"alwaysfishking" wrote in message
...
I was camping these past few days at a State park. Well Saturday morning
comes and I head out to the lake for some early morning fishing.
As I am fishing a particular shoreline and I see this bass boat coming
behind me from the other side of the lake. Two guys pull up and go right
in front of me, maybe 50-75 feet away. I yell over to the guy that I'm
fishing here and that maybe there's somewhere else he wants to try. He
responds with. "Are you fishing a tournament?" "No" I reply.
He states " Well we are and we won't get in your way, we're just gonna
work our way down" again I voice my displeasure at his inabiltiy to
grasp the concept that I'm fishing there. He ignores me now and continues
to keep fishing. I put down the rod and troll in front of him about 20
yards ahead to a laydown tree in the water. Cast my speedworm to the outer
limbs and feel a solid thump, I set the hook and get into a nice fish, I
boat a nice 2.5 lb bass, hold it up and yell this one would be a good
tournament fish huh guys?, then release it and motor away. A few comments
I could not make out from the duo but I didn't care I was happy. The
boater seemed a little more than upset.
Question: Was I right in doing what I did? Or should I have trolled to a
different location considering I wasn't in a Tournament. What would you
have done. One suggestion was to try and see what I could snag from their
deck with my lures. What are the groups thoughts? I would do it again in
a heartbeat.
As a long time recreational angler and a short time tournament angler I feel
that nobody has the right to cut off another angler. The courtesy of
atleast asking would be appropriate, but I do not believe a tournament
angler has any more right to a stretch of bank than a recreational angler.
We both paid for the same license. If anything I feel tournament anglers
should be held to a higher standard. We are mnore visible and we should
make the sport look better not worse.
I have pulled off many a bank and gone somewhere else even when I was
unethically (If not against the rules) cut off by another tournament angler.
It makes me mad, but I try to get over it and get back to fishing.
--
Bob La Londe
http://www.YumaBassMan.com