…I really, really do. But it seems to me that at least 90% or more of the programming is people ranting and screaming and holding fish up to the sky while the crowd cheers.
Over on the Texas Hunting Forum in the photos section the header reads “please show respect to the animals you harvest when taking a photo”. That rings true with me. I feel like the BASS guys and the Redfish Tour guys do not show respect for the fish that they harvest. Perhaps they do have great respect for the fish, I don’t know enough to say otherwise. But I can say for sure that I don’t believe they demonstrate respect.
I remember the first time I caught myself thanking a little one pound bass for letting me catch him before dropping him back in the water. At that point I decided how I wanted to pursue the activity of angling. I love to eat fish and do so at the given opportunity so please don’t mistake me for a member of the “Church of C&R” who believe that everybody else is going to hell.
But heck, yelling and carrying on like those boys do; it?s a whole nother universe. They are not anywhere near the same galactic sector of wheret myself and, forgive my boldness in this assumption, most all fly anglers are.
I sure don’t want to get into making those tournament guys wrong, that is not my intent. Rather, it gives me pause to consider what I want out of fishing. Something far afield from what they do obviously. As long as the resource is safe and growing, as long as we can all go fishing safely, I’ll satisfy myself with the written word and the few shows that present a slice of what I prefer. And I need to go fishing more often as well.
it would probably be a lot different. Bring
in the cameras, a cult like following of
fans, and add prizes and cash awards that
would be life changing for some of us, and
all bets are off. It’s a whole nother
world that has little relationship to a
normal day on the water. Warm regards, Jim
Robin,
I agree…the screaming & yelling when fishing??..that one guy, (Iaconelli?), jumps up, raising the bass, pumping his fist & yelling at the top of his lungs would shoo ME off the lake for sure! Just not MY cup o’ tea!
btw…did the package arrive yet?..If you don’t get it Monday, let me know, cuz that went “priority” on Wednesday.
Mike
pooh-bah, that nails it, “a contemplative mans recreation” is indeed the definition.
Mike, it came Friday. I was thrilled to get the flippers, the rest were thrilled with the fudge Gracias sir. I have a secret pond in mind, right down the road. Filled with lily pads and elodea (don’t even think about streamers) and I am headed that way. That brings to mind a thread that I will now initiate. See y’all there.
There are two great fly fishing tv shows still on “Outdoor Life Network” I have taped most of them–the newest Fly Fish America and repeats on Fly Fish TV.
Me too, but I can’t convince our local PBS station to pick it up. Now that OLN has dropped Fly Fish TV and Trout Unlimited TV I’m really bummed. Sent email to OLN but got no response at all, won’t be watching them much any more. The PBS station responded promptly and said they would look into both FFTV and TUTV (rumor has it they were trying to work a deal with the Public Broadcasting network also) but I haven’t heard back.
I never watch the tournament shows, I don’t know what people see in them. I didn’t even care for the FF competition shows but they were much better than the others.
I get my competitive thrills form other sports, fishing for me is relaxation and as JC said, contemplation.
I’ve never really thought that this was much of an issue, but I guess it could be to some folks. First of all, these guys are just putting on a show and Iif they didn’t you wouldn;t be watching fishing on ESPN. Secondly, I believe you’d be pretty darn happy if you caught a fish that could win you a tournament, along with thousands of dollars.
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:
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”.
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.
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:
Tournament fishing has put a lot of pressure on some of our lakes that didn’t have as much pressure before tournaments.
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
Robert, I think you summed it up very well. There is an amazing amount of information that can be learned from the BASS tournament folks. Keep in mind that this new generation of fishermen that are being “highlighted” on these shows is for a reason. The bass fishing industry is targeting and actively trying to recruit a younger audience. There are quiet young anglers fishing these tours too, but apparently they do not make “good TV”. It will be interesting to see what effect the next generation will have on fishing.
I agree completely with your comments. Although I don’t fish bass tourneys, I think you can learn a lot from some of the top pros. I tend to avoid “fly fishing for bass” books and articles and prefer to pick up tips from other sources. For example, there is an excellent article about Rick Clunn in this month’s “In-Fisherman”.
I’m not a big Iaconnelli fan, either. It’s interesting though that his new book is #1 on Amazon in the Hunting & Fishing area.
Robin,
I just watched an episode of “Fly Fishing the World” on OLN and this particular episode was an exception to the usual fishing shows. David Allan Grier was John Barrett’s guest on a peacock bass trip and he was hilarious.
Steve
“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went”-Will Rogers
Gracias sir. I have a secret pond in mind, right down the road. Filled with lily pads and elodea (don’t even think about streamers) and I am headed that way. That brings to mind a thread that I will now initiate. See y’all there.