Stealing a pros spot during a tournament

[Choporoz]

11 minutes ago, GReb said:

Why not just fish elsewhere that weekend and let the pros have it?  Seems obvious to me

How would that work, exactly? 

For Elites tournaments? MLF? 'Lesser' pro tournaments? What about pros designated practice days? Not Collegiate or High School? You may well know where and when every pro tournament within 50 miles is taking place.  I sure don't....and I'm pretty sure 80% or more of the people headed out to a particular lake on a particular day do not either.

Even if some of us more 'informed' fishermen yield to pros, many won't...not because they're rude or boorish, or even lack common sense...they just wouldn't know that is 'expected' of them.  So, then you get some pros expecting special treatment, because it is often offered...and conflicts will occur.   Close off the water to the public....or everyone fishes same water with same rights and entitlements. 

[OkobojiEagle]

Tournament Pro, "I'm in this tournament and would like to fish this spot, do you mind?"

 

Everyday Angler, "Sure, we can share the spot.  I'd like to watch how you fish it."

[Rip_lipz]

Just now, OkobojiEagle said:

Tournament Pro, "I'm in this tournament and would like to fish this spot, do you mind?"

 

Everyday Angler, "Sure, we can share the spot.  I'd like to watch how you fish it."

In a perfect world this would work. Unfortunately, some anglers are to greedy to care about anyone else.

[GReb]

25 minutes ago, Choporoz said:

How would that work, exactly? 

For Elites tournaments? MLF? 'Lesser' pro tournaments? What about pros designated practice days? Not Collegiate or High School? You may well know where and when every pro tournament within 50 miles is taking place.  I sure don't....and I'm pretty sure 80% or more of the people headed out to a particular lake on a particular day do not either.

Even if some of us more 'informed' fishermen yield to pros, many won't...not because they're rude or boorish, or even lack common sense...they just wouldn't know that is 'expected' of them.  So, then you get some pros expecting special treatment, because it is often offered...and conflicts will occur.   Close off the water to the public....or everyone fishes same water with same rights and entitlements. 

Weve hosted several Bassmaster tournaments the last few years. Everyone in town knew they were coming way ahead of time. Not only did the local tv crews cover it but there were articles in the newspaper leading up to it as well as billboards, signs, etc. It’s not like 100 pros just randomly pop up in your city overnight. 

[Tennessee Boy]

Just my observation.  

 

B. Lat’s confrontation with these teenagers is getting a lot more attention than the fact that he won the tournament.  People love controversy.  FLW and the pros that fish their tour need publicity.  Maybe these teens did them a favor.

[Rip_lipz]

1 minute ago, Tennessee Boy said:

Just my observation.  

 

B. Lat’s confrontation with these teenagers is getting a lot more attention than the fact that he won the tournament.  People love controversy.  FLW and the pros that fish their tour need publicity.  Maybe these teens did them a favor.

Is it really? Have you seen any articles on this any where? 

[Horace Neal]

sound like a deer hunter, when you move you lose, have couple guys in our hunt club that clain every place as his spot, same for bass fishing  thought i was going to have a fight one day with a saw called pro fisherman because i was in his spot, childish for a grown man to act like that

[Tennessee Boy]

6 minutes ago, Rip_lipz said:

Is it really? Have you seen any articles on this any where? 

No I haven’t seen any articles on the tournament at all but I haven’t been looking either.  This thread is getting a lot of attention.  These types of incedents always do on this forum.  In last years FLW tournament on KY Lake, the Jason Lambert/Randy Haynes incident got a lot more attention than Lambert 100lbs winning weight.

[Dens228]

If I was fishing my "home" lake and there was a tournament going on I would fish as I normally would.

If some pro came up and accused my of taking "his" spot I'd laugh at him and keep on fishing.  If he came up to me and asked if I minded him fishing the spot I was currently fishing because he was in a tournament I'd move on to another spot. 

[Spankey]

If it’s a Pro B.A.S.S or FLW event I can see yielding to the pro guys. It’s a special event. I would think they would not be too abrupt in the way they would approach you because it would put them in the negative limelight also. 

 

But if it’s a weekend warrior pro want to be club event just carry on as usual. If you spent all summer worrying about every time you were out and going to be encroached upon you’ll never get any fishing in. 

[WRB]

1 hour ago, Rip_lipz said:

Is it really? Have you seen any articles on this any where? 

That incident was the worst demonstration of poor sportsmanship that I have seen on TV between to pro bass anglers. Both anglers arrived on the same off shore spot at nearly the same minute. They argued and bumped boats finally Haynes got so ticked off  he put his boat on the trailer and quite while in 2 nd place. Shameful behavior between adults and both should have been DQ'd.

Tom

[CroakHunter]

In the wise words of Andrew Flair "you dont own the water bro!"

[Rip_lipz]

17 minutes ago, WRB said:

That incident was the worst demonstration of poor sportsmanship that I have seen on TV between to pro bass anglers. Both anglers arrived on the same off shore spot at nearly the same minute. They argued and bumped boats finally Haynes got so ticked off  he put his boat on the trailer and quite while in 2 nd place. Shameful behavior between adults and both should have been DQ'd.

Tom

I couldn't believe someone in 2nd place could just pack up and leave. If I was his sponsor I would be ripping up that contract.

[MIbassyaker]

4 hours ago, Rip_lipz said:

Hey Guys, I'm sure some of you watched the flw tournament this weekend on lake Seminole. At one point B-Lat moved off his spot and started sight fishing. But, when he returned to his spot 2 high school kids where on the exact spot he had been fishing the last 4 days. Seems to me they must have been watching and poached his spot. What's everyone's option on this? I believe he handled the situation very well. 

 

To me, this is an easy one: It's not his spot. OK, he fished there for 4 days. Suppose I had fished the same spot for 8 days in a row previously before the tournament. Would it actually be my spot?  No, it would not. Public water is public water.

[TOXIC]

Look, the same consideration applies to the professionals.  Treat them the way you would want to be treated.  My friends would have gladly moved if he had asked.  There's absolutely no way they could have known that he was going to fish that water but instead of asking, he decided to show his azz.  He was disrespectful, called them deregatory names and almost rammed one of the boats.  What he didn't count on was that there were a couple in that bunch that took offense and were willing to give it back to him to whatever degree he wanted to take it.  He backed down like a little wimp.  His wife was tougher than he was when the conflict moved into a public forum.   

[Catt]

It has nothing to do with Pros!

 

It's called self respect!

 

Many times I've had guys race me to an area where they knew I had been catching. Then brag about how great of a fisherman there are!

 

Pro or amateur if that kind of behavior make you feel good about yourself... good luck with that!

[12poundbass]

10 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

Look, the same consideration applies to the professionals.  Treat them the way you would want to be treated.  My friends would have gladly moved if he had asked.  There's absolutely no way they could have known that he was going to fish that water but instead of asking, he decided to show his azz.  He was disrespectful, called them deregatory names and almost rammed one of the boats.  What he didn't count on was that there were a couple in that bunch that took offense and were willing to give it back to him to whatever degree he wanted to take it.  He backed down like a little wimp.  His wife was tougher than he was when the conflict moved into a public forum.   

Was this angler not a part of the community? 

[J.Vincent]

 

[Coldbasser]

I find this all very amusing ? The complete arrogance of the words " This is my spot" 

wreeks of EGOTISTICAL thinking. As we all know public water is not a misnomer I really don't care if $$$$ is on the line or not. M.A.G.A. would of meant a conversation & not someone having to take some time to get control of his emotions.

Sad statement on all of ours society.

Sincerely

Rick 

[Rip_lipz]

2 minutes ago, Coldbasser said:

I find this all very amusing ? The complete arrogance of the words " This is my spot" 

wreeks of EGOTISTICAL thinking. As we all know public water is not a misnomer I really don't care if $$$$ is on the line or not. M.A.G.A. would of meant a conversation & not someone having to take some time to get control of his emotions.

Sad statement on all of ours society.

Sincerely

Rick 

I agree, some of these top tier pros are very arrogant. Also two sides to a story, these guys leave their homes and family, spend a ton of money and effort to make it to a tournament. Then spend hours behind a graph to find underwater structure. Then the 100k check is dangled in front of them and next thing you know a couple of guys watching the live stream jump in their boat and start fishing that spot as soon as he leaves (that's what this situation looked like). I can see why someone could get angry at that.

[MN Fisher]

My personal position is that it's public water, open to all. Whether there's a tournament on or not, no one has the right to 'push' someone from a fishing spot. If the Pros want to 'hog' the lake, then the tournament organizers need to pay a fee to the state for a temporary designation of 'private use only'. If they're not willing to fork over the kind of money needed to do that, then tough luck...the lake and any spot on it is open to whoever gets there first.

[Heartland]

Only the people fishing in the tournament are obligated to comply with tournament rules.  They do not apply to anyone else.    I work all week so I can go out and enjoy a day or two of fishing.  I don't go out of my way to make anyone else's life any worse but if I am fishing a spot and and tournament angler approaches me and says hey I'm fishing a tournament, I usually tell him good luck, I am fishing for fun and continue to do what I am doing.  I don't care if he moves ahead of me on the same bank, I just keep fishing, I don't care if he moves in on a community hole, as long as he does not expect me to leave.    The fact that they are fishing a tournament changes nothing for me.

[CrankFate]

I recently saw a video with a pro talking about when he started out, he’d never go near the spots famous pros we’re fishing and neither would anyone else. But how now a days, when he’s in a tournament the younger anglers will get right up next to him and fish wherever he goes. Can’t remeber who that was, but he was saying it wasn’t like that before. 

[Spankey]

1 hour ago, Rip_lipz said:

I couldn't believe someone in 2nd place could just pack up and leave. If I was his sponsor I would be ripping up that contract.

“There’s no quitting in fishing!” LOL

[TOXIC]

56 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

Was this angler not a part of the community? 

HA!!  It would be low hanging fruit if it were Mike.  He gives sooo many fodder for the bad feelings.  No, not worth rehashing the incident here. Unless I'm having beers with someone and the stories start, I'm not going to spill it on social media.  I will give you a hint, there's an online blog out of Michigan that covered the story and backed it up with pictures, interviews and film.  They had to fend off the pro's attorney with their own to get them to back down.