Tournements, The Good, The bad, The ugly

I want to start off by stating up front that I am not a tournement angler. I have sat back and read with much intrest the debate between tourney and non tourney anglers and have, after much thought, come to the following conclusions. Please keep in mind, these are only my opinion and are not meant to offend or rile any person or group of people.

The good: I believe because of the tournement angling industry, we as a group (fisher persons) have seen some major improvements in the equipment we use in pursuite of our quarry. The electronics have become so sophisticated , relatively easy to use and affordable almost everyone has them. The strides in tackle have been tremendous. Even the old faithful lures have been tweaked to make them more desireable to fish. (remember the old plastic worms you father used?) From graphite rods with ultra sensitivity and maximum strength, to the bait caster that even a newbie can learn to use in a short time with out too many “rats nests” to live wells in most boats to keep fish alive all day for better eating if you so choose. In my opinion, these are things we can give thanks to the tournement angling industry for.

The bad: Unfortunatly, with the tournaments, came popularity, then big money, then the competetiveness of the anglers. This is where the innovations mentioned above end and the “bad” (imo) begin. No one “needs” to go mach 10 just to catch a fish. The design of boat hulls and outboard motors have made this possible in all but the most shallow of waters. My Dad very rarely got skunked and he never had more than a 20 horse Johnson and a 16 foot semi-v . (This could just me my idolized memory!!) Fishing should be about skill, a little luck and knowledge, not about who can get from one end of the pool to the other first.

The ugly: This is where the bad is abused. I have found that I check the paper to see if there are any tournaments going on before I go out on the river to pleasure fish. Like I have seen from many posts to this sight from both pleasure and tourney anglers, the big cruisers throwing a wake makes boating on the main channel in a smaller fishing boat both unpleasant and dangerous! If there are several tournaments or even a fairly big one on the pool I want to fish, I just don’t go. I personaly have had too many close calls in the back waters from tournament boats flying around blind corners and almost running me over as I travel the same small back slews in my small fishing boat. I have been anchored next to a downed tree pan fishing and had a bass boat fly around the corner and put out enough wake to knock my young son off his feet and hit his head on the counsel (this was in a pontoon boat). I was taught by my dad that when you come up on a boat that is fishing you shut it down and go “slow no wake” until you are by them. I know the argument is they will cause more wake if they “shut it down” but if they weren’t going so fast to begin with, they could shut it down well in advance of the anchored boat. Maybe a tournament imposed “back water speed limit” would help? I have also had a team fishing in a bass boat fish between me and the same snag and shore (same day as above) . I was no more that six feet from shore at that time and they were fishing the shore line with jig and pigs. I had been there about an hour at the time. I believe the competitive nature of the tournaments makes basically good people do really dumb things. I also know not all tournament anglers are as inconsiderate as the ones above, but seeing the bow of a even one boat coming at you around a corner at 50mph + is enough to leave a bad taste in a guys mouth.
Please understand that I have nothing against tournament anglers. In fact I have many good friends who fish the weekly tournaments and even some of the other larger tournaments held locally. In general ethics are very high in the tourney angler circles . I just wish I could go out on a Saturday with a young kid pan fishing and not have to worry about weather the boat with the big rooster tail that is flying around the bend is going to misjudge it and end a great day on the water for everyone .

Thanks and tight lines to all!
John

My eyes didn’t know where to look.

I need a beer…

Labman, well written!! NASCAR needed a place to race they built tracks. I do not know how it will end but I hope that all involved (fishermen) learn that prudence goes alot further than cavalier attitudes. We live in a society where everything is competitive! Who would have imagined 20 reality shows about life! Hey wait a minute a reality show about non-tournament/tournament anglers. (Title)? in any event great post

John,

Thank you for your honest appraisal. It’s clear you put a lot of thought into it and tried to look at tournament fishing from both sides. I hope that everyone who read your post takes what you said to heart. You have legitimate points.
I’m an avid tournament angler. I have to admit I have done some things in the heat of the competition that I regret. You look athletic in your photo and I suspect you to have done things in competition that you’re not proud of. The person that’s at the top of the heap in business may regret some of the things he or she did to get there. Competition may cause us to loose sight of common sense, but it’s also partially responsible for many of the gains in all of society. Good or bad, competition (drive) is a basic part of human nature.
So how do tournament anglers improve our image, or should I say avoid being driven out of existence? I guess it’s obvious we need to control the drive and be considerate of others. The mature professional circuits don’t seem to have the problem. All we have to do is follow their example.
I have to agree that that there is an elitist attitude among some tournament anglers, which is fostered by tournament organizations. I personally avoid those circuits. I’m not going to hold back any punches. In my opinion, the people (not the sponsoring organization) who conduct the Gander Mountain circuit are not the people we want representing tournament fishing. If their attitude were pervasive through all tournament organizations, we wouldn’t need this conversation. Tournament fishing would have been banned years ago.
I have a problem with people (tournament and non-tournament) who see the fishery as something they use to their gain and aren’t willing to put something back. We need to support legislation that is intended to improve the water quality and the watershed. Consider joining conservation groups with the same goals. Make your opinion known even if it’s not popular at the time. Get involved educational activities such as ARM. The bottom line is be a good citizen.

I think that alot of the tourney fisherman/women do not think before they act becuase they are chasing that big paycheck. it is like most other sports, the money dictats their actions. I say, the ones that are out there fishing for a living have the life. just enjoy it, it can be taken away as fast as it showed up.

I have had encounters with tourney anglers and have walked away shaking my head in disgust. If i ever make it to the levels of some of these guys, i will not act that way. also as non tourney anglers, we have recourses to their actions. we can turn them into the tourney directors and they can suffer the consequences of thier actions and be DK’ed out of the tourney.

I do have to say, it was a great article, nicely writen. but I am on both sides of the fence. the only way i know that would improve the image of the sport is doing things like the ARM event or even going and doing clinics and workshops for children. you get alot of respect when you take the time out of your life to spend with kids. I sure hope that all anglers can learn from thier mistakes, and be able to treat everyone with respect no mater if they are also in the tourney or the non tourney anglers that are sitting on you honey hole.

thanks

shane

Riverfan,

I know you don’t want to ruffle any feathers, but could you ellaborate on the Gander tour and what specifically bothers you. I thought about fishing it next year as a co-angler, but would like some more insight.

Thanks

Bomber, I can speak to a couple of issues. The first “rule#1,rule changes””These rules shall remain unchanged through the tournament tour, with exception to the tournament of champions”.Rule#4 “anglers may enter the tournaments in either category with no prerequisites”.There are now prerequisites! if you do not bring a non-boater there is not a guarantee you can fish at all!! which then positions Rule #1 against the fisherman. The 350.00 fee for boater and the 200.00 for non-boater creates some pretty hard feelings if you cannot fish!!! Case in point Savanna this week-end (pool 13). They must have consistancy to be viable.

Bomber A

It’s the my way or the highway attitude. There is no compromise because I’m more important than everyone else.

Anybody fishing the one in sav??????