Bass Fishing Forum - Westernbass.com

From Inside Line:
One of the most controversial aspects of Major League Fishing is the rule assessing a penalty each time a landed fish touches the floor of the boat. If your fish even brushes the carpet, you’re forced to sit there and do nothing – can’t cast, can’t work on tackle, can’t even drink a Sqwinchers. Some people love it, thinking it promotes conservation. Others hate it, believing that it doesn’t serve any purpose.

Normally, I’d be pretty much agnostic on the topic. If all of the MLF owners-slash-participants want to keep the rule intact, that’s their business, and if they want to scrap it or replace it with something else, that’d be fine, too, but upon further consideration, I kind of like the drama of it. It’s not so much the time out, although I guess that affects strategy and efficiency, but rather the way that the competitors react.

Every time a fish hits the carpet, whether it’s a full-on belly flop or just a glance that might escape the judge’s eyes, you can see...

Read the rest on Gary Yamamoto's Inside LIne by Pete Robbins: http://www.insideline.net/index.php/201 ... pet-burns/

Interesting topic for sure .
I am not a tournament fisherman so I can only give you the viewpoint from a guy that has bass fished all the way back to the mid seventies .
This rule should be kept intact to protect our resources . Bass fishing and fishing in general has had the overall numbers of people pursuing and catching these resources higher than anytime in the history of our sport .
Tournament fisherman , tackles suppliers and even boat manufacturers need to lead the way in promoting and protecting our resources . Set a strong positive example for others in this industry to follow . When you have liberal/legal organizations , such as PETA doing everything possible to remove all access to our resources , it's important to have a large industry set a strong example of what we are doing to promote and protect our resources . Instituting a rule that protects the "slim" of a bass from getting removed due to touching the carpet of a boat is only a positive . Including a second rule that MLF doesn't have the same levels of dead loss because the fish is immediately weighed and released is only another positive .
Being concerned because some tournament fisherman has to wait two minutes because he can't follow the rules , silly?
Tight lines ,
Robb

I'm with robb all the way

I think the rule helps portray a level of respect for the fish that is not shown by all anglers
The ever popular 'swing a fish and drop it hard on the deck and have it flop around' is definitely not a good image for the sport. Especially if it adds another reason for any libtard 'fishing is cruel' folks to pursue their cause.
Ive always wondered why there is a 'no net' rule in the major tournament organizations ? An old school plastic net is hard on a fish yes. But a rubber meshed net seems cause minimal if any damage and fish really seem to relax once they are in it. I would think that having the option of using a net could create a lot less overall stress, especially on fish that may get played out to the point of exhaustion. The no net rule probably has helped make the swing 'em technique a normal practice, and many times its the easiest way. I do it myself sometimes for sure, but I try to be as gentle as possible.

Protecting a fish that you swing into the boat isn't rocket science.
Put down a wet micro towel onto the part of your deck where they typically land, and maybe another in the lower deck area. You can tuck the front deck towel into your TM pedal recess when you run.
Wet cloth protects slime.
Carpet will not be damaged or ruined by having a wet cloth spread over it.
It takes a little forethought, so you have it set up when you have one to swing, but it really isn't that hard.