Lock the lid or use cull rings.

most of the boat owners will want more individual tournys but lets face it some of us cant afford a boat so we are stuck fishing as a co which can help or hinder a boater most of these mistakes can easily be avoided with a little common sense and some communication

without proper communication in any type of business or fishing or anything your asking for trouble

Observers would take the place of co-anglers as the elite series does.

Some of you guys need to read the article from Jim moynaugh who was the pro this happened to. They explain why they don't use cull rings. They said if you cull clip all of your smallmouth at Erie, you will weigh in 5 dead smallmouth. I can't vouch for this but extra stress makes sense. However, if I was a pro that didn't clip my fish, I would have a set of cull rings that I would require my co angler to use in order to know the difference!

You guys saying mark the live wells are missing one thing. The guy that fished with Moynagh has fished 200 events as a co-angler. That is a minimum of 400 days on the water. It's not like he didn't know which well was his. He simply made a mistake. It's very unfortunate, but rare. These tournaments are going on every weekend almost all year and incidents like this are few and far between.

A lot of pros pick up intel from what their co is doing and I know for sure that most would rather have a net guy there than not!

This is good conversation here in this thread! Good thoughts here. Brandon, I didn't read moynaugh's take on the whole thing. Do you have link? I've lived in smallmouth country and that would def make the case for the no rings. Smallies die when you look at them wrong. Headed to Toledo tomorrow where I'll try to keep the 5lbers on the passenger side!

Thanks Brandon, that is an awesome article and it is great to have someone like him represent this sport.

How humiliating must it be to be known as the guy who got Roland Martin disqualified?

I agree!^^^^

If the issue is a real problem with the pro's, locks can be put on quick & cheap. My Old Chargers had lid locks. My Skeeter does not. I think it would be a simple fix if the Pro is concerned about his Co Angler mixing their fish.

Or just eliminate co-anglers all together, then no one has to worry about it.

If I was spending the $$$$ and work'in as hard as those guy's do to make a living, I would'nt want anybody else in my boat.

I'm not just picking on you Chelsea But I quoted you because I see a lot of people making the same point as you.

This is supposed to be an 'individual' tournament. The guy up front is fishing his tournament and you are fishing yours.

So I ask...... Is it not an unfair advantage for some to have a very knowledgeable co who's good with a net vs. a co who will hinder someone by incessantly talking or knocking the fish off with the net?

It takes away the individualism because it's not a level playing field. One guy has and advantage and the other has a handicap. Doesn't make sense to me.

Doesn't to me either, Joe. I'd like to see co.'s eliminated from both of the tours highest levels. Let the competition at that level be pure. These guys are fishing for a living. They are real "pros."

Let the Fed Nations, FLW Series, etc fill their back seats with co.'s. After all, most of what I hear co.'s say is I'm fishing as a co. to learn, with the goal of being the boater, eventually. The "boaters" at these levels are super fishermen that one could learn a ton from. And, with many of the Elite and FLW Tour pros fishing some of those events, a co. still has a good chance of fishing with some of the best "pros" or "boaters" out there.