CAN”T BELIEVE IT

So this weekend I was put into a sticky situation, in which I am not sure how to react or proceed. I fished a tournament last weekend (bobs bait and tackle) with a guy I had fished with very few times. I was under the assumption that I would have my spots and he would have his and together we could put together a good limit. Before I even agreed to fish the tournament with him I expressed my concern of showing him two of my best spots. At that point we agreed that if it was a spot he didn’t already fish, that he would stay off it. (seems fair) Tournament day we caught 5 of our 6 fish towards our three pound limit on this spot. WHILE FISHING IT THAT DAY I reconfirmed with him that this spot is not well know and should stay that way. HE AGAIN AGREED. All seems good, right? Well three days after the tournament I am out fishing near my favorite spot and up pulls you know who onto the spot and starts casting. So I go call him out on it and he kinda blows me off. So I tell him I really don’t appreciate it. He say’s, okiedokey. Problem solved right?

Yesterday I was out fishing in someone else’s boat and I see my partner’s boat go cruising by with another bass boat following him…. In the general direction of my favorite spot. In my head I’m thinking there is no way this is happening. We give them a second and go take a look and there two bass boats sit. Side by side, beating the $%#@ out of a spot I asked him to leave be.

The question now is how do I proceed. Is it tough love cause no one owns the river, or is there a certain code of conduct or ethics that one should follow when a partner asks you to stay off a spot.

A lot of you guys have fished tournaments for some time now. Is this more common than you think?

Kevin

You proceed by making sure EVERYONE knows this story. He will quickly learn the reason you don’t break a gentelmans agreement.

You took a chance and lost it. Obviously the guy don’t care or used you. Mark it up as a loss and use better judgement on who you chose for partners.

This has happend to me in the past, all I can say is find a partner next time you can trust!!!

That sucks man…..

You’ll have some people say that if you dont’ want spots known, don’t show them…..

I agree w/Eronningen……I’d choose a better partner or one that is reputable enough to respect they area’s you show him….

So who was it?

The problem with choosing a new partner is that then i am fishing against this person possible on some of my spots?

I guess this goes back to the thing where some people will do whatever it takes to have people think they’re the best.

As far as who it is, they know who they are.

How well did you know the guy before you fished with him? Was he a friend, or just a fishing acquaintance?

friend, but i had never bass fished with hime before pre fishing for two weeks ago

chalk it up as a loss and never trust anyone when it comes to fishing spots. The guy who did this to you is a total douche.

for someone who is starting to get very serious into tournament fishing, he is sure going to have a lot to prove now! I am sorry for tainting his reputation but i gave him a fair chance to apologize and stop, but neither seemed necassary for him

That stinks! I leared the hard way that you cant even trust some “friends” (so they like to be called) with a good fishing spot. Theres something about it that makes them goofy and they just cant help themselves. This guy obviously has no respect for you. Its too bad you cant do much about it. Personally, I would not waste any more time fishing with him or even talking fishing with him. He blew it.

agreed, The river is for everyone and more power too anyone who finds a great spot through time/knowlage/ or maybe luck. and if that spot is already known by other people than that is too bad, but i don’t fish 5+ nights a week to hand off my best spot for free!

I agree with Tim….he blew it, what a jerk. Good job on your part not revealing his name and dragging it through the mud. That is very respectable.

That sucks for you Kevin. Apparently the guy you fished with was more concerned about being “The Man” instead of focusing on being “A Man.”

When Jeremy and I started fishing together, we had the same agreement. What’s his was his and vice versa. We still have that agreement today. To me, a fish isn’t worth losing a good friendship. Especially a Bass…..

perfectly put

Man that stinks. Sent you a PM. that Guy has been known for being rude on the water. at least in front of me he has.

Kevin was in my boat that day. He handled it MUCH better than I would have. It’s one thing if the guys fishes your best spot. It’s another thing if he fishes it and has another guy in the boat with him. And it’s a WHOLE other issue when he’s leading another boat to the spot to show them!!! The latter is what would have set me off.

However you do know the guy as a friend for quite a while. It’s hard to give him the benefit of the doubt, but maybe he doens’t know better. I would sit him down and have a LONG talk with him about WHY this is wrong. If he still doesn’t get it, I’d question the friendship.

I definitely would not fish with this guy in a tournament anymore. I understand your comment on that, but it’s best to cut your losses now. If he does have the nads to fish those areas in a tournament that you are also fishing, I’d write him off you list completely. (And hide a dead fish in his boat. )

Anyway, you handled it well. Enjoyed the trip and look forward to doing it again sometime.

Chuck

By the way Kevin, thanks for showing me all of Cade’s spots. It was fun pounding on them. Ha ha, j/k of course.

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(And hide a dead fish in his boat. )

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Yep…….

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By the way Kevin, thanks for showing me all of Cade’s spots. It was fun pounding on them. Ha ha, j/k of course.

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Fluker, so what’s it like fishing from the banks of Goose Island.

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Fluker, so what’s it like fishing from the banks of Goose Island

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At least the fish he was catching were pushing 3 pounds

LMAO

Welcome to the club Cade.

Dad had saying. Be nice to people on your way up cause you meet them on the way down.

Let’s all wave to this clown as he falls past.

Yeah yeah you guys are going to get this post deleted too aren’t you?

Whatever it takes to go fishing, I really don’t mind fishing on shore. Still my best spot that I have ever found can be accessed from shore. Nothing wrong with pulling in 12-15 lbs of bass from the bank 2 minutes from your house.

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Whatever it takes to go fishing, I really don’t mind fishing on shore. Still my best spot that I have ever found can be accessed from shore. Nothing wrong with pulling in 12-15 lbs of bass from the bank 2 minutes from your house.

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, that is true

MANY experienced tournament anglers use networking and spot-sharing. However, for this to be successful, there must be 100% respect for each others spots.

Just last year I decided to try this. It did pay off in one tournament…but I gave up most of my best stuff to receive other good stuff. So, I guess I’ll have to see in the long run if it was really worth it. However, I fully TRUST those who I shared spots with. They can count on me to never fish their stuff against them, and I expect the same in return.

Kevin, I dealt with the same issue as you this year. I won a tournament last year with a dude that was fishing his 1st tournament ever. Well, this year he enters that same tournament with a buddy of his and is now competing against me. He actually asked me if it was OK for him to fish the areas we fished the prior year. I told him he should know just by asking me that it is not right. I told him I cannot tell him not to fish a tournament, but I would recommend that he find another tournament. Well, he decided to still fish the tournament and sure enough, 2 times throughout the day I saw fishing where he told me he wouldn’t…

I blame this all on lack of experience. The new guys can only see the fame and notoriety and overlook that they are seriously hurting their name. I’m sure if this kid decides to continue fishing tournaments for many years, he’ll look back and realize he made a bad decision. BTW – he zeroed in the tournament…

To me, it’s just not worth losing friends over. Besides, if someone’s tournament success is based off of other guy’s spots, then they have a short career ahead of them…

$50 and I’ll give anyone all of Dnorts spots on pool 4

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$50 and I’ll give anyone all of Dnorts spots on pool 4

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I’ll take some of that!

I’m sure I can sell that info for double right here!

I had a similar situation a couple of years ago with a partner. We fished out of his boat in a tournament and had moderate luck on his spots so, I told him we should go fish some of my best docks. We pulled up and proceded to catch a nice limit. We then went to what i would call a community hole and he said he had caught some nice fish there in the past. We did not catch a fish and left. I liked the spot and thought it would be better earlier in the year. We finished the day one place out of the money. The next year the tournament was earlier and he decided to fish with someone else, I found a differant partner and tried that community spot and found the fish stacked on it. I told my old partner of the fish and he was really mad that I would consider fishing his spot. I told him that we could share and that there was plenty of water. He said no thanks and its up to me if I want to fish that spot. The thing that really bothered me was that the year before he fished my good docks with someone else and he never really told me. I found out from his partner. I did not care as I was not fishing the tournament. Well I fished the spot and he fished his and he has never really forgiven me and my favorite docks are now his favorite docks. Lesson learned on my part. I made a mistake and let fishing get in the way of friendship. Hopefully one day he will see that he made the same mistake.