Found this on another site, from Shaw Grigsby’s : Notes on fishing and life
I thought it was interesting and something for all anglers to read .
Rules guide the conduct of the angler . Tournament promoters print the rules , give copies to the contestants , and even announce many of the rules at registration .
But the unwritten rules , the ones never announced , are the most important rules in bass fishing . And they apply each time you go on the water . We have lived by these rules and fished by these rules from the beginning .
Rule Number One . On the first day of a tournament if you draw a partner who is on fish , you dont go back to his spot the second day and fish with your next partner . You don’t go back unless he invites you back . He owns those fish .
Thou shalt not steal .
But you can utilize his knowledge. If he is throwing a Carolina rig on a point , you can throw a Carolina rig on other points . I was fishing a tournament on Buggs Island and I was thumping them on a spinner bait . The second day I was paired with an angler from Minnestoa . I caught five that went to almost 25 pounds and was in the lead . My partner came to me that day after weigh-in and I gave him the spinner bait I was using . He said ” I don’t want to fish any place you are going to fish . Where can I go that won’t bother you ? ” I told him to go farther up the same creek , that I was stopping at a point . ” You know the pattern . Use it and go fishing .” He did the sporting thing and he came in the next day with a 19 pound stringer , one of the biggest he ever caught .
Rule Number Two . When you are in the boat with another angler , you don’t throw on your partner’s fish . Sometimes the angler gets a bite and misses the fish . The fish is still there , wondering what’s going on , searching and hunting and saying ” Where’d it go ? ” The fishermen who first got the bite ownes the fish . The partner in the boat does not go after that fish unless invited to do so .
Rule Number Three . If you are paired with a fisherman who is among the top contenders , a man who has a good shot at winning the tournament , don’t hinder his day . Give him his shot . There are not many opportunities to win a tournament .
Remember we compete against the bass . Not each other .
Rule Number Four . If a fisherman is fishing a bank , don’t pull in on him . The written rule is that if he is anchored and his torolling motor is out of the water , you can’t fish within 50 yards . The wnwritten rule is that if he is fishing a point , you don’t pull in on his point . If he is in a pocket , stay out of his pocket , even if there is room for another boat in there . If he is fishing a bank , let him have it . You can go down 300 or 400 yards and fish back towards him . Or you can pull in behind him and fish back the way he came . But don’t pull in a few feet from him and fish the bank .
The legends in this business , Guido Hibdon , Denny Bruer , Rick Clunn , all have tremendous respect for fellow competitiors . If they round a point and see an angler in a cove they turn around , they don’t fish that cove , they go elsewhere . B.A.S.S. has always held anglers to the very highest standards of sportsmanship . In a B.A.S.S. tournament , if there is any doubt about a possible rule violation , the angler takes a polygraph . Every angler signs a paper agreeing to the polygraph.
But on the new tournament trails starting up today , some young fishermen are not following the rules . Most violations of the unwritten rule come from beginners who are not taught good sportsmanship . They don’t know the unwritten rules : or they are agressive and feel the need to get that check . They do things that they proabably wouldn’t do after a few years of professional fishing .
This is a sport where you get money fif you come in second , third , fourth , or tenth . When your chace comes to win , you want that to be in your hands , you won’t to be able to control your destiny and not have it influenced by someone else . What these young anglers don’t understand is that the more unsportsmanlike they are , the more they will experience unsportsmanlike behavior . It will all come back to them .
The unwritten rules are simple . They all come down to respect .
Respect a man’s water
Respect a man’s fish