Why put limits on tournaments but not any other fishing. If the tournaments were limited, people are still going to fish. Again, fishing pressure is just something that we have to deal with and do our best to learn to become better anglers. I know I sure would hate that on my only day off to fish in a month that I could not go to my home lake because oh they only allow so many people to fish per day. Again studies show tournaments how no negative effect on bass populations, so why pick those to limit. [/quote]


With my luck every day I was allowed to fish the wind would be 30mph sustained or it would be storming.

I’m not delusional. I played starting center for Lewisville for 4 years in a row. We went state and won. I never paid a dime out of my pocket. I never earned a dime from it either. I did accept a full four year scholarship to Baylor for music. Which, other than buying personal instruments to use, I never paid a dime for entry fees there either.

Who is paying all these entry fees for high school activities? Besides the fishing [censored], that’s on the kids.

To me the issue is the size of some of these. Heck I can't stand the big bass tournaments either, cuz of the size. Any complaints about getting cut off and other things like that, well guess what, it happens every weekend no matter who is fishing.

Why do you think they regulate commercial fishing on public waters?

The difference between recreational and tournament fishing is one comes for leisure and the other creates a large revenue source.

Anytime there is money to made, things change.

Follow the money.

Tournament sanctions are in place to create revenue primarily.

Or don't.

If nothing is done and things stay the same...just pull this thread up in 10 years and see how ideas are perceived then.

I appreciate the resume…as a 4 year starter, who received a college scholarship for football, coached High School ball and I’m currently in administration for athletics, I’m telling you, your incorrect. I approve the checks for all the sports we pay entry fees into as a district. I already said not all districts operate their bass teams as we do….we operate it and it’s classified through the district as a sport. We pay LOTS of money as a district for our students to compete in every sport, and our anglers are no different. We don’t charge them to compete any different than we do football or tennis players. But don’t kid yourself, there’s way more money than you could imagine that we invest to operate all sports and provide our students an opportunity to have their school paid for in college.

Because commercial fishing actually does deplete resources. No one gives a s if it’s hard for someone catch a bass because the fish are educated.

Really?

Like one looks up at a buzz bait and “says I bit on that thing 2 years ago and next thing I knew a man was jerking my lip. Ain’t doing that again!”

Or like they have degrees in soft plastics, hard baits, etc?

Sorry, I thought I was still talking to bass buster who was talking about pressured fish.

I think one of the differences between HS fishing and other HS sports is that football, baseball, track, etc all have some sort of revenue earning potential for the school. So it is actually a bit more of an "investment" than an "expense".

And good for you (as a school) for helping and recognizing the HS fishing program, I know that most schools, at best, consider them nothing more than an outside program like the chess club. The school I currently captain for has made a point to include the anglers in the spring athletic banquet and recognize the accomplishments they have achieved for the year.

Everyone should read the two books JPerdue which frequents this forum wrote, it is eye opening what pressure does to a fishery. Good luck everyone and keep up status quo. Years from now we will be talking about how it "used to be" just like they talk about Fork in the 90s...

I think one of the differences between HS fishing and other HS sports is that football, baseball, track, etc all have some sort of revenue earning potential for the school. So it is actually a bit more of an "investment" than an "expense".

And good for you (as a school) for helping and recognizing the HS fishing program, I know that most schools, at best, consider them nothing more than an outside program like the chess club. The school I currently captain for has made a point to include the anglers in the spring athletic banquet and recognize the accomplishments they have achieved for the year.
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Much like colleges….Football is the only sport that has any profit margin. Every single other sport costs more to operate than it generates. That’s why all ticket sales go directly to a general athletic budget so that money can be used to help offset the costs associated with the demands of other sports. Concessions are also huge, which is why so many programs line up to claim rights to make all that money.

Everyone wants to compare apples to oranges when they don’t fully understand the logistics. The “I played football once before in Jr High”, therefore, “I’m the authority on all things sports related”…doesn’t really equate.

Football, basketball, baseball, track, tennis, fishing, bowling, golf, cheer, powerlifting, lacrosse are all sports, but don’t necessarily share the same identity.

I won state tennis in ‘87. Singles

It's obviously great for the industry and the kids, but the lack of etiquette amongst some of them is definitely an issue. Many of these Dad's have never tournament fished and buy a boat because there son's love it. Again, not a bad thing, but they need to learn the rules. I think all of the kids should be required to go through an etiquette class before competing in these tournaments.

Here's a run in I experienced at Lake O' The Pines during one of these tournaments:

I was sitting on a rocky point during the first 2 hours of the tournament.(I was in a separate tournament) I was catching them on a sweet spot nearly every other cast with a crankbait. I see a boat coming down the bank flipping bushes. I'm thinking they'll going around me on the point and continue flipping bushes...nope, they come right up on me, pick up a crankbaits and cast to the exact same sweet spot where I'm catching the fish. Our crankbaits were literally landing in the same exact spot. I didn't want to say anything because kids were involved, but ended up having a conversation with the dad, and they moved on. This is the kind of behavior that gives high school tournaments a bad name. But, it I think it could be helped with some education.

I've heard similar stories from many people, so there's definitely an issue, or it wouldn't be talked about so much.

Any angler that thinks this is ok is not at all good for the sport.

Agreed Sir.