FISHING TOURNAMENTS AND ABUSED BASS

Phil · Post by **Phil** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 10:29 am

It seems it is that time of year again to abuse our natural resources ( THE BASS) . I observed a no named bass club returning their weighed in Bass back to the Lake the other day at a no named lake, just to watch such terrible abuse. The boats were backing back up to the launch area, just to the edge of the water , reaching in and pulling out Bass one at a time and tossing them thru the air to water no deeper than a foot. Then to sit there and say " hey look the Bass are just staying there" Well I assume if someone just tossed you thru the air and you landed on something hard, you would just be there in shock or stunned for a while. Imagine all day riding in a small livewell, stressed, and just tossed back into shallow water !! The next day I went back and saw where at least three of the Bass had expired and laid there dead in about three feet of water next to the launch...
It seem it is time for some sort of governing or schooling of tournament ethics or manners, ?
Please lets take care of our Bass ; It's hard to fish for dead Bass !

Phil · Post by **Phil** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 11:38 am

BONES;

I DID NOT FORGET ANYTHING, BUT YOURS DID NOT HAPPEN SUNDAY 3-18-07 OK. THIS IS CURRENT A EVENT, AND I WANT TO LET THE LOCAL PEOPLE IN THAT AREA KNOW, THAT THIS IS COMMON PRACTICE OF BASS TOURNAMENTS, THERE WERE ALOT OF CAMPERS, KIDS AND JUST SPECTATORS WATCHING THIS HAPPEN.

THANKS

JIGS

clayton meyer · Post by **clayton meyer** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 11:59 am

did you contact the club president?

it won't do a bit of good if you stood by and did nothing. coming here and telling about it will not solve the problem unless the inconsiderate anglers read it and actually feel bad about it. Lake officals should have been notified. Maybe they will retrict that club from returning. They might even contact other lakes about their actions.

rexford · Post by **rexford** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 12:30 pm

Jigs,

Did you report it to the TD?

That is a shame I hope you were able to flag it as it happened
and action was taken.

Mike

Fishin' Dave · Post by **Fishin' Dave** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 12:38 pm

Do you know the name of the club and are protecting it? If you know the name, you should post it so you can be contacted

Phil · Post by **Phil** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 12:51 pm

ALL PROPER AUTHORITIES HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED AND/OR CONTACTED.

JUST ADVISING THAT ALL MIGHT WANT TO WATCH OUT ON WATERS YOU MIGHT BE FISHING. ESPECIALLY THIS TIME OF YEAR AND ALL YEAR IN FACT, WE NEED TO TAKE CARE OF OUR BASS.

DONE WITH COMMENTS ON THIS
THANKS ALL
JIGS

Fishin' Dave · Post by **Fishin' Dave** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 12:56 pm

I think your last line is all that needs to be said:

"WE NEED TO TAKE CARE OF OUR BASS"

leatherneck77 · Post by **leatherneck77** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 3:34 pm

Not only do we need to "take care of our bass", but we need to reinforce our image as sportsman. If the general public sees this, we are going to be looked down upon as just a bunch of reckless fisherman with no regard for the resource. We already have enough complaints from the likes of PETA do be doing things like this.

LEN B · Post by **LEN B** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 5:11 pm

Phill
I just happened to know what lake that was. I was trying to put my boat in when thay were comming out. Walking up the ramp with a weigh-in bag, bass but no water, then running over each other trying to get there boats out, saw three run over the fenders trying to get the boat on the trailer, had two cut me off in line so thay could get out before I could get in. My son looked at me and said what a bunch of idiots. Thats one bass club I don't want to be around.

Smile_n_Jax · Post by **Smile_n_Jax** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 6:19 pm

I'm looking into joining a bass club, but certainly wouldn't want to join that one. Could you please PM me the club name so I don't make a big mistake?

BassNCop · Post by **BassNCop** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 6:47 pm

which I'm sure it was because I was in it! It was at Don Pedro a few weeks ago and it wasn't a "Bass Club" either. I was in the last flight and we had a drive by weigh in. Instead of going clock wise through the weigh scales we went counter clock wise. This caused a major pile up on the boat ramp! It took me 45 minutes...or better to get out of the water and weigh our fish. Heck it took me 20 minutes just to get my boat on my trailer because the weigh scale line was backed up to the bottomw of the boat ramp. As for the releasing of fish by throwing them in the shallows.....I did not witness that so, no comment.

Gator · Post by **Gator** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 7:14 pm

I will add this about "Image".

I was a camera boat for this past weeks FLW event. It was a well run event all around, from th volunteers all the way up to Charlie Evans himself.

I was out fun fishing on Friday after my camera boat duties were done. I had gone to Sugar Barge for lunch (awesome burgers BTW) and left out and started fishing docks back towards Russo's. I get to one dock and am asked " Are you in this #$%^&*() tournament?" I respond "No, but I am a camera boat, what can I help you with?". The dock owner goes on to tell me how he had been trying to build structure/cover between his and a neighbors dock, and had put a buoy rope out to stop people from coming into the area. He then tells me, a fisherman, who identified himself as an FLW Pro, ran right across the buoy line and fished the whole area, tearing up all of the work he had done. When the dock owner confronted him about it, he was met with profanity and "I am a professional fisherman, I don't have to listen to you".

I am not lending credence to his story, but anything of this vein puts us in a bad light. Just think a little next time before you decide to do something that MAY be perceived as a negative by the entire community, just not the bass fishing one.

Phil · Post by **Phil** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 7:12 am

BassNCop wrote:which I'm sure it was because I was in it! It was at Don Pedro a few weeks ago and it wasn't a "Bass Club" either. I was in the last flight and we had a drive by weigh in. Instead of going clock wise through the weigh scales we went counter clock wise. This caused a major pile up on the boat ramp! It took me 45 minutes...or better to get out of the water and weigh our fish. Heck it took me 20 minutes just to get my boat on my trailer because the weigh scale line was backed up to the bottomw of the boat ramp. As for the releasing of fish by throwing them in the shallows.....I did not witness that so, no comment.

NO SIR, IT WAS NOT THAT TOURNAMENT !!!