ethics question

[mhall]

Good thoughts goldenchild. I do want to clarify though, it's not JUST the tourney guys either, there are alot of weekend warriors that think their time on the water is much more precious than anybody else's as well. Wanted to get that out there before the flaming began, lol.

[stripernut]

hahahaha....had the same thing happen that mhall did. fishing spinnerbaits on a cumberland bluff one night and met a boat, i let them pass close to the wall and i went outside, i asked them if they were doing any good and they said "well we cant say, we're fishing a tournament" , i said cool good luck. when we fished the stretch of bank they just fished we boated 3 big chunk smallmouth in about 2 minutes. i could hear one of the guys ask the other one "did you see what they were throwing?" hmmmm....maybe they should have taken a minute to be human and talk a little. i understand the drive to win and be sucessful but people lose sight of where they started....bluegill, catfish 10 inch bass, and it was alot of fun!

[mhall]

BINGO stripernut...................Hey at least your guys actually said something at first, mine just looked at me like I just kicked their champion birddog, lol.

[ElectricSLT]

To much bickering on the lakes these days, to much disrespect for others, to many people that plain and simply do NOT think about anyone but themselves with a total disregard for his or her fellow fisherman...ain't sayin' anyone's wrong, ain't sayin' anyone's right either...just sayin'.

I think a lot of people are missing out on what time on the water is all about.

Great point Chubminnow - I've made a point this last year to go out of my way to respect other boaters - like mhall said "I'll swing wide as I always do and go around" - give others room to fish - boat - and you know - it has helped me enjoy the time on the water . . .

Maybe this group can start to change some of the bad attitudes on our waters today - treat everyone with respect - even if they don't deserve it . . . maybe it will catch on!

Anyway it has helped me lower my blood pressure when I'm on or going to the water!

[Bobby Headrick]

In some tourney circuts you are not allowed to talk to other fisherpeople other than sya hey or ok something like that as it is against the rules in some of the bigger tourneys and in some of the smaller BASS and FLW affilited tourneys, we fished a two dayer on Barren this week end and had a boat move in on our spot we said not a thing and he noticed that we were foshing up his way and he turned around and went back the way he came, we caught three behind him and one was a good keeper the other a good slot, but when I am fishing a tourney I will always swing around and contionue the way I was going, and go on. There are some bad seeds now in the tourney circuts, and they make a bad name for all, but if a tourney guy does not speak to you do not take it as that they are rude it may be because there rules do not allow it. But there are a***** everywhere also. When I am in a tourney that dont allow outside help, if another boat comes up and starts to talk I just smile and tell them that I cannot talk as I am in a tourney that does not allow that, only a few tourneys are ruled this way, and hope they understand.

[lroberts]

In some tourney circuts you are not allowed to talk to other fisherpeople other than sya hey or ok something like that as it is against the rules in some of the bigger tourneys and in some of the smaller BASS and FLW affilited tourneys, we fished a two dayer on Barren this week end and had a boat move in on our spot we said not a thing and he noticed that we were foshing up his way and he turned around and went back the way he came, we caught three behind him and one was a good keeper the other a good slot, but when I am fishing a tourney I will always swing around and contionue the way I was going, and go on. There are some bad seeds now in the tourney circuts, and they make a bad name for all, but if a tourney guy does not speak to you do not take it as that they are rude it may be because there rules do not allow it. But there are a***** everywhere also. When I am in a tourney that dont allow outside help, if another boat comes up and starts to talk I just smile and tell them that I cannot talk as I am in a tourney that does not allow that, only a few tourneys are ruled this way, and hope they understand.

Interesting...I would like to know how many others out there have fished a tourney where the rules said you cannot talk to others! I understand the "no help" rule, which makes sense. But, as far as I know we are free to talk to who we want when we want, unless it is getting outside info (i.e cell phone/on the water buddies)!

[MsgMills]

Ha, reminds me of the same thing that happened to me. Only after we passed the other boat. We caught one around 4lbs not 50 yards from where they cut us off at. Low and behold to pay them back, but good. I told my b-i-l to not take the hook out of the fish's mouth, but to make a big deal about the size of the fish and then drop it over board..Still on the line mind you. I tell him to wait about 2 min then act like he's setting the hook again and reel in the same fish. While he's doin this i raise the trolling motor and drop my anchor.
Now since peeps have to stay at least 50 yards from a anchored boat while in a tournament. I have him reel in the fish and i net the fish again...Again make a big scene of how big the fish is and wat not while the other boat is still watching us.. They can't actually see what were really doin. So i tell him to do the same thing again with the fish. By now these boys are headed back down the bank towards us in an amazing way. Before they get close enough my b-i-l sets the hook again and reels in the same fish again. I net the fish and finally hold up the fish for the other boat to see again of course. By thsi time they are close enough to start askin questions of like man wat you catching them hogs on and so forth. I start fillin them up with BS big time and tell them that i ain't in no tournament but don't want them to mooch in on my spot. They actually offered me 50.00 to leave the spot and let them have it, so I took the money, pulled up anchor and went on down the bank.

These guys were so dumb to the situation they actually pulled up thier trolling motor and dropped an anchor. We watched them for the better part of two hours from with in the cove and they never caught a fish from the spot. Another 20 min. go buy and my b-i-l and i leave the cove and happy as hell to have made 25.00 a piece for catching 1 four pound Bass in the cove.

So my payback was trully a great one indeed...lol

[ukbass]

In some tourney circuts you are not allowed to talk to other fisherpeople other than sya hey or ok something like that as it is against the rules in some of the bigger tourneys and in some of the smaller BASS and FLW affilited tourneys, we fished a two dayer on Barren this week end and had a boat move in on our spot we said not a thing and he noticed that we were foshing up his way and he turned around and went back the way he came, we caught three behind him and one was a good keeper the other a good slot, but when I am fishing a tourney I will always swing around and contionue the way I was going, and go on. There are some bad seeds now in the tourney circuts, and they make a bad name for all, but if a tourney guy does not speak to you do not take it as that they are rude it may be because there rules do not allow it. But there are a***** everywhere also. When I am in a tourney that dont allow outside help, if another boat comes up and starts to talk I just smile and tell them that I cannot talk as I am in a tourney that does not allow that, only a few tourneys are ruled this way, and hope they understand.

I think that is very rare. I have fished BFL's, Weekend Series, , boat dealer tourneys and everything in between. I've never heard of a rule where you couln't speak to anyone. Now they don't won't you out and out trying to gain extra info., I understand that. But to say you can't engage in casual converstation, I've never heard of that. When most guys ask you if you are doing any good, they are just making friendly conversation. Now I'm not trying to start a riot here, but honestly have never heard of this.