My water.......Your water

[Jim Conlow Sr.]

Why is it that so many fishermen think that they are the only ones to have discovered that there were fish in a certain area and then get seriously pissed if they find someone else there on game day.
If you have a late start on day one and you find someone on your number one spot. the next day you will have an early start which is to give you a better chance.
So are you not supposed to go to that spot that you wanted to go to on the first day?
Or you maybe you have figured out about 7 or 8 places to fish and did not even look at all of them on day one but just had a hunch and went to a spot where someone else had fished on day one. Are you supposed to leave because the other guy said he fished there on day one? I rerally dont think so.
And I think it is unsportsmanlike to try to intimidate the guy who is already there.
If you truly picked that spot because you had fished it before then I think you have every right to fiish there. There probably is not a clump of tulies any where on any lake that hasnt been fished by tournament fishermen. Does that mean that the newbies dont have the right to fish there?

[Hollywood]

hey old man jim, that "crappie" sight fishing spot is my water, keep your old geezer eyes off of it!

[Ricky-S]

I completely agree with you Jim. No one owns the water except God.

On the same token, anglers should respect one another and communicate as to avoid confrontations.

There isn't my water or my spot. However, there is the idea that you followed me during the cut and found this water based on you following one of the leaders to a spot that they fished throughout the tournament.

Two totally different things.

[g-man]

I agree with Jim. Waterways are public access. If you snooze you lose.

I also agree with Ricky. You shouldn't be running around spying on your competition. But if you do than thats your own deal. Its just not something I would do. At the same time if someone does do it I would not hate on them either. Its a free country do as you please, as long as its legal.

[L.Hackney]

Well put "G".

[Hollywood]

since when does "G" have water? He's just a rookie!

Well put "G".

[L.Hackney]

Haa, Ha , you got a point...... LOL

[Paul W]

I agree with Jim. Waterways are public access. If you snooze you lose.

I also agree with Ricky. You shouldn't be running around spying on your competition. But if you do than thats your own deal. Its just not something I would do. At the same time if someone does do it I would not hate on them either. Its a free country do as you please, as long as its legal.

well said!

[MIKE TREMONT]

I once had this spot on Berryessa that I was sure no one else was aware of. It's very small and off shore. I found it just out playing around. It usually held some good fish and I couldn't wait to until I was tournament fishing.
We had a small club event one day. It was after a big event the day before. One of our club members had taken 2nd the day before and was looking foward to taking our money again.
None of us shared this spot info, I had never seen anyone on this spot-guess where the both of us were racing to?
This little spot was no secret. You don't no how many times I've shown my new team partner some of "my water", just to hear him say, "yea I fished this before".
Last year during a pro/am I was in the back of a boat and thought there was going to be blows between the pros, I even fished this spot in the past. There ain't no secrets, they are just excuses to get vocal and whine (for some).
Don't get me wrong, it sucks when you come up on one of your key spots and someone else is already it abusing for you. You just got to go to plan "B"-have a plan "C" as well

[Jim Conlow Sr.]

I have never done well enough in a tournament for any one to want to follow me

[Marty]

*NM*

[Jim Conlow Sr.]

I alreaddy hung a sign on that tree.

KEEP OUT
KEVINS
CRAPPY
HOLE

[Smile_n_Jax]

I'm just a fun fisherman, but I understand where Mike is coming from. No one owns the water. If you have a "special place" and find someone else there, well, that's the way it goes. Go to plan "B" or "C". Just don't get your shorts in a knot over it.

[Ricky-S]

Well Jim when you do we will see how you really feel about going to the next tournament on the same water (maybe a week or more later) and seeing the vary faces that followed you to learn, only to have them employing what they learned WHERE they learned it.

Imagine if it took you years to learn something and it took a day for a follower to steal.

It's not talking about owning the water, it's about the group of anglers that are OK with following you after they were eliminated to steal (I mean learn) why they were eliminated.

I doubt that the Reeses, Dobyns or Sapp got where they are by following other anglers. They put in there time and worked to get where they are.

No one owns the water.

[Hollywood]

thanks jim, we dont want anyone breaking my clear lake record for largest crappie caught especially on my water. lol

[Fishin' Dave]

It's all mine!

If you guys are that worried, just stay home.

This has gotten more ridiclous than a Hollywood thread.

FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, JUST BE THANKFUL YOU CAN EVEN GO AND LEAVE THE TICKY TACK STUFF TO SCHOOL GIRLS!!!!!!

[Hollywood]

Dave you diffently don't have any water since your too busy playing cut and paste with construction paper and magazine ad cutouts your sending to people you want to buy a house from you................

School girls? Are they Japanese? Have you seen what they "dont" wear?

[Andy Giannini]

It is public water. And you can go riding around wherever. But there is a difference between coming up with your own strategy and fish, vs. following someone else and trying to catch the fish they had scouted out. Yes of course, technically you should have followed the leader pronto, its legal and everything, and it is public water, and you are a GREAT personal fan of the guy you are following, etc.

But it is wrong. If you have not figured that out, follow the leader and ask him how he feels about it. Still feel great? Go to church and ask the Pastor.

It is public water, and that's fine, but just because you are losing, doesn't mean you should follow the winners around to make shortcuts of the fishing. Yes you would be stupid not to, but you would be even more more stupid to follow. Let those guys do their thing catch those fish.

There is not one single pro that I can think of that would dispute what I just said. They are not lining up to say,

"Follow me! I love it!"

I am done with this topic.

Flame on,

A.G.

And I am not talking about ending up at the same place, or ownership of a "SPOT" I am probably drifting off what Jim originally posted. Good spots are like fire hydrants. If you watch one long enough, every dog in town will show up and piss on it. Same is true for Bass fishing, everybody will come along and claim they found it first! HAR!

[lionkiller]

Only thing that bugs me is when someone see you on fish & decides to 'join' you-within casting (cursing) distance. I WILL h8 on that all day!

Oh, & when someone shows me sometplace new, I ask before I fish it again -in case they need that pot of fish. Just a return courtesy to someone who saved me about a year's worth of running back & forth with my meter on.

[Jim Conlow Sr.]

I agree that it is not kosher to follow, but some people have the perception that if another fisherman is fishing somewhere that they wanted to fish, taht the only way the guy could have found that spot was because they saw him there.
Sometimes I have cruised by a spot in practice planning to pre fish there only to find that some well known guy is there checking it out. If I go there during game day it was not because of seeing him there it was because I had been successful there in the past.
If I am prefishing somewhere and Barrack or Sapp cruise by and then on game day I find them there am I to think they are fishing their water.
What we need to do is stop all of this crap and follow the rules. If the rules say that there is no distance away from other boats that we can fish from them unless they are anchored then nobody should be badmouthed for following that rule.
The first time that I can remembr fishing in the delta was in 1937 in bigbreak before all of the abandoned barges had rotted away. Does that mean that the rest of you guys need to stay out of big break.
I remember going to Whiskey slough to visit my uncles who had a still there where they making whiskey to sell to the bars in oakland.
Im not sure if thats how the place got its name or not. But we used their boat to fish there in the slough.
The truth is none of us have any water and all of this talk about sombodies elses water only helps to discourage the new guys from signing up for tournaments

[Jim Conlow Sr.]

not one of the places that I fished with the three different Pros were places that I hadnt fished before and two of the places that we fished and caught fish were places that I showed them that they had never fished before.
I did not say anything about condoning the following of fishermen but if you look at the weekend tv shows the big name Pros are playing to the audience constantly, The audience consists of people in bass boats that have followed them to where they are fishing. Guys who will respect that water until the tournament is over.
The fact is that there are really no secret places, and for us to act like there are and that others cant fish there only discourages the new guys from fishing

[Andy Giannini]

I gotcha Spinnerbait.

I would say that some people are egomaniacs, and sometimes as paranoid as "tweakers".

It reminds me of an incident at a lake. My friends were fishing this island hump that was submerged. A young guy who was leading an event came over and cursed them for taking HIS spot. He was going on saying bad things. He finally pissed off one of the older guys.

"You nitwit, my partner has been fishing this spot since you were in diapers. You didn't discover it by any means."

A.G.

(Think I took two different threads and made a composite rant earlier.)

[Jim Conlow Sr.]

I guess you can remember back when the Irish mafia was making booze for the Italian speakeasy joints too. Or at the very least remember the stories.
My uncles used to transport it in one lunger Montereys down to the foot of Broadway in Oakland where jack London Square is now. They would off load 5 gallom tins of the booze down there

[Fishin' Dave]

oh boy, we have made a left on to memory lane .....

[Jim Conlow Sr.]

But it was for the purpose of disclaiming that any water is off limits to anyone just because I fished there before or because hundreds of other people have fished there before.

[Fishin' Dave]

Yes, having some Cherokee blood in me would lay claim to a lot of water.

I was just jonesing you Jim.

[Jim Conlow Sr.]

*NM*

[g-man]

First fished the Delta in 1937. Wow Jim it is your water...

[Steve]

The same sorta thing happens at a recreational level.

All public water is free to anybody to fish, thats fair and square. If I choose to take somebody to a spot Ive already accepted the fact that they may return there, and they may tell others about the spot.

So it really comes down to my decision. Do I bring somebody to a hot spot and accept the potential consequences? Its a tough question, and unfortunately its one everybody faces.

Heres a way to deal with it. Only take your buddies to your hot offshore spots in the dark, that way they cant ever find them again. But make sure they havent snuck a handheld GPS on board!

[MN]

Jim's correct these are the type of thing's that keep guy's like me from fishing tournament's just to much drama.

I was fishing just last Saturday and these two guy's behind me actually went around me with there electric motor and no more than 25' in front of me they started fishing.

Well the fish were all along this stretch of bank so i just turned around and headed back the other way.They saw me catch a fish so here they came and did the same thing.I thought this is weird so i started back the other way.Sure as heck another fish and here they come.

I guess it was their water i was fishing.

[Tom Sharp]

MN,
If you have thought about tour. fishing DO...99.99% of the guys you met and fish with are great, you will never regret the thrill. The guys might have just been fun fishing and had nothing working, so following you was a complinment.....

Fish an Event YOU WILL NOT BE SORRY.......

[Hollywood]

Jesus, Jum, 1937??? did they even make rods for bass back then?? Was Dee Thomas even born yet???

First fished the Delta in 1937. Wow Jim it is your water...