Why would BASS take their economic stimulus to a state with such behind the times laws. Just go somewhere else.

+1. The best way to teach someone a lesson is take your money/economic shot-in-the-arm tourney elsewhere. There's a ton of other places that would love to have BASS come to. Not shocked to hear this was Wisconsin after all the far left finatics and shinanigans that took place after someone decided to balance a budget. This is sorta off topic- but is sorta on-topic w/ regard to govt overreach- Look at what the radical EPA is doing, implementing insane new standards on trucks, mpgs, etc etc based on a complete hoax. Don't think that could ever happen to boats? I wouldn't be shocked to see 250HP outboards banned by this president/EPA in the name of "global warming" if he's re-elected and say that we have to downsize to 50-90hp outboards and pull them with our yugos. Just food for thought. Something for you guys who always vote for the liberal left because of your union affiliation or whatever else. I'm just sayin...

+1000

+1

I sent 3 emails out yesterday to:

Govgeneral@wisconsin.gov

Cathy.stepp@wisconsin.gov

ltgov@wisconsin.gov

Requesting the Governor intervene and remove the boundaries, I received an answer from Cathy that was pure BS...I responded to her email with:
"We are polite here in the south, like Elephants and we NEVER-FORGET! Bass fishermen are a lot nicer than the tourist you have had recently, but you have lost us period".

Hammbone,

Thank you very much for the email addresses. I am pretty bored this morning so I think I will take advantage of your handywork and fire off a brief email to these fine people as well. I encourage everyone who is a BASS fan to do the same.
Make it short and to the point. A few items you may want to emphasize are:

1. Future Tournaments
2. Economic Impact-(Tourism, fishing licenses)
3. Opportunity lost to "showcase" your natural resources to the rest of the country.
4. Negative publicity of your state to rest of country.

Be nice, be professional, no name callin'. lol

did bass not know the rules before they made the decision to put a tournament there .

Ruling came down last weekend. BASS announced the "mystery" lake about 3 weeks ago.

My email to

Govgeneral@wisconsin.gov

Cathy.stepp@wisconsin.gov

ltgov@wisconsin.gov



Dear Sir/Maam,

As a fan of BASS and fellow angler, I follow these fine men throughout our great nation as they compete and promote the lifelong sport of angling. As you may know, many of the northern anglers who compete in this BASS elite series, rarely get to fish their home waters, which are prmarily located throughout the Great Lakes region. Most of the BASS elite series tournaments are held throughout the southeast, midwest, and atlantic regions. This year, BASS has afforded your great state not one but TWO elite series tournaments. The tournament last week at La Crosse was outstanding and everyone was very pleased with the results.

However, it was learned earlier this week that the Green Bay tournament would be fished with "limited" waters. Your "DNR" decided that even though these men have purchased a Wisconsin fishing License, they would be EXCLUDED from fishing certain waters in your fine state. An imaginary line was drawn across Green Bay from Oconto to Sturgeon Bay. No angler is permitted to go north of this line during the 4 day tournament. By law, how is this permissable? Are other Wisconsin anglers not allowed to cross this line during this 4 day period also? If so, then I stand down and have no argument.

I live in Texas, I am obviously not a Wisconsin resident, but how can a state, especially in the economic hard times we are in, be oblivious to the obvious economic black eye a ruling like this can impose? Jerry Mckinnis, the president of BASS even said he would move the tournament elsewhere if it were not so late!! You can bet BASS will think twice before coming back to your state in the future, especially when decisions like this are being made by the DNR of Wisconsin.

Reasons given by your DNR for the line being drawn were "long termfish care" and the "displacement of fish from one end of the bay to the other"...................REALLY? I believe some migration studies and mortality studies of the Large and Smallmouth bass may need to be emphasized in the studies of your DNR personnel. Here in Texas, we have some enormous lakes (Sam Rayburn, Toledo Bend, Falcon, Fork, Amistad) where fish are routinely held for up to 8-10 hours in much warmer water (which holds even less oxygen than Green Bay) and moved some 20-40 miles from their "homes". Ask any angler from your fine state where they would like to spend a "dream bass fishing trip" and I promise you, one of these names will pop up. Now these anglers are forced into a literal "fishbowl" and will be competing for the same fish for 4 days. If fish care and well being are #1 on the agenda in Wisconsin, having 100 of the best anglers fish on top of one another in a confined space is not the way to do this. My point, I am calling the DNR's ruling "hogwash".

Kevin Van Dam, elite series angler, Michigan native, and perhaps the most decorated bass fisherman in history seemed "embarassed" by Wisconsin's ruling. He was really looking forward to getting back into "home waters" and showcasing the great lakes as a top fishery in the United States. He and some of the other anglers on the elite series have even mentioned in the past how they wished that BASS would incorporate more "northern" waters into their schedule. To that, I say, good luck fellas.


Have a Blessed Day,


Luke

Well said; I also stated that Walleye tournaments have never had boundaries imposed on them.
Probably will not do any good this time but we can hope.

Yeah well, walleye anglers are not considered the "good ole boys" from the south. I still think that the "perception" that this sport is a bunch of drunk southern rednecks still hurts it. All they have to do is look at where these guys are from to see that is no the case.

Government officials think their job actually matters is all it comes down to. They get power complexes and are like to flex their muscle.
We live under a soft tyranny and have a high tolerance for punishment and injustices, one day they will become too much.

Once they see the economic impact BASS has they will make changes. I know many are too young to remember this or even born then. But, I can remember when Texas made all of it's big changes in the 80's. 10" limit and 10 bass to 14" and 5 bass limit. It was proposed by TPWD people that Bush had in place to have a no culling rule put into Texas regulations. BASS was coming every year to Sam Rayburn then. When BASS was asked, "What will you do with this regulation". They were quoted saying, "This is a Texas problem, Not a BASS problem". Basically they said, they would not be back to Texas for tournaments. And, this never got put into law due to BASS.

I think on the last two days any pros who didn't make the cut should go catch a nice legal limit and cook their buts.

And i think BASS should NOT have another event their for a long time. They didn't have em in louisiana for a while after that one guy shot over some bodys boat bow.

Theres no doubt wisconsin DNR is inept, just do a little reasearch on how they're handling CWD within the deer herd there, but BASS and mckinnis should have know bettter, alot of people were high on him taking over the organization but there have been several bad decisions, the mystery lake being the most recent, since ownership changed, I personally think they are running it into the ground.