Being a tournament angler, I' ve always wanted to quiz an assortment of anglers on their feelings on tournaments and there problems. I know there is some slob tourn. anglers out there that give us a bad name.

Please give your opinions on how we can " clean up" any perceived problems.

Basserman,
You' re forgetting a very important lesson the Marine Corps taught you.
" The 10%ers" There are ten percenters in every group, the non-comformists.
Remember them?
We always took care of them ourselves. In the states the punishment was fairly mild, but in Viet Nam it wasn' t.
I don' t know enough about tournament fishing to know what a tourney slob does, but there ought to be a way for the regulars to take care of them. Perhaps if the ligit. anglers were the first to point out the failings of the s**tbirds and how that is not common behavior for a sportsman, a real tournament angler. It may not take long for the spectating folks to recognize those " misbehavin' poops" , and ignore them, or better yet, eliminate them.
Maybe someone will say, " You' re disqualified from this tournament because you were a misbehavin' poophead in the last one" or something like that. Good luck.
I' ll watch your post, and replies, to pick up some tips on social behavior.

Gung Ho!.........Work Together! critch

Hey critch, I know alot of the problem areas with the rudness of high speed pass bys w/anchored fishermen and tying up landings. LOL I haven' t forgot the " 10%" . But we HAVE to police our ranks as these 10% rs stand out unfortunately.

My wife used to asked me why I didn' t join a Bass/Fishing club.

I decided years ago after listening to more than one of a few local " fishin clubs" and their various members constantly bad mouthin other members,clubs,boats,
equipment,fishing style etc... I would never join one of these clubs.

This is not to mention all the tourney slobs " At the Ramp" or " On the Water" I' ve come in contact with over the decades. Many seem to be concerned with only one thing while fishing a tourney - SELF!

The Tourney Slobs are far closer to 25-30% mark. Not 10%!!

Thanks AJ. I' m thinkin that the " slob" percentages flucuate with geographic area. Thanks for the input. Our area clubs do not seem to " trash" each other. Our club tourneys are designed to help and educate new members. Open tourns are probably a different story.

basserman,
Let me say,that I' m sure there are some very good clubs out there along with their membership and tournement manners.

I' ve just had some bad experiances in this region.[:@]

Well to start with I' ve been a member of B.A.S.S since 1975,and fished with a club for 10 years.I don' t fish tournaments anymore,but I bass fish all the time when the weather' s decent..I have two complaints with bass tournaments,1 fishing for spawning bass and taking them off their beds to the weigh in usually miles away..2 Hauling a livewell full of bass around all day in hot weather...Some bass tournaments have gone to " paper tournaments" they use a " golden rule" to measure the fish then release it on the spot , thats really the best way .Taking spawning bass off their beds to weigh in' s is a shame,just think of all the bass their killing..

I fish tournament here in N.B and one thing I would love to be changed is a more judges and spot checks of the tournament anglers. Plus we need some rules of " sportmen like conduct"

I think that in situations when there is a non boater it is unfair for the boater to go and bed fish. While the boater is sitting on a bed trying to catch the bass the non boater is stuck in the back.
I am not saying that bed fishing is wrong, there is plenty of evidence that shows bed fihing does not hurt bass populations.I just think that its unfair to the non- boater.

What is some of that evidence you have, that taking spawning bass off their beds and hauling them off to weigh ins doesn' t hurt? You must of heard that from your bassclub buddies. A few minutes after a bass guarding a nest is removed ,the eggs or fry are eaten.