There is a real problem with attendance and conflict becasue so many of the
members also fish some team torunaments with real money involved. Some guys
feel that they are giving away all their secrets when they fish with a
random back boater one weekend and then that person is fishing out of the
back of somebody else's boat the next weekend. It is a real issue. I
understand it, but I hate to see the club become just another team
tournament club. I think more guys may come back to fishing it, but then
there is no place for a new guy to break in, and no way for a non-boater at
all.

Personally I would never have started fishing tournaments and I probably
wouldn't own a bass boat if it wasn't for the current boat/noboat format. I
really enjoy fishing tournaments and I have met some really great people not
the least of which is my team partner Kwame Kuanda (Hammer) becasue of
tournament fishing. A lot of them I never would have met if I hadn't
started out last year fishing Yuma Bassmasters as a nonboater. I admit
there a few people who might not think thats any big loss, but I believe you
have to look to the future if you want to continue to have a good group of
anglers to compete against. I take my kids fishing, but thats only two
people.

Yuma Bassmasters has something that is really cool. I appreciate everything
I have gained because of it, and I hate to see it go. I am sure there have
to be other options that can help reduce the friction and still offer teh
opportunites. I promised myself I would fish one full season as a nonboater
(this season in which I finished third) and then I was going to fish it as a
boater. I was looking forward to fishing with more different guys and maybe
helping a newbie or two get into it. If this change comes about I have no
particular incentive to fish the series. Its just another team series. I'm
sure I'ld have no problem finding a partner for it, but if I wanted to fish
more team torunaments I'ld hit up Hammer to fish some other ABA regions with
me or maybe go fish some WON Bass Pro tournaments.

There are some options that would help. Fish different water. Basically we
have two choices. Fish the river above Imperial Dam or fish Mittry Lake.
The river is a huge fishery with many lakes, backwaters, and huge sections
of bank that all produce fish. It also draws attention and has some decent
money won in various club team, semi pro team, and federation tournaments.
There are no serious tournaments on Mittry Lake so no matter what there
wouldn't be any real money causing conflict if we fished there. Its not a
huge lake, but it can easily handle a 30 or 35 boat tournament once a month.
Going back on the river some guys are afraid to show each other anything.
Another option is to allow non-boaters to fish as a boater for a tournament
if there are not enough boaters to get everybody off the bank. Thats was
brought up and voted on last year and voted down. Unfortunately there were
almost no nonboaters at that meeting. I am sure there have to be other
things that can be done, and rebuilding might no be as fast as just changing
formats, but the existing format does something idealistic for fishing as a
whole.

I'm sure I rambled, and I probably typed something stupid above, but I'm
just going to hit send without rereading any of it.

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"go-bassn" wrote in message
...
Any idea why some want to change the format Bob?

--
Warren

http://www.warrenwolk.com
Http://www.tri-statebassmasters.com
2004 NJ B.A.S.S. Federation State Champions

"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
...
One thing you can always count on is change.

Yuma Bassmasters has a unique format. It is a pro/am draw. Boaters
compete with boaters for points and non-boaters compete with non-boaters
for
points.

For an individual tournament the boater and non-boater are paired up and
fish as a team.

I thought it was really cool. It gave a new person a real opportunity
to
meet with and fish with different people every month. Its a great
opportunity to learn and explore new waters.

It may all change. It has been proposed to make Yuma Bassmasters a
stright
team format like Desert Bass and ABA and WON Bass.

If you are a member or thinking of becoming a member you should come to
the
December meeting. That is when it will be decided.

Personally I am against the change, and I will vote against it. For or
against you should show up and you should make your vote count.

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