... follow us around during practice and in competition to see where we’re fishing ...

[WB Staff]

From Mike Iaconelli on Bassmaster

I’ve thought about this topic for a few days now. I wanted to be sure I wanted to write about it. The thinking is over. I do want to write about it. If we don’t get this out in the open and figure out a way to deal with it our sport is going to suffer — bad.

I’m talking about the jerks who follow us around during practice and in competition to see where we’re fishing and then move onto our spots and fish them. Sometimes they wait until we leave but at other times they move in right on top of us in the middle of a tournament day. Either way it’s discourteous and disrespectful. I don’t know what else to call them besides jerks. (Well, actually I do know what they are but B.A.S.S. wouldn’t publish it if I wrote it so I might as well go with jerks.)

This problem started about five years ago, or at least that’s when I first started noticing it. Back then it was confined to the big events. But now it’s happening in every tournament, and not just to me. I’d guess that way over half the Elite guys can tell stories about it.

I’ve had two especially bad experiences recently. At Toledo Bend a guy fished my spots the moment I left them — same guy more than once — even though Sam Rayburn is only about 30 minutes away and is every bit as good a lake as Toledo Bend.

The other one was at the TTBC. This guy who probably fancies himself a bass angler cut in front of me as I was fishing a bank and then fished everything in front of me with a vengeance. He was really fishing hard. This was in the middle of the tournament. Really, how many other hot bass lakes are around Lake Ray Roberts? Was my spot the only one he could fish?

Read the rest: http://www.bassmaster.com/mike-iaconell ... -our-sport