed by how people where acting during that tournament. that people were literally pulling up on spots before you could get out of sight and it was worse than any pictures could show, he had people literally pull in front of him and start fishing 30 yards in front of him on day 2.

[jhoffman]

 he had people literally pull in front of him and start fishing 30 yards in front of him on day 2.

 

Sounds like a normal day where I fish, sad but true.

[coots]

Being from here, I have heard both sides to everything and have drawn my own conclusions. I've heard of a local "guide" and I put guides in quotations for a reason. One of them was a camera boat driver and from what I heard, said he *ahem* fell asleep while waiting and that's the one that e2 ripped on ESPN playback that they showed for getting to close.

 

As a local fisherman with this lake literally 5 minutes in my backyard, I am disappointed in the way some people acted. Yes, it's my water as much as it is theirs, but that's not the point. 

A short story, there's a creek that is a popular one to fish called Roseberry. It branches out to the main river and goes back into an area called ski cove (where Randall Tharp hooked that big one that got off because it got caught up in the water around something) toward city & county park. Anyway, dad and I were fishing late one evening.. it was summertime and blistering hot. T-rigging a black worm, hooked into the largest fish that either of us have ever had on our line. How do I know this, because we both seen it, as well as my wife who was in the boat. He fought it for the longest time, getting it within about 2 feet from the net I had slipped in the water to watch the line snap... actually it broke off at his knot, but anyway. 

 

We go back the next morning to find a guy sitting about 10 yards from where he hooked it, so what do you do you know? Nothing is what you do.. we start fishing on a bank that's close to the creek edge and drop off and he started talking to us about fishing and all that, dad ended up telling him what happened the afternoon before... guy moves off the spot and lets him fish it. We weren't over bearing on his water, we both were fishing the area with a mutual respect for each boat. There's plenty of water to fish on this Lake in all of the good spots.

 

I think this is directly tied to a problem we are having as a society as a whole, a lack of respect for other people. It's all about the individual and not about anything community or being respectful anymore. 

 

So how does that coincide with the Classic and the stories I've heard? If you give respect, 9 out of 10 times, respect will be given back to you, more so than what you gave. If I know that KVD was fishing down river and I was following him, when he stopped give him his space and let him come back and re-fish that space. I'm not even talking about the next day.. there were so many boats trailing him down his spots, he couldn't even TURN THE BOAT AROUND TO FISH IT AGAIN.. after ONE pass. There were so many stories of these guys getting to make single passes down their spots because literally 50 boats would be tailing him and running over their spots. Not only running them over, but fishing them.  

 

And here's the thing about "locking" or "shutting" the lake down... and this is coming from me who lives here and I know I am one voice on the matter and I think it comes down to just plain respect. I get to fish arguably one of the greatest lakes in the country anytime I want. The same spots these pros fish, aren't any secrets around here. You think nobody knows that Spring Creek, where the tournament was won holds fish? Snake Island on the road bed and humps? That Seibold Creek isn't one of the most populated places in that area that holds fish? A local spot right by Goosepond that us locals call "The Egg Pond" where one of the huge sacks was caught doesn't hold fish? North Sauty... all the rip-rap that we always fish.... yes, yes we do. The pros don't fish anywhere different than anyone who lives here fishes, they're just better at it than we are. That's the bottom line. So I think it boils down to some of these guides and other weekend warriors ego's and lack of respect. 

 

So what's my point, my point is.... put your dang rods away during a tournament like that. If you want to come down and fish while they are here and you're out of town, then you should either come and watch and stay after the tournament and whack 'em with the rest of us, or come early and whack 'em, but give them their respect when they are pre-fishing. There's so many places on this lake to catch fish.

 

Just like this Saturday while I was fishing the rip-rap and I snagged that 4 pounder on my third cast... a boat starts heading right down the rip-rap with us, it's his water too, but when he got close enough to where it was almost at that "line", he swished out behind us and let us keep fishing it... and didn't come back to the rip-rap until he was on down a piece, allowing us to turn around and fish it again... it's just respect but knowing it's his water as well as it is mine. 

 

Sorry for the long post. 

[coots]

And I will also like to make another point to go along with the idea that these pros are just better at it than us. Yes, they are better and more consistent than us, that's why they qualified to fish for 300K, however, it's not like people around here can't catch fish.. and catch those type bags. We just had a local Rescue Squad tournament, it's has a $10,000 1st place prize, the top two sacks both were over 30 pounds. One of them was 32, or maybe both of them. There's plenty of fish in that water, but when the pros are out there doing their thing, give them the respect that's due to them, just like you would want anyone to give it to you if you were fishing in that $10,000 local tournament.... or any other time of the year. 

 

It's a fine balance of understanding that it's anyone else's water as much as it is yours, but having enough decency as a person to know that at some point, you just got to give respect when respect is due and do what you know is right. 

[flippin and pitchin]

If you have an expectation of respectful and courteous behavior from all or even most fans, at any sporting event, your beating your head against a brick wall. You are talking about PEOPLE. Being cynical isn't as bad as you think.

[Brian Needham]

If you have an expectation of respectful and courteous behavior from all or even most fans, at any sporting event, your beating your head against a brick wall. You are talking about PEOPLE. Being cynical isn't as bad as you think.

 

cynics unite!!!!!!! I totally agree, but I still hold a thin shred of hope.

[flippin and pitchin]

cynics unite!!!!!!! I totally agree, but I still hold a thin shred of hope.

 

 

My man !!!

[AaronSchneider]

I followed Palaniuk last year. Everyone kept their distances well enough, but as mentioned earlier... that helicopter... lol

[Hound_dog]

http://www.***.com/evers-clarifies-classic/

 

Edwin Evers take on this same topic. This interview happened after this years classic.

[basscatcher8]

I know what the wrapped boats are for but seems like they kill themselves with the wrapped boats. They can be spotted from a distance and followed easy. If you read Ike's book he talks about day 2 of the 03 classic he walked around wearing a bright yellow hoodie before launch so everybody saw him and knew the spectators would be looking for his bright yellow hoodie. Soon as he launched and was out of site he pulled it off and put his dark hoodie on so that people waiting for him couldnt spot him and he got back to his spot with no spectators. And I know he didnt have a wrapped boat then they were still new

[David D.]

I agree, but the US Open is sometimes played on public courses. However, the course isn't open to the public during the tourn.

 

The course is actually open to the public, to spectate. However, there are designated areas where spectators can be. If you mean that the public is not allowed to play at the same time as the pros, then you'd be correct. However, that is because the course is not large enough to allow for that. A large lake is plenty big to allow both professional anglers and others to fish at the same time; boundaries just need to be set.

 

Did you know that golf courses that are hosting PGA tournaments are actually closed to the public beginning about a month before the tournament? Should that also be done on lakes prior to big tournaments?

 

 

My point is just that comparing a golf tournament to a fishing tournament is apples to oranges.