It's the new WOKE bass fishing crowd!
No sight fishing allowed! But its fine to use FFS even if they r on the bed bc ya know! That's different! In the mouth or snagged it's fine bc u can't snag a fish with FFS! We all know that! GEEZ!
Tournaments can only be allowed when there is zero chance of one dying. And if it does before or after weigh in u are dq'd and have to refund the winnings. The fish will be monitored for 24 hours after weigh in.
It's fine to break the rules! Just cry and scream and blame the organization or actually anyone else! Just not urself!
Speed limit will be 25 mph on all water ways for all bass boats! All other boats No speed limit!
All hooks and lures have to be biodegradable within 48 hours so not to pollute the water! If not auto dq!
You must stop fishing and find a restroom for any personal relief of any kind. No matter if it's an emergency! Water pollution again! auto dq!
And please understand! If you are over 25 years old you have no idea of what you are talking about and have never caught a bass in your life! And will never compete! So just shut up and go away!

You must be bored?

No s..t !

Just baffled by some of the BS on Bass fishing forums anymore!

It’s opened my eyes to how many folks think rules don’t matter and are to hard to follow.

Truth!

I think it’s always been that way. It’s just that now everyone has a phone and a social media platform to post whatever they see and hear. Whereas in the past that wasn’t as prevalent?

Sorry, I can't get behind this one... I've got 2 Plano's in the garage stuffed with all sort of crankbait I pulled out of low hanging tree branches after tournaments. I figure the Co's hung them and the boater refused to go back and get them so they were broke off... I haven't bought a worm weight in I don't know how long either... I'll put a full 3700 Plano of crankbaits on Market Place and get $75... Beer money... Dan

Nice! That was just a topic on a forum the other day about proper hook disposal! Just a thought after all of these years fishing that has NEVER crossed my mind!

WOKE will go down as one of the most over used words of this decade.

I don't see any problem with people voicing concerns over the conservation of a natural resources. Scheduling of events around spawns or hot weather to increase spawning success or reduce mortality shouldn't be seen in a bad light. For the most part the latter is already happening, not MANY big tournaments are held in the south during the 'dog days' of summer. Furthermore, for as much as I may dislike MLF, the BPT has it right, releasing fish is the absolute best thing we can be doing as a sport. There are smaller tournament circuits out there that have proved it is possible at the lower levels also. I watched the day one weigh in at Hartwell for the elites the other day, there was maybe...maybe...100 people in the stands tops. Crickets. So if we are doing the weigh ins for the show, it isn't much of a show. If BASS considers themselves a conservation focused organization, you cannot tell me that the fish that get moved hours from their lake during the classic is in the best interest of the fish. They might swim off, but lets go ahead and put some pit tags in some of those fish, id bet 3 out of 4 are dead. So, is that conservation.

Now, from my perspective, does the mortality really matter, no, i'm a trophy fisherman, i follow tournaments, but I don't want anything to do with them. I'd prefer if everyone kept their daily limits on some lakes, it would only help the big fish. But this wouldn't be popular with most, because there are many that just want to catch a bunch of fish. i'd rather skip the small fish. I would fish for 2 weeks without a fish, if it meant catching 1 DD. Different mentality, different opinion.

Anglers like KVD and Iaconelli kept preaching growing the sport. "we've got to GROW THE SPORT", this was all a marketing slogan at the time to get sales. Now, reality has set in, the sport has grown, all those little rugs rats everyone grew the sport for, are now taking over. What did anyone expect? KVD came out on fire when he was in his 20's, now its Easton Fothergills turn.

Furthermore, WE as fisherman, whether we admit or not, like social media. We like podcasts. We like the behind the scene action. We like the live basstrack and footage. we like the wowfactor of NOW. Gone are the days of sitting down on a sunday night to watch the condensed version of the latest bassmaster top 100 on TNN. its gone, toast, nobody wants it. Is it too bad, to me it s, but I dont pay a cable bill to watch MLF and BASS when i can get way more than enough coverage on youtube for free.

we live in an era where everyone is able to get there opinion out, and quick nothing about it is WOKE. we aren't anymore or less opinionated now than we were 20 years ago. We just have an avenue to get that opinion out, and social media is only growing.

I wrote this partially as funny! But the truth is woke, progressive, forward thinker or whatever word u want to use. It all falls under the category of out with the old or the traditional and all in on the new. I am all for advancement but I also believe in "don't forget where u came from." Respect the ones that came before u and helped create the love for fishing in most of us. Respect is a lost characteristic in today's world.

As for BASS doing conservation work? They do and do alot! U do realize that "catch and release" came from Ray Scott the founder of BASS right? No matter what, NO other single thing has saved more bass than that one movement! Some do die of delayed mortality but BASS spends alot of money to do everything they can to reduce that number including having a full time biologist (Gene Gilliand) on staff. The spawning argument is SO old! I have weighed in spawning females and went back the next day and they have swam back across the lake and are sitting on the same bed. Truth is very few fish spawn where u can actually see them. As u can see now with all the FFS spawner's being caught.

Our lakes are continuing to get better and better even with all the added pressure so the idea that tournaments have hurt the lakes is so over blown. Some states and wildlife management agency do a much better job than others but bass fishing is not getting worse.

So you see value in hauling bass to a scale to show a few folks? I don't and I use to think BASS was a lot better organization than MFL. Just because BASS has a biologist on staff means zero. Are they doing their best, im sure. Could mortality be reduced, yes. Would it be a better look if they weight them in the boat , yes. Is it possible, yes, they will do it soon at fork and they will get the SAME or increased weigh in turn out.

oh gosh, the SAME FISH swam all the way back to its bed on the other end of the lake, very unlikely. Did you catch the unicorn a second time to confirm? You sure a new fish didn't just slide onto a nice bed? I don't personally target bedding fish, but its a personal choice, I don't enjoy sight fishing, I don't care what others do. Ive been fishing well off the bank long before FFS made it trendy.

I don't think they're getting better, if anything with more pressure and more NNIS pressure, they're slightly declining. I think we all know that almost all lakes ebb and flow, but overall I wouldn't say its a net improvement.

As far as respect on the water goes. I think this stems from kids new to the sport that weren't necessarily brought up in the outdoors, and taught how to respect the resource and those who use it. I would love to poll these high school kids that are out fishing tournaments in droves and ask them why they are interested. Is it the competition?

For me, I'm all in on conservation. I have an education and professional background tackling natural resource issues. I love the outdoors, and do things to benefit the resource and those who enjoy it. Some people I suspect are in it for the wrong reasons.

Yes the same fish swam back. When they have a spot or some distinct marking u can tell its the same fish. And when 1 weighed over 11lbs I'm pretty sure there wasn't another 11 that swam up to the same bed. Nope didn't need to catch those fish again. Plenty others had moved up!

As far as having a weigh in? Yes I prefer a weigh in. I have done both but when I am paying 5k entries I want all the fish weighed on the same scale! I have seen so many issues with the catch weigh and release that I would not fish under that format for that kind of money. Weighing a fish 3 times and the weight changes or telling a marshal to hold the scale this way or that way or dropping the fish on the initial weighing to bounce the scale and it changes an ounce! That can and has changed the final results. And say what u want about crowd size but if I get to talk to 2 or 3 kids or 100 about fishing after I weigh in then it was worth having the weigh in! It's a fellowship type thing just being around people who love the same thing.

And I wasn't just talking about respect on the water. I was talking about in conversation or even on forums when people don't have the same opinion on things! Debate is a good thing but the name calling and smat@$# remarks don't help anyone.

Good luck taming someone’s opinion you don’t like on a forum. If you allow some words on a place like this to get under your skin, your skin is way too thin.

Sometimes having your opinion tested through what seems like heated debate is the best way to refine your stance on a topic.

It’s all good.