are western fishermen the best of the best??

[SneakySnook]

Has to be from Florida. Shaw Grisby and Roland Martin all from Florida. How many TV guys are from Cali?

[Rattletrap]

No. The South East is where it began and the South East is where we are in still in command.  ;D

[Glenn]

I think LBH hit it on the head.  It has absolutely nothing to do with where you're from.  It has everything to do with how hard you're willing to work at it.

[earthworm77]

agreed Glenn!

[Rattletrap]

The East Coast will always beat the West Coast.

[bassguy6]

I'll take a good ole boy anyday, and if what i read in magazines such as bassmasters, bassin, and other fishing mags, i would say that the SPORT of bass fishing was started east of the Mississippi River, and I don't think anyone can protest that.

[Nick_Barr]

I dont think that a bass fishermans skill dictates on where he is from, maybe except for being able to develop skills a little bit Quicker, such being able to fish year round, or having hard water, wind/rain storms 3-4 months of the year.

[Mattlures]

Most of the great tounament fisherman that learned or started out here in Cali move to be closer to the tournaments. Some of the best ones like Aaron Martins Dean Rojas Gary klein and Jay Yellas were either from hear or learned hear. They have all moved because being way over here is just too far to travel. So there are more Cali guys than you think. Are They better than the east coasters? No, just diferent. They all have their strenghts, and KVD is the best Tourny guy alive. California does have the single best bass fisherman of all times though. So There   Yes I am talking about M Long

[blanked]

I think LBH hit it on the head. It has absolutely nothing to do with where you're from. It has everything to do with how hard you're willing to work at it.

how many pro surfers come from washington,  versus hawaii or pro ice hockey players from michigan vs texas.  how about pro snowboarders from colorado vs arizona????  it makes common sense to me

[Matt Fly]

Theres only one way to prove who the best are, and thats called a tournament.   They already exist.    To say Texas has more Classic wins than any other state is true, Rick Clunn was a Texan before he started moving from state to state.   Try telling Tyler Texas that Jay Yelas isn't a Texan.  

Sorry about M. Long, $500.oo entries is semi-pro, and only cover handful of lakes. and that doesn't prove he's the best.   Won bass is a stepping stone for Western anglers who want to step up to the real pro ranks.  

You can't win this discussion, Mike goes out, with out time restraints, no competition, 7 days a week some times, he picks and chooses his times, tournament pros don't, they fish off a schedule that was made long before the weekends forecast came out.    They pay big bucks to fish professionally, Mike doesn't, they travel most of the season, Mike doesn't, he goes home every day.  Majority of Mikes Biggest Bass are sight fished, found in the easiest time of the year, spawn, and it don't take a rocket scientist to cruise the shoreline and find big bass.  Won Bass tournaments are no different than the FLW/TTT basically, semi-pro.  

To say it takes a special mentality to catch big fish, okay, but to say that just because these guys fish tournaments means they couldn't catch bigbass has no merit, because if you let the some of the pros pick the days, when and where they go, no pressure for the 365 days, they'll produce big bass just like Mikey,  to say you can only be one type of fishermen is bull.  Thats like saying if you bow hunt, you don't have the mentality to rifle hunt.   Basically the same instincts find productive areas.

[Captain Cali]

Why doesn't BASS come out West?? It's because BASS does not respect the West. Otherwise they would have major tournies out here. They choose Pittsburg last year when it could have been any number of Cali lakes which could have made for insane bags and limits but no...BASS does not respect the west coast. They would rather keep it on the East coast. Hey, it's cool...keep the tournies and publicity away from some of our lakes. I like it better that way.

[Matt Fly]

Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisana are not east coast.    We don't get as many BASS tourneys as we used to.   When they have came out west, alot of the big draw names didn't travel to the west, its not  because their scared, because of the expenses occured in travelling.    California has more lake restrictions than most states, some of those would have to have waviors to hold tourneys on, as to not upset the pleasure bass fishermen who can't brake the rules but BASS can, so nope, not in our county!   Some of the lakes, you don't have enough room to hold a weigh in at.     Just a guess, I bet the numbers of western pros on tour, FLW/BASS are less than 10%.   What is the percentage of good bass lakes in the west, as to the rest of the country?    Big bass lakes don't always support 5 fish limits either or a floatilla of 500 hundred boats.

And the best tournament venue, one of the best is the Delta, could you see Mike IKe with his 100 fan boats trying to fish the delta? Or trying to run somewhere else with 100 coming one way and 100 boats with KVD coming head on?  Accidents waiting to happen.

Its not respect or lack of.  Its length of travel, expenses, big name turnouts (no shows), percentage of bass fishing revenue from the bass fishermen in that state, lake restrictions, enough space to hold weighin,  space for fans and sponsor booths.  Not all big bass lakes support good stringer weights for weigh-in, but anything is better than Pittsburghs dinks.   Not too mention motor restrictions, no boats on the water prior to sunup, and waviors needed on some to hold tourneys.

[Rattletrap]

The latest Bassmaster Classic winners are all from the East. The 2004 Champion was from the far East.   It's not West Sieeeede!!!! East Coast Babyeeeee!!!!  ;D

[Captain Cali]

Matt_Fly,

Your points are well made but some seem more like excuses to why BASS does not have tournies out here. The same goes for Western anglers when it comes to travel expenses. If anything it's more difficult for an up and coming angler than it is for BASS. BASS could hold events out here if they want to. Castaic has night fishing a few times a year and even has some tournies at night. That is just one lake.

[Matt Fly]

Matt_Fly,

Your points are well made but some seem more like excuses to why BASS does not have tournies out here. The same goes for Western anglers when it comes to travel expenses. If anything it's more difficult for an up and coming angler than it is for BASS. BASS could hold events out here if they want to. Castaic has night fishing a few times a year and even has some tournies at night. That is just one lake.

Could Castaic's parking lot hold more than a thousand people?  After all, Castaic is not one of the San Diego County lakes, most of those couldn't support the parking alone, much less a stage area.

Back to Castaic, now this may seem like another excuse, could you get the max boats on the lake to be lifted for the tourney, because the 500 spectator boats wants to watch also.   Okay no excuses, you can have your tourney, the fans can't be on the water though.   2500 acres only for motors, yes she has a combines acreage of close to 9000, but all that has off limits.

The last one is the 2 fish limit and 18" minimum.   Doesn't make for an exiciting weighin does it?  Remove this restriction for the pros and the regular guys gonna call foul.

[Matt Fly]

It took Nascar lots of years to go west.   Nascar is a southern sport, bass fishing was a Dixie sport also.  

You don't hear us Texans crying about the US ski team not every coming to Texas, why, we have mountains or hills to ski, just not much snow, well, Cali's restrictions, droughts, parking at some of the lakes can't support boaters, much alone fans.   No excuses, just facts.

[Rattletrap]

Divide the US in half and have a Bass East and a Bass West. Have a Bass East Championship and  a Bass West Championship. The top 25 for each fish in the Bassmaster Classic. It could work.

[Captain Cali]

Matt_Fly,

Your points are well made but some seem more like excuses to why BASS does not have tournies out here. The same goes for Western anglers when it comes to travel expenses. If anything it's more difficult for an up and coming angler than it is for BASS. BASS could hold events out here if they want to. Castaic has night fishing a few times a year and even has some tournies at night. That is just one lake.

Could Castaic's parking lot hold more than a thousand people?  After all, Castaic is not one of the San Diego County lakes, most of those couldn't support the parking alone, much less a stage area.

Back to Castaic, now this may seem like another excuse, could you get the max boats on the lake to be lifted for the tourney, because the 500 spectator boats wants to watch also.   Okay no excuses, you can have your tourney, the fans can't be on the water though.   2500 acres only for motors, yes she has a combines acreage of close to 9000, but all that has off limits.

The last one is the 2 fish limit and 18" minimum.   Doesn't make for an exiciting weighin does it?  Remove this restriction for the pros and the regular guys gonna call foul.

It's not my job to figure the logistics of the event. That is BASS's job. I'm just trying to make a point that if we are going to say tournaments are what define the best anglers, then we should have tournaments in all parts of the country. Even then why shouldn't the classic be on a 2300 acre lake? I don't know where you got 9000 acres combined. I personally think the 2 fish 18" minimum could work on a California big bass lake. Catch 2 quick fish then spend the rest of the day searching for a giant. Lets see what happens. Why does it always have to be catch 5 fish...small fish and then search for a "kicker"? I'm sorry, I'm just thinking outside the box, or in this case outside the pond.

[Rattletrap]

Everything starts in Dixie!!! You got a love it!!!

[Matt Fly]

The 25 west would be watered down version.   East numbers are far greater than the west, and we texans don't want to fish your waters with out the rest of the east boys either.   We want to qualify against the best, on the best waters.

The water down version would be 2000 west coast anglers competing for 25 spots and 20,000 other anglers competing for 25 spots, whats sad is: most of the west spots could be won by east anglers.    Thus watered down version.

[Rattletrap]

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Captain Cali]

: No disrespect huh??

[Matt Fly]

Rogers 310, you obviously have west coast biased opinions of tourney anglers.    Research this before you answer, remember, I am a tournament fishermen sometimes, but lived in San Diego for 14 yrs, and have seen cali tournament results.

What are your limits in Cali?   2 fish, 5 fish, what is the norm?   What is the winning stringer weights to get a check?   1 day tourney, or 4 day tourney?

You say small fish and go look for kicker.     20lb stringers to win in texas on 5 fish is a 4 lb aver.  that not small fish,  but if you look at the numbers in cali, on 3 day tourney, unless its spawn, very few tourneys could support 20 pound bags every day.   Thus, no 60 lb stringer after 3 days not too mention 4 day BASS tourneys.    Its happened a few time, tourney results shows that.   But it happens on certain bodies of water every year, repeatedly through out the south.

You said its not your responsibility for logistics, You are correct on that, thats why i pointed it out for ya.   BASS has done the math that you failed to do, but still ask the questions if we are scared to come west?    The best lakes and majority of best fishermen are from the south.     Why would BFL/BASS have a tourney trail in texas alone if we didn't have the numbers and lakes to support them?      Given, you may have numbers of fishermen to support some pro tours, but each body of water has its own guidelines, and Cali is screwy when it comes to fishing rules and regs.   your gas prices along are enough to keep most out.

[Matt Fly]

Its not disrespect, what has Cali done to earn the souths respect.   Your gas prices scares most of the other states, the fishing guidelines are different from county to county, the lakes that have good tournament populations of bass cant support 200 boat trailers to park or lakes are too small.    The delta is the best, but its like being on a small river, small in the width in some spots, try 200 competitors boats with 1000 fans following behind, one day okay, two days, the fish are gonna shut down with all that boat traffic.  

California will earn that respect, not by some one giving credit to an angler because he fished home waters his whole life in general.     There is a system in place to find out who the best is.    Talking about it want get it done, maybe out west you have that respect, but we have guys that have demonstrated their skill by the system that is already in place to earn their respect.

 

A good example is KVD, a northern boy who certainly didn't have BASS knocking on his northern lakes.   He had to travel to earn his respect, and earn it he did.  

[Rattletrap]

Matt. You forgot to mention the drive by shootings out there. Nobody wants holes in their boat. ;D