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This is what happens when an agency such as the WDNR is run by politicians and not scientists. To boot, the WDNR has proven over the years to be anti-tournament and tournament anglers. We are continually treated poorly by the WDNR. The decision to limit the waters BASS Elite guys can fish is no surprise here.
Don’t you guys in WI have the conservation congress? You have the power to change it
Good one Tim!
There about as powerless as gnat on cows rear end.
I strongly disagree with the WI DNR, they must think that BASS has no experience in protecting the resource or fish. At the Classic in New Orleans some years ago, BASS had anglers pump out and refill livewells at a designated point. This helped with the long distances that were involved.
When I first heard about this my gut reaction was to question who got the permit, did they discuss this before scheduling the event? But since I don’t know any of these things I can only assume that it was thoroughly vetted with the DNR and then they got blindsided.
I had a similar concern that no one mention to BASS that half the river in LaCrosse was no-cull. What they knew and when, I guess doesn’t really matter. But these types of issues just lead to bad blood. The Elite anglers adjusted to local rules, caught a ton of fish and everyone came away a winner. What’s not to love?
Joel,it wasn’t the WI DNR that made an exception. The Bass Anglers themselves got legislation to obtain this. Gov. Walker played a big role in this. The DNR fought it tooth and nail.
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Joel,it wasn’t the WI DNR that made an exception. The Bass Anglers themselves got legislation to obtain this. Gov. Walker played a big role in this. The DNR fought it tooth and nail.
Sounds like this might be a source of “some” of the bad blood between the bass tournament sponsors and WDNR. (if there really is any)
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also;
their – belonging to
they’re – conjunction referring to “they are”
there – In, at, or to that place or position
You have proven the “elite” tag very well… I can think of another word to describe self promoted elitists… also… in addition… starts with an A and ends with a hole… 
Hope you can decipher that grammar 
Elite… right…
If having a basic grasp of elementary grammar, makes me elite, so be it. 
So G, you have a problem with BASS naming their pro circuit the Elite Series? Do you feel the same about ASSCAR?*. 
KVD already wrote about this. In the end it will all work out. BASS will not return to Wisconsin just as they haven’t to Minnesota in almost 2 decades. And when people talk about great bass fishing destinations, no one will speak of Wisconsin or Minnesota. And people will again just come to our states to fill their limits of walleye.
Have they held a FLW Walleye tourney out of GB? If so, did they restrict them?
*Its a joke
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also;
their – belonging to
they’re – conjunction referring to “they are”
there – In, at, or to that place or position
You have proven the “elite” tag very well… I can think of another word to describe self promoted elitists… also… in addition… starts with an A and ends with a hole…
Proper punctuation would dictate a question mark at the end you your paragraph, rather than an elipsis followed by a whistling smiley face and a cartoon butt.
I am never dissappointed when I see “Last Post lhprop1”.
What we need is Cade Laufenholtz to repeat his opinion on why this has become a problem and I think he is correct. Come on Cade tell us.
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also;
their – belonging to
they’re – conjunction referring to “they are”
there – In, at, or to that place or position
You have proven the “elite” tag very well… I can think of another word to describe self promoted elitists… also… in addition… starts with an A and ends with a hole…
Do you think things through before you post? Have you been drinking or do you just naturally go around and criticize something you know absolutely nothing about?
The IQ of those who read that just went down.
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What we need is Cade Laufenholtz to repeat his opinion on why this has become a problem and I think he is correct. Come on Cade tell us.
You’re reaching Sandusky territory here. May want to take some Metamaucil and flush out that angst.
Um yeah.. elitist. Did some of you read the propaganda article posted ? I feel dumber having read your post… you are in that regard, correct.
You mean like this statement…
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Here at B.A.S.S. we always like to claim ourselves the biggest and baddest when it comes to bass fishing information and education. And we are.
Its been reported that Jerry McKinnis has been walking around Green Bay with a sling. Seems he popped a shoulder.
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Um yeah.. elitist. Did some of you read the propaganda article posted ? I feel dumber having read your post… you are in that regard, correct.
So what exactly is your argument or are you just here to annoy bass fisherman?
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What we need is Cade Laufenholtz to repeat his opinion on why this has become a problem and I think he is correct. Come on Cade tell us.
You’re reaching Sandusky territory here. May want to take some Metamaucil and flush out that angst.
A person posted using Cade’s name states the reason for this is caused by the uber rich lake property owners. And you can ggf Sir.
I have read all of the posts here and the Green Bay article. I have some experience with bass contests on the Miss. Including the LaCoss event. I have read enough from the “Pro” fishermen including some of the top top pro pro bass fishermen. My sincere suggestion is that if you don’t like the rules don’t play here now or forever. More over please get organized and actually do what you threaten to do in all of these posts. As for me I will handle the problem onthe water one at a time. As.to those people who insist that their game is better than filleting them, I will check with the warden onmy area to see how many bass an I can kill and give to a food pantry. Good luck in Green Bay and I will try and help you with your problem by speaking with Scott Walker who gave you culling. He will be pleased to see how you want to pay him back for the favor. I will be mailing back all of my lures that your sponsors make with a polite letter of why. I will try and convince KVD to tone down his opinions a bit bass contests are not a civil right but a priveledge. Maybe Cade can help you understand by giving you instruction on “Class war fare” and other liberal bullet points. Again good luck and I am looking forward to meeting you on the water.
Like I said. It’ll take care of itself.
No argument here…? 
If everybody fishes within the same bondaries, what is the issue/conflict ? If 1 more fish survives the tourney, is that not a good thing for the sport ? Not arguing with anyone, other than taking offense to a free unsolicited grammar lesson 
(I never claimed to be an elite speller)
We have the WDNR grasping at straws in an attempt at keeping some control over (all) tournaments by drawing up certain rules for different organizations who hold tournaments. There were a lot of bass fishing organizations who got to the governor about culling and the culling law was changed. With LaCrosse publicizing the huge amount of positive publicity from businesses and the fishermen it received from the Elite Series visit don’t think that someone has not already went to the governor about the over regulation coming from the powers at the WDNR. (Many of these rules may or may not have been put on paper before the recall election came about. I am thinking it was before and someone thought Walker was not going to win.) But you can be sure an attempt will be made by the governors office to put those powers in their place before the next attempt can be made at insulting an organization who wants to help bring tourist dollars to the state. You can bet that nearly every state in the union is laughing at the WDNR as once again they have pinned sportsmen against sportsmen just like they did when CWD was found. What kind of leadership is that!!!!?
So they set the boundaries at a 60 mile by roughly 25 mile box? And people are complaining about only being able to fish 1500 square miles of water? How could there possibly be any fish worth catching in that small of a space? The nerve of the WDNR 
Sounds like rich people problems to me.
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“Tourism is never worth killing a fishery”
How many people go to lotw that are not local I have to doubt that lotw is slowly dieing off because of tourism
I have an idea, put gates on all the accesses on LOTW, require a pass code, and blame AIS. That will keep those pesky non locals from over fishing YOUR lake.
gmartell, you nailed it. Good job.
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gmartell, you nailed it. Good job.
Agreed. I try really hard to be a fan of the WDNR, but they seem to make it very challenging. From deer hunting, creel surveys, and now boundaries for fishing tournaments. I thought that was the tournaments decision. Since everything else is being decided by the government, why not tournament boundaries too?
By reference of the WDNR, is this 1 or 2 people or the whole thing ???
If it is anything like the MN DNR it is the higher ups and the public.
G,
Not sure who you are asking that question of? My reference to the WDNR is the entire organization as a whole. They obviously have some great individual employees, but IMO they are an extremely arrogant, self serving, difficult to work with, typical government agency.
I don’t even know where to begin here…..
First – to all the anti-bassers on this site – stop prodding the fire for a second and try to listen to it from “our” side for a few minutes…You may not like “us” – but at least respect that all we are asking for is not to be discriminated against as a group of fisherman…
Couple of things I’ve read so far:
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You have a very, very short memory. It wasn’t very long ago at all that the WDNR made an exception specifically for bass tournaments on the Mississippi, allowing them to cull fish during tournaments while the general public had to obey this law.
That doesn’t sound anti-tournament to me. That sounds like an exception specifically for bass tournaments.
Not quite the whole truth….There were 4 tournaments? that were permitted a culling allowance over a 1-2 year period so that the WI-DNR could attempt to conduct a “culling” study along side those tournaments…There was no real culling study done, but a post mortality experiment that was botched big time at multiple locations (different story, but when the DNR kills 80% of their control fish – the scientific method of experimentation would conclude that you can’t base any real facts from the study – amongst other factors)
2 – It’s called the “Elite” Series because YES, they are the best bass anglers in the world….Elite fits….so what…
3 – To think that Green Bay/Sturgeon Bay is going to diminish in quality b/c of the Bassmasters showcasing the venue is quite vein…KY lake and Falcon have over 200 tournaments on it a year and guess what?? They’re still some of the best bass fisheries in the nation…..The Bay isn’t going to become a sh*thole b/c of this event….
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I’m not sure there ever was a live well built that can keep fish alive for a 60 mile ride through 6′ waves.
Sounds like common sense to me!
To use the above example….a bass boat would probably only be going 10-15 miles an hour as they rode the troughs back to wherever they were going….If you think you’re gonna see them flying across the lake at top end speed, it just doesn’t happen w/those waves….ie…slower speeds and not taking a pounding….These guys think safety believe it or not….
To go back to some of the history of our battles…Mike Staggs of the DNR has flat out said for years that as long as he’s around, there will be NO CULLING in the state of WI…He’s as anti tournament as it gets…but despite their claims, they have no real science behind anything that spews from their mouth…..I’m sure it’s eating him alive that we got the cull bill passed….
Again – What do we want as bass fisherman? To not be discriminated against and Equality….
Why is it a regular fisherman can go out during the summer months and catch/keep/kill 5 bass on any given day but the tournament angler can only catch and release 3? The DNR will speak on water temperatures and what not…but again, their claims hold very little water. At our own State tournament a few years back, the local warden took water samples from the very back of little St. bay in about 1 foot of water….and that was his water quality sample for the bay. Really? 1 foot of weed filled water is going to read much different that the actual bay itself don’t you think? Pure discrimination…..Why??
The reason for the short notice for Green Bay was b/c it was actually a mystery event to the anglers until about 30 days ago (which would be off limits to practice)…A lot of these details couldn’t/didn’t get hammered out for fear of leaking the event I’m guessing???
To speak on the LAX Elite Event – I picked up the BASS rep a year ago from the airport and have been to all the meetings and helped coordinate certain aspects of this event….There were only a couple of issues that BASS had at the LAX event….otherwise it was a GIANT success….
First was the MN no cull on the river….MN is a CULLING State….The only reason they didn’t allow it on the river was b/c WI didn’t allow culling….Well now WI is a culling state and yet MN still doesn’t allow culling on their side of the river????? What sense does that make??? The skeptic in me tends to believe some behind the scenes dealings….but that’s another story….
Anyway….Thursday and Fridays the crowds are typically smaller at these events (work etc) – but LAX had thousands of peoples both days and estimated over 15,000 over the 4 days period…The anglers were catching 30-40-50+ fish a day and the LAX CVB did a great job on their end making it an event to come to….BIG TIME SUCCESS….I know the City of LAX wants them back next year…without a doubt…..
I know many of you always talk about money and how tourist dollars don’t mean jack and blah blah blah…That’s a bunch of baloney….Between Hunting and Fishing and the naturaly beauty surrounding WI, An event like this can boost an area economy for years in risidual income….
I know I’ve been all over the place, and i’m sure the haters are gonna hate….but minus the E-50, it’s been 26? years since a true Bassmaster event has come to WI…and you can tell by the crowds and the fans that we’ve been waiting for it and WANT IT!!!
Bassmaster can go anywhere in the country for their 8 events…TWO of them are in WI as a lone result of the culling bill….This IS a big deal and a BIG opportunity to showcase WI and its fisheries…and everyone knows that the best fishing isn’t going to be showcased….I think La Crosse passed the test…I guess we’ll find out with Green Bay by the end of the weekend….
Weird view, but you get the idea…..Huge Crowds!!!
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…KY lake and Falcon have over 200 tournaments on it a year
I do not have a horse in this race, but it is my opinion that this amount of tournaments on any lake here in MN or WI would be met with a chilly response by their residents.
In fact I am really on the fence about tournaments, yes I have fished them before, and I am sure I will do it again, so I have to call myself a little hypocritical I guess.
Again I do not know the circumstances of how or when BASS applied to the Wisconsin DNR for a permit, but it seems kind of short sighted that this has them in such a bind.
I would hope the DNR here in MN and WI could find a balance, that benifits both sides of future tournament fishing.
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