ish seems like a pretty cool guy. my question is why would a bass club choose to have a tournament on the same lake and dates as the elite pros

can anyone guess who doesnt catch enough to fish tournaments??

can anyone guess who operates on assumptions and not facts??

Alright, I'll bite...



I'll take a chance and assume the facts are that he doesn't catch enough to fish tournaments.

More than likely, I would move just because its the nice thing to do and I would rather watch these guys and learn.

But, these guys are rich. They fish for a living and make hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars. For some reason that doesn't tug at my heart strings.

So if one of those big time anglers started cussing me, or being rude about it, I'd sit there the rest of the day. There is never any call to be rude, especially when you have been made rich by people like me.

The guy that said he wouldn't move has every right to sit on his spot, that is why the lake is public. He paid for his license.

Depends on how they ask. If they roll up and demand I leave they get a quick FU and maybe a couple appropriate hand gestures. If they ask nicely I will move and wish them luck. A little courtesy goes a long way.

I wouldnt even think of fishing their spots if they are on the lake. Seems to me if you are a local you can go to that lake when ever you want. So why go ruin someones chances who is only their once every few years at the most?

Some folks consider quality time with family and working more important than fishing a tourney. That is my case. And I can hold my own. Sounds like those that don't like Stumpjumper's answer are just being immaturely hateful ... like elementary kids on the playground by trying to say hurtful statements. Does this make any of you any better than the guy who won't move off a spot for a pro because of a hateful motivation? Hatefulness is bad no matter who its to, just as respect is good despite who the recipient is to. Think about that before you pop off.


Unless you are winning consistently in big time tourneys or have aspirations and the potential to fish the big time T's AND WIN most tourney fishing is a dead end road and a losing (financially) enterprise. I do understand the desire to compete but too often I see "men" leave their families behind (after working and being away from them all week) to fish tourneys. The family suffers, marriages and kids! Its a "me first" mentality!


Now, to the original question. I'd most likely leave a spot. Attitude of the pro would impact my decision. Had it happen to me twice back in the 90's on Rayburn in fact. One time it was Jimmy Houston speeding down a bank with a SB and I gave way to him (It was in 5 Fingers). Also up Ayish Bayou and had been catching fish up there for 2 weeks. Shaw Grigsby was up there and I actually left there. Grigsby was real nice and the area was tight. He placed high or even won ... can't remember, it was early 90's. JH hardly spoke other than to say "Hi".


I would not give way to a weekend or mid level T fisherman if I were there 1st. Wouldn't even consider it.

ding ding ding ... we have a winner. ( I wouldn't cuss 'em or flip 'em off though ... most likely ... unless they escalated it).

Another good answer although most of the guys on tour are barely making ends meet and only a very few are getting wealthy.

Yeah, I was making the assumption that we are talking about an Elite pro that is one of the big time guys. That is a very rare occurrence.

I ran into Alton Jones once on the water in this exact situation. I was fishing a hump in open water for schoolers during the Elite 50 on Lake Hamilton in Arkansas. Alton eased his boat up and asked if he could share some of my water. What a class act, I mean he was so polite and courteous. I immediately said, sure let me back up and let you have this, can I watch you fish. I have been an Alton fan ever since. He is a great guy. Its all how they approach people.

The Martens deal was a bit different than posted here. Martens was leading at Guntersville last year. He went to his main spot and a local was sitting on it. Martens is a little awkward when it comes to asking someone to move, but he did in this case. They guy said 'no way, I am fishing a tournament next week and need this spot'. The guy then fired up his engine and did circles on it before leaving. Martens went to spot #2 and sure enough the guy was on it donig the same thing. Here is a quote from BassFAn on that event:

He (Martens) said his starting spot was sabotaged by a local angler who wanted to conserve the fish in it for a tournament he'll compete in next weekend.
"He was putting his motor down and going right over it," he said. "Some spectators chased him off, but I heard he went back in there again after I left."

Martens did go on to win the event anyway, but look at it from the pros point of view. Especially if you are not one of the top pros. Winning that event or finished 5th isn't going to make or break Martens, but it would for a lessern known guy.

And think about it this way, if Martens would have hung around for a week and did the same thing to this guy, who would have been the bad guy then? Turn around is fair play, but Martens would have been kicked off the Elites.

So you are fishing a local event and another boat is following you. You catch a fish, he powers up and drives all over your spot. He then follows you to your next spot and does the same thing saying to you he has a Club event to fish the next weekend and needs to save those fish for himself. You wouldn't be very happy would you? And you are not fishing for 100 K either.

Or say you are a salesmen and are off making a call to a prospective client. Some joker follows you to the call and starts bad mouthing you and your products right in front of the prospective buyer. Then you find out later than he went back to that buyer and made the sale a week later. You would be a little ticked off and ready to kick some butt.

Weather you agree or like to tournament fish or not, there is always someplace else to fish. You don't have to be an A-hole and get in the pros way. This is their profession, if you like it or not. That is not for you to say. Betting some people don't agree with your profession either, but they don't get in your way when you try to do your job.

i believe if i was a-mart, id try to foul hook above offender with whatever lure i owned with the biggest trebles

I agree that all these tournament guys are out there trying to make a living, but they are doing so using a public resource. A resource that certainly would not exist had not millions of tax payer dollars gone into the creation and stocking of reservoirs. (How many natural lakes are there in Texas?) Sure, tax dollars go into funding stadiums but I don�t think anyone would try to camp out on the 50 yard line at Jerry World and say this is my spot�you can�t even get into the gate.

But on most lakes, the gate is already open and the public have every right to go in and pick out their spot. Many of you have said you wouldn�t hesitate to give way to one of these pros�would you agree to do so if you just happened to of caught a couple of 5lbers right before the pro pulled up during your club championship? Would you move so quickly if it was one of the pros you despised (as some have already mentioned)? Maybe you�re fishing with your dad, and you know he�s probably not going be around for many more fishing trips? You might not be so quick to yield to the pro. Yeah, sure there may always be someplace else to fish but is it right to make the non-tournament angler feel pressured at all to move in such scenarios? Of course not.

So, to bash the guys who say they would not move is pure hypocrisy and does nothing but continue the bad reputation tournament fishing is unfortunately developing (see fish kills after tourneys, fraud, and crowded lakes/boat ramps).

I fish a few tourneys and most are great, I want to see future generations enjoy the competition as much as I have. But we as anglers need to keep in mind that there are many more recreational anglers than tourney anglers, we need to get along and to stick together or else wackos with money and influence might be able to take away our rights to fish tourneys at all. I�ll get down off my soapbox, at least it�s Friday!!