Can you follow the guys around and watch them fish? What is protocol? I want to be respectful and courteous, just not sure how far to stay away etc. Can you launch anywhere on the lake other than where they take off? I appreciate your replies.

Yes, you can follow. Public water. Use good judgement, stay back with the rest of the boats, helps to bring binoculars.

Good idea.

yes last year I fished the same hump with aaron martens. i was on it just fun fishing and when he pulled up I gave him most of the hump and we both caught some fish. I had 2 fives on 1 a rig cast and i wanted to take my shirt off and flex at him and then I remembered.... 1. i suck cause I was throwing an A rig. and 2. i suck cause i only caught 3 fish that day when 30lb bags were common. still fun fishing by those guys but you do need share the water. I remember mark rose and keith combs were both long lining the same point literally you could walk from one persons deck to other and then terry scroggins joined them and all 3 were fishing withing 5-10 yards long lining and firing up a school.

I have been a judge and can offer this in following them. Once they come off plane stay back and wait for them to get on trolling motor they may be graphing an area first. I have seen them get upset over boats running big motors over where they want to be. Keep you graphs off as well is just more noise to impact their fish. Other than that if you give them some respectful distance they really don't mind you being there.

I'm going to be working with TTBC doing a live blog and Twitter feeds. Someone else will handle the TTBC FB.

It's new for us. All the judges will have smart phones and (when in an area with good coverage) will upload photos and video to an account where I'll grab good stuff and send it out and post it online. I'll pick what to post. Some info may not go out live if it will have a direct influence on outcome such as sharing exact spots or techniques.

ATT is adding portable cell towers to increase signal coverage.

I will be judging this year for my 7th year. Personally I wouldn't fish. It's public water and you definitely can but it's better not to. They are only going to be there once a year. If you do fish don't be rude about it. I have seen a few boats do some pretty rude stuff like jump right in front of them. Stuff you shouldn't do to anyone you are fishing around.

For the most part people are very respectful. They keep a good distance and will listen if the angler asks them to move or not go to which direction they are fishing.

Keep your sonar off. Understand what they are fishing a stay back from the spot. Binoculars are good. You can follow the action on a smart phone .

Just remember the guys are trying to feed their families. . .

Also, remember most of us pay a lot for a fishing license.
That gives everyone that has one the right to fish anywhere, anytime.

Tournaments included

I don't know anyone who pays a lot for a fishing license. It's like $40. Now the boat and other stuff that's a different story.

Definitely public water. You can fish if you want.

When they had it on Conroe you would see 10X the number fishing on the TTBC Friday than any other Friday. Primary reason from what I could tell is they like to see what Pro they can catch more than. I guess it makes them feel like they could fish the tour. KVD had 14# and I had 18#..........

$47 dude

A lot of guys are out there looking for new spots and techniques as well. The pro shows them exactly where and what

This

Some people have no care....sad really. I am not talking about the guys just out there fishing. I am talking about the guys that go out there on day 1....gps the spots and then fish them during weigh in and the following days trying to be heroes. I was with a Pro on day 2 and right after take off he pulled up to his first spot. There was a boat sitting on it that observed him fishing on day 1. They finally got the hint, got pissed off and left. Same day, same pro but different location....the said pro is observed by another individual. The pro caught 30#'s in 15 minutes on a deep diver. The observer decides to tie off to a stump and start fan casting a carolina rig in the same area as where the pros marker bouy was. The observer caught 3 fish with one of them going over 10. I only know because the observer felt it necessary to broadcast it. Pretty sad if you ask me

I was Jason Christie's camera boat on last day last year. He was in contention ton win and ended up5th I think. There were maybe 25 total spectator boats at launch for all the Top 10 and I think we had 2 boats come and watch him fish but neither stayed lonfer than 10-15 minutes. Reality from what I saw is that none of the pros fished any super secret water or spots. They fished community spots but did so more effectively. I did not see Christie or any other pro on a spot I had not fished or knew about.
You can go back and pull up the posts on here from Fork that week prior and hear how tough the bite was. Guys were saying there was no deep bite. The TTBC came to town and start throwing soft swimbaits out deep and break weight records. They just maximized what they had to work with is all.