Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations In-Fisherman Jan. Issue re-Bass off spawning beds.

Sunil,

You make some good points regarding the local economy, although it is certainly arguable as to whether or not a national tournament actually increases or decreases the local fishing and enjoyment of public lakes.

My problem with "Pros" is much more a mental, attitude thing than it is an economic issue. The tournament mentality is not what I personally would like to see fishing become in the future.

You may call it progress to race all over a lake with 200 hp engines and every electronic device available to aid in catching every dink possible to make your weight higher. I don't. That is a personal choice. Competition in fishing should be between the fisher and the fish not among the fishers. Again, that's just my personal opinion.

Certainly, I'm not advocating restricting the freedoms of individuals to choose the manner in which they wish to fish. However, when those choices adversely affect others who pay their dues, then I think considerations should be made.

Tournament fishing isn't going to go away. If anything, it will probably grow with the huge $ being spent on marketing. If that's progress in your mind, so be it.

I wonder why we haven't seen the advent of "tournament hunting"? Maybe that also will be part of our future.

ML, those 21ft bass boats with 250 HP motors are not big enough on lakes like Lake of the Ozarks after Memorial day. There are simply just too many 30-40 ft pleasure boats running around putting out 4 and 5ft high boat wakes that make running a bass boat that size very hazardous on the weekends. I don't know if you have ever heard of Party Cove down at Lake of the Ozarks, during the summer there is an average of 4000 plus large pleasure boats partying in that cove on any given Friday or Saturday night. I know this because one of the guys in my club has a summer house on Lake of the Ozarks. On the fourth of July there are usually 70,000 boats on the water down there. IMO, a large money tournament with 200 contestents and 100 boats on a lake that size does not have any significant impact on others.

Shorty,

Yep, I fished Lake of the Ozarks many times long before "pros" were ever even a dream. Fished Table Rock with plastic worms before the lake and the plastic worm were "discovered". In fact, have probably fished every public water system in Southwest Missouri. I didn't need 250 hp then to catch fish, nor do I need them now....but to each his own.

The older I get the less "stuff" I want or need. Just give me a couple of feathers, a hook, and fly rod and I'll catch my share of fish....heck don't even have to have the fly rod, for that matter.

I don't know why the "stuff" is no longer important to me, but it is just not important...does not mean anyone else is wrong, just means I'm getting older, I guess.

My personal opinion is that pro tournament fishing takes the pleasure out of catching fish and makes fishing seem more like work. It is the primary reason I have no interest in fishing on a pro level.

BTW - I came real close to getting killed down at Lake of the Ozarks this Spring during NE Fed tournament, having bass boats bump hulls at 50 mph is realy spooky, especially when the nose of the other boat came over the front deck of the boat I was a passenger in.

ML wrote: "If that's progress in your mind, so be it."

I agree with you, ML, that progress can be good and bad. However, just because I think that the new advancements in fish finders, etc. are kind of bogus and not reflective of one's fishing skills, it does not mean that one can't call it progress. A good example is stem cells and stem cell research.

Dave D. Thanks. I try. I will proudly mount any meadow muffins that you care to send, prominently on my home's walls for all to see.

Re: watercraft, skiers and such. I did my share of skiing as a kid; but people are not as aware of what their fun can do to others as in the'good ole days'. I would like skiers and watercraft operators to be required to purchase some kind of usage license on public waters.

Lot's of good points being discussed. My main problem is that no one should be able to make money off a limited resource that belongs to all of us. Because as soon as you allow this you destroy the ability of the average guy to enjoy the resource. Just look at Europe. Any ideas how hard it is for the common guy to fish or hunt there? Doesn't happen, you have to have money. Things got that way for different reasons there in that they let wealthy people own waters that are considered public in this country. Even if we never let people own the lakes the affect is the same if they either dominate the water or make it too expensive to fish. Thankfully in Minnesota we've always protected any decent sized lake as public. But we have had instances where land owners try to get public access closed so they can have the lakes to themselves. Then they can keep the resource to themselves, charge people for access to the lakes, or reserve it for tournaments with lots of money. Thankfully there have only been a few isolated attempts to do this but more money will make it happen more often. That's my objection. Go ahead and have the clubs and groups that have contests for fun but as soon as big money is involved people get greedy.

I agree with bz about lots of good points being discussed. I don't hold a strong opinion on the subject, but have been fascinated with the good quality, civil discussion. That's one of the greatest things about this forum. Exchange of ideas without excessive hurt feelings or injured egos. It's inestimable how much I've learned here.

Public interest will always attract bug bucks which fuels further public interest/marketing. It gives the incentive for product innovation; not all of which pays off for the developer(s). Risk management goes just so far, then the purchasers make the final decision. Without public interest, the F1 bass prograns, hybrid stripers and a lot of things would not have been developed. I think BASS and competitive fishing have been key to these developments.

I don't need a $50,000 boat to catch fish. Nor do I need to use a $15 crank bait. Although I own neither if those things, I'm glad I have the opportunity to purchase and use them. Competitive participants are active consumers of these products; I'm passive.

Bruce, you've also handed out an inestimable amount of information here. Thanks to you and a bunch of others! My knowledge has really evolved here. At one time, I thought I knew what I was doing on water holes. Now, I realize that I have only scratched the surface. Hope I never stop itching.

Ml, I too do not have a big bass boat but have more problems with boaters and jet skiers, etc than tournamanet fisherman. The tourneys do alot of good gettng kids involved. These kids may not have like you and I learned this from our dads taking us when we were young. They have kids casting days etc.

For 4 yrs I was responsible for data entry for tournament reports. This was required by every Bass Fed club in GA. ABout 300-500/yer. It supplied great trend data on catchbaility, etc. By professor reported some this info in In-Fisherman a few years ago from his 20 yrs of doing this. IMHO this supplies bilogist better info they can get from one afternoon of boat shocking. So this is another example of teh beneftis from these tournaments.

Actually I to have had the most problems on the public lakes with nonfisherman boaters. They have no concept of respect for anglers. And I have had property owners try and shut me out of a lake by harrassing me.

A few years back when I did a outdoor column for a local newspaper, I put out a feeler to see if there was interest in reviving a 10 mph speed limit in the morning on local lakes to give the average angler a level playing field. I did have lots of interest, and even had one tournament fisherman say he could live with it, as with the size of our local lakes (most under 200 acres) there was no need to be racing around the lake.

Problem was the boating law administrator that sat behind a desk in Indianapolis didn't know his butt from a hole in the ground. When I referred him to a lake on the Michigan line that had a 10 mph speed limit and that it worked quite well he said he WAS NOT AWARE OF ANY LAKES like that in INDIANA and would have to check with the head of law enforcement up there. (Obviously he had never been there as there is a big sign at the boat ramp saying so) I then informed him, "I hate to tell you this but that guy has been retired for at least 3 years!"

Anyway what it comes down to is it's a good idea but no one wants to go out on the limb to push for it. And anglers are not organized. They're too lazy. As far as DNR employees it would jeapordize their jobs of which they want to keep and collect a pension on. And it would be political suicide for a politician as the boating industry is very strong in this state. (We make most of the major brands of boat here)

Case in point: All of the major fishing programs in this state, musky program, trout program, walleye program, steelhead program etc have been started by private individuals and then the state takes over and takes the credit. State employees do not think out of the box! They want to play it safe.

Cecil,

This may be a far fetched line of thinking...but I wonder how much "tournament" fishing and the associated image of redneck good old boys has played to the average nonfishing person, who is constantly barraged by PETA and such organizations about the evils of fishing.

Isn't it possible that the tournament trend with the TV shows of screaming anglers slinging around their fish could very well play to the PETA propaganda and influence the thinking of the average nonfishing but boating loving person?

I know of a lot of people who, rightly or wrongly, point to the tournament behavior as exemplifing all fishing and I believe it gives the rest of us an image problem. Like I said, this may be a far fetched line of thinking, but tournament mentality has not helped the image of the average fisher in the minds of those who do not fish.

PETA DOES focus on the catch and release issue as a possible way to sway public opinion against fishing. Their agenda is what is know as "progressive", meaning that they will try to find an inroad, then move towards more and more extreme designs. Start with an attack on catch and release, then move to all fishing as immoral. An extremely interesting result of PETA motives can be seen on ESPN every Saturday morning. It used to be that in hunting shows you would never see the "impact" shot. The hunter would take aim, pull the trigger, and "voila", there would be a dead animal. There would never be the shot of the actual impact of bullet or arrow to flesh. PETA's argument was that if hunting's OK, then why are you afraid to show the viscious hit? Well, to their credit, ESPN now shows the impact. I applaud them for that because basically what we're saying is "we're not embarrassed that we function as a predator on this planet".

Look at the eyes of any animal (birds, mammals in particular) on this planet.

Eyes set to side of head = prey

This is necessary to see threats at a long distance and from any direction.

Eyes set to the front of head = predator

This is necessary to use stereoscopic vision to ascertain prey distance and movement.

Now look in the mirror.

If you're a PETA member, you can probably only do this with one eye at a time.

Bruce,

Very interesting post. I loudly applaud your statement about not being ashamed of being a predator.

Theo,