How to handle other fishermen during tourney

[zippyduck]

I had the misfortune of fishing a lake that had too big of a tourney for that body of water. Every piece of structure had a boat on it, every shoreline looked like a checkout at Wal-mart.
But I do have to say that every boat I bumped into was polite and courteous. I even got hints on where to fish next time I'm there.
I was proud of the way they handled theselves on and off the water.
I sure hope all of us UBers act like this on the water.

[Captsteve]

Yes I'm a big believer in etiquette.  Good manners always pays off.

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[FloridaFishinFool]

War almost broke out on John's lake yesterday when tournament fishermen were harassed by nontournament fishermen intentionally.

One incident yesterday a local was angry at all the tournament fishermen on the lake and so he would pull his boat up close enough to tournament fisherman's boats that as one tournament fisherman said close enough to "spit in their boat" and then they yelled at each other and cut off each other's casting. It was nasty he said. Fortunately there was police on the lake to keep them from doing an ish Monroe on each other.

This type of thing happens all the time around here. Sometimes it gets too crowded and tempers erupt.

[Smallie_Stalker]

In my tourney fishing days I only experienced two instances of other anglers being a-holes.

On one occasion while I was a Federation angler our club had a permit to fish a pre-spawn tourney on a lake that we knew would have some fat girls waiting to be caught. When we met at the lake we noticed a group of about 20 boats lined up to launch and we recognized some of them and knew the owners were members of another club. So a few of us went over to talk to the guy we knew was the tourney director for that club. Since the MA Federation did not allow two clubs to officially fish the same lake on any given day we showed them our permit to fish that day and asked to see theirs which of course they didn't have. So we insisted they let us all launch first. After some choice words were exchanged they relented and moved so we could launch. The real problems started once we got on the water.

After the other club launched they intentionally disrupted almost everything we tried to do. One guy waited until one of our club members had hooked into what had to be a good fish and then he ran straight across his line and cut it with his trolling motor. The harassment continued but I have to give our guys credit because everyone kept a cool head.

We filed a complaint with the MA B.A.S.S. Federation but they said it was our word against theirs. Karma is a bitch though and not too long after that a few of the members of that club got caught cheating at an event that was part of another tourney circuit. That director reported them to MA B.A.S.S. and they were kicked out of the state Federation permanently.

In all my years of tourney fishing those were very rare events. The vast majority of guys were friendly and helped each other with things like loading and unloading boats, setting up weigh-in sites and all the rest. Those are the people I choose to remember as embracing the spirit of the true tournament angler.

[Oldfart9999]

The few times I've run across FLW or BASS guys they were considerate and even chatty but I've run across locals that should never be allowed on the water. I've had them pull up to dock I was fishing and cast over my bow, been fishing a tournament and had them pull up, pull fish then move on, not much can be done about those guys.
Rodney

[Nutoy]

In all my years of tournament fishing, I've seen some real winners when it comes to rude behavior on the water.
Rarely is it another tournament angler. It's usually a "local" that thinks they own the entire lake, or one that feels the only way to catch a fish is to work the "bent rod" pattern.
Sad to say, but in the past 5 years, it seems that sportsmanship and etiquette have gone out the window.
With the recent surge in high school fishing, there has come a new breed of angler. Keep in mind these youngsters are being "guided" by a "captain". In most cases it's the parent of one of the kids. Also, many of their tournaments will be on a Sunday with Saturday being their "practice" day. Several of their Saturdays have coincided with our tournament days.
On too many occasions, we've had these "captains" see us catch a fish from a couple hundred yards away, crank the big motor and pull up within FEET of our boat, and then tell the kids to throw right where we are throwing.
I usually try to explain to them nicely that we are fishing for $20,000 or more, and they have seen what they needed to come back tomorrow and possible do well in their tournament. Some will back off, but some will tell us it's a public lake and they can fish anywhere they want.
I'll then politely ask. Do you realize what are you teaching those young fellas? That it's ok to be unsportsmanlike and exhibit poor fishing etiquette.
Bottom line is, If they are being taught poorly, they won't know any better and continue doing what they were taught.
Not the youngsters fault, but a trend that needs to be corrected. That starts with the adult or parent.   

[coldfront]

agreed and understand where you all are coming from.

the other side is the guy who's worked his ass off all week, really been looking forward to some fishing on his favorite lake with some peace and quiet.

gets his home chores done Friday after work (grass cut, trimmed, etc).  excited for the next morning, preps the boat, tackle.  sleeps horribly cause he's so excited. 

shows up and is 50th in line behind the big tournament that's taking off at sunrise.   
finally gets out on the water, the stuff close by that he was intending to fish (good spots) has been washed out/blown out by all the wakes from blast off.  so he goes further afield, but most spots have a tournament guy already there.  so he waits patiently for them to fish it, leave.  sometimes they hit it and quit it.  but when they leave, they just drop the hammer and again blow out the spot.

early in the day, minutes can count with regard to the bite.

then, later in the day, as pressure mounts for tournament guys, they start running and gunning.  buzzing every where in their focussed pursuit of the next bite, the upgrade, that 5th fish.  whatever.

lakes rocking and rolling.

so much for how the IDEA of that day of fishing was going to go for our recreational guy.
__________________________________________________________________________

as a recreational guy, I try to stay off lakes with tournaments.  down here, that's awful tough to do.  the best defense is to choose a section of lake as far from blast-off as possible to get a little peace and quiet while  you can.  then, when you've gone out of  your way to find water without a tournament?  someone puts together one anyway.  and here comes the armada. 

not intending to be argumentative, but MY peace of mind after a week of work crap MIGHT just trump your desire to compete for a CHANCE at $20K or tour points.  guessin' that can lead to some of this 'on the water' conversation.

[Oldfart9999]

Take the guy what is rude and crude and just shoot em, the rest will calm down!
Rodney

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Meh. If I boat fished, I'd just avoid tournament days on the lake. The biggest ones are pretty easy to predict, they're advertised.
Bank fishing where I do, I haven't run into any tournaments. Could you imagine a 50+ boat tourney on this lake?
It gets crowded with 5 jon boats, even when the water's up.


The worst I've run into are a very few cases where someone's fished right on top of me. I've "accidentally" thrown across a line or two. Had extremely heated words with one guy who was harassing Connie. He didn't stick around long once he noticed the hog leg on my hip that's capable of disabling his motor and sinking his tub. I made no threats and never woulda pulled such a stunt, but we were both getting loud and I guess he decided discretion was the better part of valor.
The majority pull their lines in and troll past fairly quickly while exchanging a few pleasanties.

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