# tournment courtasy



## mikeshookset (Feb 28, 2005)

well i seen a post about tournament changes and seen many good ideas on it!! i gotta say the biggest thing we need to do is bite the bullit on is the way we treat each other in tournament situations !! over the years as a fisherman and a tourny directer i have seen alot of discourtasy between anglers. and then that same discourtasy tends to roll right over to we treat the directors the same way.it seams the bigger the money the worst this gets! and if the bite is tough look out hide your eyes because it gets really bad. it seams to me the complaining is nothing more than trying to hide the fact that you need to hone your angling skills a bit more. who has ever honed thier skills by cutting people off? who has ever caught more fish and become a better fisherman because they passed some one on plane in a no wake zone? lets please not kill this sport and make it part of a bag limmit lets promte this sport as a fun sport and something that new anglers would want to be part of. i dont beleave many people is gonna want to get up at 4 am on a sunday morning to go to the lake and be treated in a discoutiouse way or go to a wiegh in to see a bunch of bitching and moaning going on!! i think that 90 percent of the proublems would be solved with a touch of coutasy the other 10 percent would be solved if we just start eliminating people from our clubs and circuits that show no signs of fishing in a courtasy way. if this post changes the ways of 1 person that acts that way then we are 1 person closer to a better sport.


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## Phil Carver (Apr 5, 2004)

Well said Mike ! I have seen the same thing over and over again . It is up to us , and only us , the anglers to make it better . I have had "1" guy do nothing but gripe and moane after every tourny this past year . If he only knew what it takes to run an event . Needless to say , the only other complaints I had all year reflected toward him .


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## ranger487 (Apr 5, 2005)

This has always been a problem because of are small lakes, for example Mosquito lake if you are fishing down a bank and someone goes 70 yrds in front of you did they cut you off or not? some guys would say yes even though they didnt break the 50 yard rule but you were probally going to end up there anyway. Me and my partner had a thing with Ron Yurko it got to a point that we both understood the situation and if he came in on us we didnt say anything and when we were close to him nothing was said so I think alout of it has to do with us as the fisherman as stated below. Alout of us fish the same waters and at times thers not much you could do but suck it up.

Mark Franko


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## Procraftboats21 (Apr 6, 2004)

There should be a 2 strike rule. First time the tournament director is notified of discourtasy thats a warning. The second time your gone. Some people are going to keep doing what they are doing if they arn't punished. You see it in every tournament in some form or another of discourtasy. Sure some say brush it off but you shouldn't have to put up with it when you put up hundreds of dollars to fish. People go stupid when theres money involved. We are loosing more people than we are gaining in this sport because of it.


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## lv2fish (Jun 23, 2005)

The poor sports get whats coming in the end. Nobody will socialize with them, they will isolate themselves to the point of leaving the circut they are fishing. I agree with about every point made on this thread, I know when I get up a 3am to go fish a tourney, I give other anglers the same respect I would like in return, even if I have to suck it up and move. That doesn't mean I see it back, but more often than not I do and that tells me there are more good sports than bad in our circuts. A few bad apples don't ruin my day, I know who they are and I don't keep them in my group of friends. Every sport has them, they don't stay around long. I have been tourney fishing for 15 yrs and the good guys still fish, the poor losers move on.


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## Orlando (Apr 12, 2004)

I used to get ticked off when somone would cut in front of me. It just makes me fish harder, there isn't anything better than catching a fish that the guy just went over. Look on his face is priceless.


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## striperfreak (Apr 30, 2004)

are you saying i shouldnt be within 100 yards of someone going up the bank? im new to tourney fishing and dont want to piss anyone off but i thought it was 50 yards?


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## Orlando (Apr 12, 2004)

I wouldn't pull in front of someone less than 200 yds. Instead of going in front why not go behind? 50 is way to short.


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## Procraftboats21 (Apr 6, 2004)

I thought the 50 yard rule was only if the trolling motor is up and you are anchored? I'm pretty sure that is the rule. I just go behind people, you would be suprised how many fish people miss.


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## mikeshookset (Feb 28, 2005)

thats usually the rule but why should it mean that if the trolling motor isnt up that we can be as discoutiouse as we want?


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## Nipididdee (Apr 19, 2004)

I have had few issues ever in tournaments with courtesy issues. If pulling up into a questionable situation, simply ask "which way you going"- "Will I mess you up if I start here"-...etc - I have found folks are pretty cool with this and if they prefer I vacate I do and thank them for consideration. 

If someone "cuts" me off- they got that right unless I'm anchored, I just fish behind them or pull in front of them and go on. 99 percent of the time my positive communication with these anglers leads to eliminating any problems on either side. Again, if all else fails, my famous rendering of "Silent Night" is downright awesome, few stick around for that one- or they join in harmony. 

I have had more issues with nontournament folks than anything. Just this past weekend it was a riot. These guys from Indiana pulled to the bubble after watching me jerk a 4lbr- nosed litterally 20 ft in front of me after coming off plane, anchored... then their first casts landed into my boat! I took off their crawdad, dropshotted it, and caught a 3lbr! We all got a good laugh from it and ended up making two friends from Indiana. After I gave up the spot I moved onto"somewhere else" and the fish Gods gave me 4 in a row at 5lbs each.

Directors SHOULD NEVER be involved with making courtesy issues judgements-nor even ever get themselves involved with lending an ear to others disgruntlements. 

These are personal angler issues and not of resolve by the director- "he said, she said" is exactly that, utter crap of two people who can't communicate effectively then look to create drama and have an outsider enable their "enemies". Not the role of a director in any way shape or form to get involved with personal disputes on "my water issues"- it will ruin a circut and shows bias. 

Issues of "courtesy" are purely subjective and not enforcable unless anchored. 

lv2fish has it nailed by the way.

Nip
www.dobass.com


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