Frustrated with the Tournament fisherman.

[Carphunter]

How many have had this happen. I was fishing at Patoka lake, (8880 acres), fairly close to the shore with my wife and two young boys. We were fishing for crappie toward the back of a large wooded cove, when I noticed out on the main lake many bass-boats in a large group moving at high speeds. A few of the boats turned into the cove where we were fishing. I figured there was a tournament going on. Well eventually some of the boats made it back to our location, and they were determined to fish the very small piece of shoreline between my boat and the shore. Now we are talking 25 to 30 yards between my boat and the bank, and not just one boat, but many. I was anchored, and we were fishing off of both sides of the boat. They have this whole lake to fish, but they don't mind passing within inches of your minnow tipped bobber. I had a few choice words for some of those guys. This is not the first time I have had this happen. Some of these tournament fisherman think they own the lake, and that frustrates the crap out of me. I don't have a problem with tournaments, but the tournament fisherman should show the "regular" fisherman some respect.

 

[L Christopher]

Re: Frustrated with the Tournament fisherman.

I had a similar incident with 8 fishermen in four boats. They invaded a small cove off of a larger cove where our family was taking a break from watersports (having lunch). One of the fishermen casted into our boat and another suggested we leave. We very politly lifted anchor to get underway, however we didn't leave the cove. We first circled the armada then we tubed and waked boaded in and out of the cove. We didn't ask them to leave but they seemed to think it was best to do so. The really cool thing was they lead us to a better place to do water sports.

 

[wezie]

Re: Frustrated with the Tournament fisherman.

Obviously you just do not understand their needs.<br />You must be very unsensative; everything can't be just about you.<br />Monofilament does wrap around trolling motor props. If this does happen, be courteous and cut your line quickly so as to not slow them down.<br />The good news is that they go away quickly; the bad, well you know....

 

[sprithunter]

Re: Frustrated with the Tournament fisherman.

Isn't part of being in a fishing tournment about being courteous, and proving your a better fisherman than everyone else? just a thought. <br />Ive had this happen here in Wisconsin to what a drag when you are just trying to enjoy time with the kids ... or laying on the floor of the boat with wife.

 

[miloman]

Re: Frustrated with the Tournament fisherman.

wait a second I fish tourmaments on both the PWT and the RCL circuit. Here is the deal what you consider sport we consider work A tournament will generate tens of thousands of dollars to your local economy with yes 5 good days of complete harrasment of your fishing holes ramps lakes etc... Generally small tournaments are where the yahoos go and you will get that type of behaviour. A few weeks back I had a conversation with Several high profile fisherman and we all agreed with 1 simple fact we tend to stay away from locals enjoying thier time on the water. That doesnt mean we wont impede on your favorite spot but it does mean we wont disturb families enjoying time on the water. Larger tournements have people on the water whose job it is to politly remind us of this fact. What you should do is go to the organizers of these small local tourmaments and discuss these issues with them. Generally most of them can be resolved. In fact at an RCL event in Port Clinton a few weeks back I helped a family stuck on the water by swapping out props for them it took 5 minutes of my time but saved them hours of misery. Dont bash us for making a living and promoting a sport as I said go to the organizers and have them resolve what we call the yahoo factor

 

[OBJ]

Re: Frustrated with the Tournament fisherman.

Got to agree with miloman on this one. I fish John Kerr Resovoir a lot and there is always a tourney going on there. When the "big" tourneys are there, you see bunches of boats zipping in and out of coves. Never once has any of these guys ever tried to push their way into where me and my dad fish. They always wave and speak. However, When the "small" tourneys arrive, and we know cause we check the web before we go on tourneys, we keep our distance. Had a run in or two with these "wanna be" big time fishermen and it was just plain nasty. Don't want to say that all the smaller tourney folks are like that cause there are probably some good folks in there fishing. Guess it's just who you run into that creates the "atmosphere" toward these guys.

 

[neumanns]

Re: Frustrated with the Tournament fisherman.

I gotta say what happened is unfortunate however blaming pros for this problem is in my opinion misguided. There are indeviduals of all pursuesions that are jerks!<br /><br />I am sure that when you are enjoying watersports that you personally do not intentionally encroach upon fisherman however I have had this happen to me, I do not blame all watersport people for this behavior I only consider the ones who do it to me as the idiots. <br /><br />I am not a pro fisherman and I do some watersport with the kids, however I try to maintain a respect for whoever is on the water doing whatever it is they enjoy it all boils down to respect and some aint got none.

 

[Carphunter]

Re: Frustrated with the Tournament fisherman.

I have to agree neumanns. I have fished the above lake too many times to count, and I have had only a few problems with these so called "tournament fisherman". You are right, it is unfair to say that all of the tournament fisherman are the problem, when it is just a select few who are the jerks. It seems to me, that most of the time the boaters that I talk to, are generally nice people.

 

[Carphunter]

Re: Frustrated with the Tournament fisherman.

Miloman, I am not trying to bash the tournament fisherman who show the other boaters respect, just the ones who don't. The ones I ran into this past weekend didn't care who was in their way, they were going to do what they wanted. And this is not the first time I have seen this happen, or heard of this happening. Since I consider this my "home" lake, I take it personal.<br />Its still fresh in my mind, so I apologize if I seem a little irritated.

 

[NathanY]

Re: Frustrated with the Tournament fisherman.

Dont forget those fisherman that have 20ft bass boats with 275hp motors on them, while you are in a 14ft jonboat with a 10 hp motor, and come running up WOT and just nearly turn your boat over, because they are too close.<br /><br />My favorite, is when they come up and fish where you are fishing, and then they decide it is time to move, and then the just nail it, putting a huge wake right into the side of your little boat.<br /><br />I have seen it too many times, where I live they have the FLW tournaments every year, with all the big name pro's, and they dont care about anyone. Especially people in little boats.

 

[mellowyellow]

Re: Frustrated with the Tournament fisherman.

one good turn deserves another... I would follow <br />the "pro." all day if'n he did this 2 me. might even<br />learn a new presentation or a new honey hole?<br />I'm 1/2 Italian... so don't get mad, get even <br />when they get mad, get yur camera and say; "smile"<br />1 word.... "sponser"<br />my bad? LOL<br />M.Y.

 

[BR549]

Re: Frustrated with the Tournament fisherman.

In the last few years it does seem that some of the tournament fisherman have become more aggressive. This last weekend I was replacing some boards on my pier and two guys fishing a tourney told me that I had to be quiet while they were fishing around my pier - now if they had just asked I could found something else to do for a while. Instead I spent a great deal of time ensuring that all of the nails on the pier were properly and solidly nailed.

 

[BJM]

Re: Frustrated with the Tournament fisherman.

I don't know much about fishing but could a simple device be made to drive fish away without harming them? When accosted by these tournament types, stick this "thing" into the water if they are rude and threaten to follow them if they don't smarten up. It would clean up their act pretty quickly I would think.

 

[DJ]

Re: Frustrated with the Tournament fisherman.

BR,<br /><br />I've had similar experiences. You probably know the lake-Logan Martin. They have tournaments there all the time. They were bouncing lures off of our docked boats with me watching from 20 feet away.<br /><br />The next day I was down there I started writing down registration numbers and made some calls.<br /><br />I guess it worked because the next day we had vandalism and a motor stolen.

 

[Carphunter]

Re: Frustrated with the Tournament fisherman.

I have noticed that it seems to drive the Tournament fisherman away when I pull out my bow and start doing the bowfishing thing. You never know what a stray fiberglass arrow would do to a nice bassboat.

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: Frustrated with the Tournament fisherman.

I was at Lake Seminole about 4 year ago just after a tornado had came thru, and the Chattahoochee was a booming, so we went back into a slew about a 1/2 mile or so and found some clean water.<br /><br />Well they were having a top 100 that week and we were just a fishn away when we heard this big motor and I thought someone is not coming back in here WOT, because we had to use the trolling motor with big motor raised in some places to get over, but yea it kept getting louder and sure enough, here it came into this dead end at WOT, shut it off and in one motion had the trolling motor down and made 3 casts and then throwed it down, fired the motor up and was on plane with a bunch of big waves everywhere.<br /><br />Now thats just plain stupid.

 

[Specks n Reds]

Re: Frustrated with the Tournament fisherman.

 

[DJ]

Re: Frustrated with the Tournament fisherman.

SBN,<br /><br />Stupid-yes.<br /><br />But, did you notice the fluidity of the movememnts. The pure art form of being able to do three things at once (none very well might I add). <br /><br />That guys been practicing those moves in his living room for a year. <br /><br />I will NEVER understand why a fishing boat has to go 80+.<br /><br />I guess I'll never get it!

 

[FLATHEAD]

Re: Frustrated with the Tournament fisherman.

Looks like I will have to go against the grain on this one.I think that using the term "tournament types" for these kind of yahoos is a bit of a blanket statement. I spend a fair amount of time on the water and run into yahoos all the time and they are usually not tournament fishing. My experience on the lake when a tournament is going on has always been just fine, as a matter of fact I have found the tourny guys more courteous and helpful then the weekend warriors that tear up and down the lake like maniacs or some of the sailboat guys that think they own the place. My 2 cents.

 

[BR549]

Re: Frustrated with the Tournament fisherman.

Djohns - I went to Logan Martin last weekend for the first time in about 10 years. Man that place has really changed - felt like I needed a coat and tie to get close to some of those new houses...