Our next 1-day event is on Sunday, March 30th on Belton Lake. Registration is at 530AM at the Temple Lake Park ramp.

Weigh-in is at the pavilion at 3PM.

You can register early at Texas Boat World in Harker Heights.

See you Sunday morning.

Just want to give a little insight on this tournament trail. I have fish the past 3 out of 4 tournament and was looking foward to fishing the last two and even the local championship then going to the region championship
Going into this I was little nervous due to a few years ago when ABA first has region 52 that they allowed a proven and convected cheater to fish there circuit. Several phone where made to the ABA office and after many complaints they finally made the decesion to not allow the person to fish anymore. So on to this year and letting the past be the past I made the decision to give it a try. All went well up untill last month tournament when a fellow angler was in question of breaking a local & state no wake rule. I brought the issue up to the director and was told that since he didnt go over all the state and locals laws that the angler was free to do what ever he seem fit . No protest was going to be allowed and the case was settle. I have personaly made 4 calls to the ABA headquarters and spoke with 4 different people and have been promised a return phone to explain why the director made the decision he made. At the time of this post no call or explanation has been given to me. I have made the decesion to not finish the year fishing ABA due the past history and current history of letting an angler break local and state laws and no explanation given to me or other fellow anglers

1. Interpretation of these rules shall be left exclusively to the tournament director. In the event of a rule violation, the tournament director and/or American Bass Anglers, Inc. Headquarters may impose such sanctions, as deemed appropriate, including but not limited to, disqualification, forfeiture of prizes, forfeiture of entry fee and prohibition from participation in subsequent tournaments. The decision of the tournament director/ABA Headquarters shall be final in all matters. Protests for any rule infraction must be made in writing within 15 minutes of the official announcement, �the scales are now closed�.

a. Each contestant agrees to report any tournament rule infraction to the tournament director.
b. Failure to report rules infractions to the tournament director or false reporting of tournament rules infractions will be cause for disqualification.
c. Rules infractions will result in penalties that may include but not limited to:

(1) Loss of weight for the day of the rules infraction.
(2) Disqualification from the event.
(3) Disqualification from future American Bass Anglers, Inc., events for a period of time up to a lifetime disqualification.


http://www.americanbassanglers.com/rules.php


I've fished ABA since 2009 and this is the first time I have seen someone "verbally protest" The tournament director for District 52 has run hundreds of tournaments outside of ABA and has always handled them in a professional manner. I would not let something like this ruin your fishing exerience in ABA.

If the angler did break the rules knowingly and did not have enough integrity to DQ himself, thats on him. Although, other anglers watched him come in to the weigh in and stated that he did not break any wake rule. I do not know you or the alleged angler so no favortism here. If you can, just let it go and finish up the season.

James

I do appreciate your reply. Just for the record when the angler broke the no wake no other anglers where around beside me and some spectators. The angler in question came into the weigh in area around 3 o'clock thinking he was late to find out he had 30 more minutes of fishing to do. He then left the wake area on pad to resume his fishing for the next 30 minutes. This go to show that other anglers and tournament director did not get the full story on the anglers action. Hope this clarifies any question other anglers or you may have

My biggest issue is the fact that ABA doesn't seem to care and not return calls as they promised

Had no idea he went back out. I hope they give you a call back.

I know neither you nor do I care to know the angler in question...with that being said, why did you not put in a written protest? Im sure this is not your first tournament and you have read the rules and how to go about reporting unsportsmanlike conduct. If you don't , shame on you. However, if that individual did in-fact break a state law wether knowingly or unknowingly, you need to have some intestinal fortitude and make it right by turning yourself in. Bringing down an entire organization on a public forum because of a few bad apples seems very childish to me. Our tournament director has run a very good trail and have gone above and beyond to make everyone happy and as relaxed an atmosphere as possible but I guess these little things go unnoticed. Last time I checked, no one in this trail fishes professionally. Funny how things go these days...I wonder if you hadn't got second or in the money for that matter if this so called ,"Verbal Protest," would have even came up? Just saying......see ya'll sunday.

P.S.

Watch out for no wake zones.

Peter

Last time I check this is a open forum to discuss fishing and things that involved fishing tournament. Let me clarify the steps I went through before bringing this to a public forum. I did approach the tournament director to ask if protest would be allowed and was told that none was allowed and case was closed. I take that as a written or verbal would not be accepted I contacted ABA the following Monday morning and was promised that they would look into it and I would get a return call. Three days went by and never received a call. I have call ABA 3 more times in the last week and half and have actually spoke with the owner and he promised I would receive a return call. As I stated in my first post I still haven't received the call I was promised. My point to this post is to let other anglers know my experience I had with ABA.

First of all I was not there and did not have a dog in this fight.

One of the problems in today's society, if you tell me you are going to do something then do it! Too many people do not do it. I do not care one way or another if the guy ran in and waked a no wake area, but the problem I see here is a person telling someone that they will get back with him and not doing it, especially if it is someone who owns are runs the circuit. Would have been easy to call Johnny and say "it is what it is, the ruling stands as called". But no return call as he said he would?

Johnny, this is a good trail with good people and hope you do not let one incident like this affect you fishing with us.

Still havent heard from anybody at the ABA. Good luck to those that chose to fish this tournament

5bigfish, I think you have a valid point. Cheating is cheating no matter how you look at it (big or small). I have fished ABA since 2007 and every protest I have witnessed was addressed professionally. If the director had at least talked to the individual and questioned them about the incident, I would have considered it addressed, no matter what the final decision was. By the tournament director not addressing the protest is totally unprofessional and does a disservice to the organization, the same goes for the individual(s) that did not call you back. I think fishing is one of the last few pure sports we have and hate to hear when people start taking shortcuts and breaking the rules because no one will hold them accountable. I do think the ABA is a good organization and hope you don�t let these individuals discourage you from fishing it. By the way, I have reported individuals for breaking state laws and regulations also; so kudos to you for doing the right thing. There are reasons for rules in these organizations like the ABA, to maintain integrity in the organization. If everyone followed the rules all the time we would need them; but that�s not reality. By the way there are other ABA divisions, give them a try and have fun fishing.

NitroUSAF

Thanks for the postive post and support.

fyi
I understand your concerns about the no call back
my advice to you and all anglers ,I was director of dist 52 for 10 yrs and as all rules go if you hand in a written protest (WRITTEN)THE MATTER HAS TO BE TAKEN CARE OF BEFORE ANY AWARDS OR MONEY IS PAID OUT EVEN IF IT TAKES SEVERAL DAYS IT IS THE RULE always do a written protest other than that dist 52 is a good trail

For the record I ask the director if a protest would be allowed and as I stated in a earlier post he said no protest was allowed and case closed

Written or not, the concern was brought to the attention of the tournament director and he for some reason chose not to act on it. The rules should apply the same to every competitor and it doesn't sound like this was the case. I'm sure the prize and points are a lost cause at this point but seems like a phone call is the least they could do.

Cliff
If a game warden sees you creating a wake in a clearly marked no wake area you will be issued a citation am I correct? so you clearly broke a state law at that point in which every tournament I've ever fished required you to abide by all state and federal laws.