I know several guys who have become good fish finders by being coanglers.

I’ve always said finding fish is the hard part…

A lot of the co-angler and club guys buy product that allows the manufacturer to sponsor angler and the sport. Guys who fish regularly and are hard into the sport typically up a lot of tackle, electronics, rods, reels, etc. Seems like they are biting a hand that feeds them. No co-angler at the Elite level makes sense. You probably see more and learn more as a Marshall. I sat in the boat a day when Patrick Walter’s won the first tournament at Fork where he was scoping. It was an eye opener for any one who wanted to scope. Both on what he caught and what it took to do it all day long, never pausing, exactly how he enticed them to bite, how far they followed it, etc.

Scoping adds another thing that hamstrings the co-angler. No different than drawing a guy sight fishing. It’s the co-angler putting up the entry fee. He knows he is liable to draw someone scoping. They know the expectations for Co-angler and Pro. There isn’t anything people won’t complain about.

I guess they didn’t have much choice if they couldn’t put a co-angler in the boat the majority of the time. Still even then everyone had a an equal opportunity to draw or not draw one.

Are they really hurting themselves? Probably talking maybe a few hundred people nationwide if that many will be directly affected by not having co-anglers. Those same people affected Probably are not gonna stop fishing altogether. They will still be buying tackle etc whether they fish the Opens or not.

Since when has a co angler found fish? Ever…in the history of ever!

it has happened a lot….believe it was FLW event….co angler made long cast way the ledge and caught 6 lb fish…pro turned around and cast into that area and there was school of fish that enabled him to win….it’s happened many times both with location of fish and lures/technique…

WOW
A double edged sword here.
I started as a Co back with Top 150 late 90's. Fished and learned from a few top name draws.
Did a Pro/Am took co to my"brush" next tournament he and another beat me off my !@#$% own brush.
Left a sour taste. ABA no longer has Co's , made me glad!!No offense, remember I started as aCO

There are plenty of examples of cos out fishing or helping out the “pros” up front.

Never…

After the tournament was over and the next time they went back to the lake they knew where to go.

Is that a fishing skill?

Me.

My first Megabucks, first day. The kid I was fishing behind ran up in chambers creek looking for fish out in deep timber.
He said he found them on cut tree tops out if 30 foot of water in prefishing. We spent 15-20 minutes looking around and he could not find the area.
We were told during pre tournament meeting not to give information that we had learned from previous day fishermen but since this was the first day and I had not talked to anyone, I felt comfortable helping the kid out. I told him a favorite place of mine for prespawn was just a couple miles away and we headed there. I pointed out two treelines and an underwater point and he started fishing it. He caught 17 the first day, returned and caught 15 the second day and was in contention to go to Dallas for the finals until the weather turned and he didn't deal with it very well.

There is a backstory to this as well. David Dudley was the kids roommate so when we got paired at the meeting, Foster, Dudley and I went to dinner together at a local pizza restaurant. After that we stopped by a local tackle shop for 5 minutes as my partner was looking for #10 spinnerbait blades.
Dudley stood by the door the whole time.





Later in the tournament, a day was canceled due to high winds and so I went home to wait for the final day. Sidenote, I was not in contention to make the final day but I rode with Jimmy Houston on the third day and he was in second place. He told me I would make the cut and he put me on enough to do so. Fact is during weigh in he was more interested in me making the cut than he was in what place he was in. I believe he was in second at the time.

During that day off, Dewey Kendrick called me at home. A tackle shop owner had come to the third day weigh in then went to Dewey to say David Dudley had asked him for information about the lake when we were in his shop. 1) Dudley was fishing a very small creek during the tournament and was up high in the rankings. I think it was 6th place with the top ten going to White Rock Lake in Dallas for the finals. 2) I stood next to him at the store waiting on my partner.
Anyway Dewey told me Dudley said i could verify that he was not the one who the store owner had talked to. I told Dewey I would gladly take a polygraph, but he told me it was too late and he had already DQ'ed Dudley and Dangerous David Dudley was already on his way back to Virginia. When I went back to fish the final day his roommate, my first day pro, had a trolling motor battery that I had loaned Dudley because one of his went kaput at his room.
Years later at the Classic at Lake Conroe I talked to Dudley and he told me that Jay Yelas invited a kid that looked like Dudley to dinner and found out he was the one who had talked to that tackle shop owner. The kid was there prefishing for a Redman that would be on Chambers months later. David Dudley quit fishing Bassmasters for a long time over all this. It was a shame since he is a great fisherman.
Here is an article about it.
https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1996/rt9603/960318/03180092.htm

Thats an unfortunate outcome for Dudley, I would have been upset.

What was your partner doing shopping for giant spinnerbait blades?

1. Did he find any?
2. Did he catch a big one off the magnum blades?

You had to ask.

Chris Foster. He did not find any big blades but he had three spinnerbaits at the time and they lasted during the tournament. He used a 1/2 ounce spinnerbait with big chrome blades.
Thats what he caught all his fish on.

I don't like to tell on him but here it is. On the last day, Chris went back to the same place. The wind had turned and was blowing 15-20 mph out of the north exposing him to it. He got soaked, went to a house and the homeowner put his clothes in a dryer. I believe that was the best he ever finished in a BASS tournament at the time. He dropped way down in the standings but still got a good check.
Me, fishing behind him with a spinnerbait with no big blades caught 3 small fish, no keepers so there must have been something about those big blades.


After the first day of fishing Dudley was going around looking for anyone with 4" green pumpkin lizards. Foster had some and I gave him a pack of Zoom lizards too. Thats what he was using back up in a creek. I think it was the second day weigh in and he told a story on stage of his dead horse hole. There was a dead horse near the bank and his best fish came after passing the dead horse.



I did get to fish with Charlie Ingram the next day then Jimmy Houston on the final qualifying day.
The next year I was a fish measurer at the preliminary at Chambers weigh ins and then at the finals in Dallas I rode along with Woo Daves.

Allison, Seems as though you have fond memories of your time on the tournament trail. Thanks for sharing.

I fished a couple years in the Opens and yes, it was a good time but I did not compete much.
My best tournament was my first one on Lake of the Ozarks and I finished just out of the money.


At Megabucks I fished as an amateur and got to meet a lot of the pros.

The second year when I was martialling for BASS, I visited Chris at his hotel room. We were going out to dinner.
He was rooming with 3 other guys and they had pulled the mattresses off the beds so everyone had a place to sleep.
One of them was Jeff Magee, the guy who had won the previous Megabucks and about $70k. That was eye opening.