Disturbing news… from a friend

Wow… yesterday afternoon a few of us from work were just chatting about fishing and the summer being over… and, one gentlemen (a long time colleague and avid outdoorsman) mentions that bass tourney’s should be banned… whoa…
You can imagine the conversation that insued…

Here are the highlights:
1. His place is up north near Chetek, WI.
2. He knows people (myself and others) that fish tourney’s and know we are good people… he blames the “others”. Hmmm…
3. The lake association wants to ban bass tourneys (all fishing tourney’s for that matter)… Why?

Reasons:
1. Tourney guys “ruin” landings by all the power loading. (Admittedly, he does it, too)
2. Tourney guys drive too darn fast and aggressively on the water (Though he water skis)
3. “Lot’s of fish are floating in the lake after the tourneys” Tourney’s are RUINING the fisheries! (hmmm…)
4. It makes it harder for land-owners to go out fishing with their son/grandsons and find fish.

They are taking steps to ban the use of these lakes to tourney’s.

1. Can they do this privately?
2. If so, we have a lot more battles to fight than just the DNR and the gov’t.

Thoughts?

Sounds to me that he is blaming tournament fishermen for ruining his lake by using the same behaviors that he himself partakes in. If powerloading is so bad for the ramp, than why does he do it? If there are too many fish floating after a tourney, what has he done about it, i.e. contacting the tournament director? How many fish are there floating around after a busy weekend with no tourneys?
It can’t be a do as I say, not as I do kinda solution. I can relate to wanting to go fishing with kids/grandkids, and not being blasted out of the water by other boats, or not being able to get into your favorite bay, etc. But what would he do if his neighbor was anchored over his favorite fishing spot? Blame the people who have cabins on the lake? Oh, but wait he has one, so he’s obviously never fished in a spot that someone else wanted.
Sounds to me like this guy is being a little hypocritical to me.
Good luck winning this arguement!
Steve

That is distinctly my point… he feels, since he is a land-owner, that he has MORE rights to the water. As long as there are public launches, no one can argue the water as private, right? And, if so, cannot ban tourney fishing, correct?

At what point does the public lose access to water?

I have a hard time believing tourneys can be banned on a lake or any given body of water. What can happen is the DNR can start to issue permits for a lake. I’m almost certain this is happening on Minnetonka. (Maybe someone can validate that for me.)

For example the lake in question could come under scrutiny by the DNR and then they will decide to issue permits based on the quality of fishing and the pressure applied by tournaments and ‘weekend anglers.’

I’m not saying the DNR will issue usage permits to every angler. What I am trying to say is organizations like the BFL will have to apply for a permit to fish a body of water. I’m not certain but I think that is one of the reasons the BFL doesn’t have a tourney on Minnetonka anymore.

One point that is very disturbing is the point about fish floating after tourneys. Where is this info from?, is it facts or is it frustration. I feel it is the later, from the sounds of all his other points. What about the local pan fishermen taking home all the fish they catch, at least we release them and a high percentage of them make it when handled properly. Just to stir the pot a little, think what it would do if they banned tournaments and we just took all the fish that would have been released and just take them home for a fish fry. Not saying that we would all do this, I for one would not, but it gets you thinking.

just a thought on fish floating around….I see more dead pan fish and carp than I do any other species…I think this year i’ve seen 2 bass that were floating, and maybe a few northerns….

what have you seen?

Few bass, more carp, some suckers, a couple of humans, a few redhorse, one buffalo, one pike, that is all I can remember.

I’ve helped with a couple of release boats for tournaments this summer and we never had a single fish die on us. If some of these people saw the care in which these tournament fish are handled and released, they would feel better about that aspect of it. Just an FYI. Good luck with that argu ment.

to me it sounds like he wants the lake all to himself, that way if he wants to ski, he can without worring about other boaters on the water. he also makes it sound like he is having problems finding the fish. seeing how he don’t fist tourneys, he probably has a hard time finding the fish on his own. makes up the dead fish line to add to the point of stay off my lake. I pay land taxes around it, you shouldn’t have access to it. If he is so concerned, you should call him on his bad habits on the lake that he lives on and what he his actions do to the lake enviroment. but only if you want to stur the pot even more.

shane

Just to ask a question:

Does anyone else see a difference between a 30mph boat with a skier behind it and a 70+ mph boat in a tourney situation?

Aaaahhh, 40 MPH ! and less wake coming off the bass boat at 70. The 30 MPH boat will run more and use more fuel playing around? Dang it Gianni, don’t ask such hard questions!

I had the notion that the boat pulling the skier is interested primarily in the safety of the one he’s towing, whereas the person in the bass boat (at 2x the speed) is literally racing to a spot with a check on his mind.

When tourneys are on, too many people cut it dangerously close.

I think you are off the mark on that one Gianni. I’ve seen way too may clowns pulling skiers too busy watching the antics out the back end of the boat all the while not watching where they are going and who they are cutting in front of. How is that acting in the best interests of safety? When I’m out fishing, I dread coming across a boat pulling a skier.

I don’t know of any fishermen in tourney situations that play it ‘dangerously close.’ What’s the sense of piling up your boat when you have the chance of cashing a substantial check. It’s a lose, lose situation. When I’m out on my flat boat fishing I would rather welcome with open arms a flight of bass boats than 2 boats puling skiers. Or one jet ski.

I’ve seen exactly what you’re talking about with the guy driving a ski boat watching behind him instead of where he’s going. I suppose that reinforces the point that’s made time and again on this site: Irresponsibility has nothing to do with the activity in which one is participating (i.e. every sport has it’s jerks).

I’d bet if people were completely honest, 50% or better of the people on this board have a story where they’ve almost “bit it” during a tourney run. I know I’ve heard enough stories to convince me that half is a solid estimate.

Think about it this way: What does a NASCAR driver think about when he’s going around the track at 200mph? He’s not wondering if someone is in his spot, or whether yesterday’s presentation is going to hold for today. He’s not taking time to focus on his electronics or guage the weather, and he’s not wondering what he has to bring to the finish line to place high. Bass (and walleye, by the way) tournament anglers are required to do those things if they want to be successful.

I know that anectodal evidence is weak, but I’ve been anchored walleye fishing and picked up boats that were just specks on the horizon coming my way at full speed go straight-line within probably 30 feet of me and never bat an eye. It’s not that they didn’t have enough reaction time or room to get around me. I just happened to be between them and their first spot.

One more thing: Whenever someone brings this topic up, everyone comes on to shout him down. Perhaps rightly so, since my guess would put 90%+ of tournament anglers in the ‘responsible and safe’ category. The problem is that people don’t remember the 90% that were good, it’s the bad apples that bias the general population against all tourney anglers.

I suppose I’ll weigh in on this since I live on the Chetek Chain that was originally in question. I’ve only lived here for two years, so I’m sure your friend has much more knowledge and experience, but I’ll tell you what I’ve seen.

I don’t fish tournaments. In fact, I don’t usually fish the chain on weekends because it’s an absolute madhouse, as are many other recreational lakes. We’re talking bass tournaments, water skiers, tourists/fishermen, pontoons, jetskis, etc., all on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. So I head out of town.

I do grab a few hours of water time on the chain after work during the week. I haven’t seen the floating bass, maybe only one or two since I’ve been here. I do see the occasional panfish floating, but I really can’t say that it’s a problem. In truth, I’m amazed at the quality of the fishery considering how it is absolutely pounded all summer, and winter, long. It continues to produce a good bluegill and crappie population, although it sounds like the size is down.

There is some sentiment among many locals that the bass have overrun the lakes, and are therefore harming the fishery. So bass are viewed in a negative light by some, and maybe the tournaments get lumped in there somehow. Bass are definitely abundant, as you can’t spend a day or night walleye fishing without getting into the bass as well. The lower walleye population is more a result of poor spawning habitat than anything, and some groups are taking steps to improve that.

I don’t know how the power loading ruins the landing, but I do see the Bullets and Nitros fly by with their 250s on the back. I guess they don’t bother me a whole lot. Nice boats. Wish I had one. And for the complaints about the skiers and big boats chasing grandpa and grandson off their spots: there’s a lot of water out there. Minnesota has 10,000 lakes, and I’m under the impression that Wisconsin has more. There’s always somewhere else to fish, or you can come back during the week. There’s always an alternative I guess.

Sammy… I enjoyed your post. You seem to have a very calm demeanor and a frank ability to just call it how it is. Thanks.

To the rest of you, good points – great arguement points. We’ll see how far I get…

Gianni
the difference i see is the guy pulling the skier is causing a bigger wake then the guy all trimmed up an running. Now if im trying to fish i would take the 70mph guy over a big wake anytime.

Hey there BlueFleck- in response to the DNR issuing permits for tourneys on Tonka, that does seem to be the case. I fished a corporate sponsored tourney a few weeks back and one of the rules was not being able to bring the catch back for weigh-in because a permit wasn’t gathered. I can only assume this was a rule pushed down from the DNR.