I had a Weekend Series guy on Palestine come close enough that I could have tossed a donut to him one morning. He started throwing within a foot or so of my boat. I asked him if he would prefer to just get in the boat with me. He said, "No, but I sure would like to fish under you." His co-angler was obviously terribly embarrassed and later told me he did the same thing to other people that day.

My comments are not.directed at the Professional. Seems the professionals act accordingly.

More towards those that think everyone follows professional fishing and should know when to stay off the lake, to give up their spot, etc.

Dont think anyone is wrong to ask, i just couldnt imagine doing it.

It doesn't seem like Jordan was rude. It also doesn't sound like he entered the situation feeling entitled. The local guy declined to share the fish and Jordan left. Could someone explain how this is being spun into a discussion about how tournament anglers act entitled? Some strong opinions and harsh words being shared regarding a benign situation.



I can't imagine Jordan would ever come up and be rude about a situation like this with another angler, but what Jarrett said about local guys jumping on their spots does happen everywhere.
Jordan had some spots, like Thrift where he was putting together a limit fairly quickly. If this guy jumped his spot, shame on him but I guess we wont know but I cant imagine too many would have handled it any better than Jordan did...
IMO its a low class deal on the other guy not to just ease off to another part of the 7500 acres of water, considering they were fishing a tournament like that, but it is what it is...and this is todays bass fishing.

Sorry if I'm mis-interpreting your post, but you end it with some puzzling statements. You seem to suggest "today's bass fishing" might be different than, let's call it "yesterday's bass fishing." I fully agree, but what do you think has changed?

As far as "yesterday's bass fishing," I can guarantee you that my grandfather didn't have to check 30 different tournament schedules to see if it was "safe" to go fish his favorite spots on his local lake. I can guarantee you that he wasn't called low class or shamed if he didn't quickly go on his way to another part of the lake if somebody else pulled in on the spot he'd been fishing. He was a friendly guy, with lots of friends, and I can guarantee you that he would have received more grief from his friends if he'd hid his tail between his legs and backed away from biting fish rather than sticking around to catch all he could. That was "yesterday's bass fishing."

So I agree, today's bass fishing has changed, but I think it'd be hard to argue that it's the average angler just looking to go out and blow off some steam and catch some fish that has changed the vibe on the water. Sure seems to me the change in expectations if coming from tourney pros and fanboys, and that's why this has turned into a discussion.

Yesterday’s bass fishing was when I’d borrow Dad’s truck and my uncle’s aluminum flat bottom boat and drive along the Mississippi River levee to a place nobody ever fished, in the borrow pits on the river side of the levee. Drag the boat through the mud, to the water. Pile my one rod and my tackle box in, and my trusty paddle, and bass fish. Double spinner black and yellow H&H. Fish all day, catch a mess of bass, and never see another human.

Today I go to lakes where dozens of other fishing boats are, skidoos are zooming around, and if a tournament is on, there are bass boats going 85 miles an hour to their next GPS spot. Truth be told, I’m not a good enough fisherman or a lucky enough one to be sitting on the spot a pro wants, but if I am, I’m fishing right here till I’m tired of fishing right here.

Fishing has changed, and not for the better.

the beers were good that night though...

I cant think of one hole on my home lake that I couldn't give up for a day if I knew the second largest bass tournament in the world was on my home lake. I certainly wouldn't want to think I cost that angler a life changing amount of money. $300,000 would have probably gone a long ways for his family.

I've never had anyone ask to fish any of my spots. If ya'll are having lots of people wanting to fish your spots you must be very special.

Just throw a marker buoy out sometime when you're not catching fish and need some entertainment. Makes you feel special when guys idle by, side-scanning under your boat and dropping waypoints.

This is The Truth, LOL

Or what I like to do just to drop one about 50yds from the boat and watch guys driving all over it scanning nothing

I didn't read all of this thread, but I'm thankful for God allowing me to fish during the week, and that's that. If you can't choot 'em, boatramp 'em…..

Should I wave at them or just ignore them? I think I'll wave and ask them if they're TFF members and know a guy named Tallgrass .