I have mixed feelings about tournament fishing. First of all let me say that I am an occassional amatuear tournament bass fisherman and I don't intend to stop anytime soon. I have a bass boat that I bass fish and fly fish from.
I think the "yellers" and show offs like Mike Iconnelli and Skip Reece are the recent exception to the tournament bass fishing mold. I too am turned off by their "style". The guys on the tour that I respect the most are the more contemplative, gentlemanly types like Rick Clunn, Denny Brauer and Larry Nixon. I have a world or respect for those guys and I hope their type is not being replaced by the loudmouths like Iconelli. If you are a bass fisherman whether with a flyrod or otherwise and you're not watching the bass tournaments or subscribing to B.A.S.S. magazine, in my opinion, you're shortchanging yourself because the true experts of bass fishing are not the Dave Whitlocks of the world (although I do have a lot of respect for Mr. Whitlock), the true experts on bass behavior are the tournament anglers named above.
Tournament bass fishing has its pros and cons.
The pros:
1. BASS is a very large organization that supports and lobbys for fishing related legislation that helps all of us including us flyfishers. There is strength in numbers, aka "votes".
2. Bass was one of the first organizations to support catch and release. Many wildlife departments have lamented that they have become too effective because bass fishermen won't keep small bass from overstocked lakes that the department is encouraging them to keep fish from. IE from lakes that have a slot limit.
3. Many of the developments in lines, sonar, boats, rods, habitat development and other advancements are a result of tournament fishing and the organizations like BASS that support them and the companies that support them like Humminbird, Berkley and others.
The cons:
1. Tournament fishing has put a lot of pressure on some of our lakes that didn't have as much pressure before tournaments.
2. Tournament fishing has sometimes put a face on fishing that others don't approve of, to wit, Mike Iconelli, and his antics.
In short, I do it and enjoy it. I also flyfish and enjoy that too. My preference is for flyfishing but I'm not opposed to picking up my flippin' stick now and then and pitching a jig and pig. Those are my roots and like the man said "you can take the boy out of the country but you can never take the country out of the boy."
Robert
Reply With Quote