Rant / Wake boats

[kb_rn]

Well, then the fishing must be great. I see 20lb bags normal in tournaments on Falls and Jordan. Even Harris is starting to show out. I 100% disagree with you thinking tournament fishing is cause of you not catching fish, if that is what you are saying. Yes, there is more pressure on the fish. But there is more boats on the lake also. How about we help the fish out by limit how many boats are on the body of water?

The post was about Wake boats not following rules and being dangerous on the water. No lights and pulling tubes or wake boating at dark. Have I seen bass boat owners do some stupid things. YES i have. But the influx of pleasure boaters on the local water ways have taken over the stupid side of things. And I have seen water patrol out and do nothing about it.

What you will not see with tournament bass fishing:

Drinking (DQ)
Operating boat in unsafe manner (DQ)

20 lb bags do not equate great fishing. That just means someone caught 5 decent fish. Used to could do that on 5 consecutive casts 10 times a day at Harris, badin, tuckertown and falls. Now you might fish days without catching a full limit on either lake. The wake board boats didn’t do that to the fishing. If you look at a tournament on a really good fishery pay attention to the number of 2.5-3 lb average limits. When 60-80% of the teams have that then you know it’s a great place to fish. When 1 team has 25 lbs, and then 10th place has like 12 lbs and over half the field doesn’t way in a fish that is terrible. Look at the weights at 1000 islands, st clair, Champlain, and a lot of the smaller lakes in states where they don’t allow tournament fishing during the spawn and where they don’t kill grass. There is no comparison whatsoever. Again, between Jordan, falls and the lakes on the yadkin chain as well as buggs we could have some incredible fishing…..if only we managed the fisheries. Whoever issues these tournament permits clearly has no idea what they’re doing when they allow 8 tournaments to go on a single body of water in a single day during the spawn. I rest my case. You believe what you want. I just remember what our fishing used to be like.

[mike28nc]

You putting all of the blame on the tournament fisherman. Not the guys that catch and keep anything. Most tournament guys take care of there fish. But yes 10th place will be lower. I have been in the area fishing for awhile (15years). I think the fishing is good. Yes, Harris was great when it had grass. That is not on the fisherman at all. That is on the state. And if you ask me the pleasurer boaters also cause they dont want that in the lake. Now I am sorry you cant go out and catch 5 bass in 5 cast. Tell me where you can do that (20lb). At times and in spots you can do that at Jordan and Falls. But you have to find them.

I love fishing. If it was easy everyone would do it. Most tournament guys love the competition. They played sports and love that aspect of it. You talk about the dead fish after tournament. But I have seen people keep way to many fish. Or clean the fish at the boat ramp and throw the rest in the water.

Lets face it. I dont think we will agree. It is almost the best time here in NC. When all the wake boats and jet skis are put up for the winter.

[berudd]

i don’t hardly know of any wrc lakes that don’t have 3-4 tournaments every week in the spring. That includes the wildcats. And I said 50-150 boats having limits during the spawn, I didn’t say all times of the year. More limits are caught during the spawn than any other time of the year and that is when the majority of the tournaments take place. You think it’s a good idea to jerk fish off of beds then ride around with them all day only to release them at the ramp? There is a reason they have a “bass season” up north in several states that are hole to a lot of the best bass fishing on the planet. I fished a tournament at norman back in early April and in one day there were between 5-8 DIFFERENT tournaments going on the same day. It happened every weekend from mid March to mid may. That is insane. The same thing went on at lakes like high rock, badin, tuckertown, Jordan, falls, buggs. I even saw a 2 tournament day at one of our local city lakes. That is an insane amount of pressure put on fish during their most important time of the year. It’s one thing when you yank one off of a bed and then put them right back in. But when they’re busting at the seam and take a boat ride to the opposite end of the lake getting beat up in the live well and their eggs end up where they’re not supposed to be does that sound good? Or from June through September when the water temps go high it is a known fact that the mortality rates sky rocket. I don’t care how well the fish caught in 15-20+ feet of water get fizzed, the barotrauma still takes place. I was at a weigh in after a decent sized tournament 3 years ago in mid July and walked down to the ramp and there were between 40-60 dead fish and several more well on their way. That is not taking care of a fishery. But that’s what we specialize in nc and all across the south. Look at how small badin is and how much tournament pressure it gets. Places like buggs and Norman can handle a lot of tournament pressure but not badin and honestly neither can high rock. And look how bad they have sucked the last few years. Go to either of them during the week on a “fun” fishing trip and see how much “fun” you have.


it’s not so much that I don’t like tournament. I literally hate seeing any tournament take place during the spawn.…I just don’t like how the fish in our lakes are treated. The mismanagement is insane all across the state. We could have some of the greatest bass fishing of any state in the country(like we used to)in our bigger lakes……but it’s mediocre at best because of how it’s managed. I really could care less about support. Common sense tells you that the more pressure fish get, the more they die, the smarter they get and the worse the fishing is.

Can't speak to all of those lakes but I've never seen that many tournaments on Jordan and Falls. The WOW is the only one that I can think of that was not on the weekend. There might be a couple on sat or sun but total, its rare to have 100 tournament boats on those lakes at once in my experience. And even in the spawn, I have serious doubt that 50-150 limits are coming in on a single day with any regularity. I'm not saying it never happens but saying it is typical goes to far.

As far as what I think may or may not be a good idea, I honestly will not speculate because without any real data from a scientific study that would be a wild azzed guess at the very best. Like I said before, if you have some actual research from a reliable source that says these activities hurt the fishery please share it. I am sure I am not the only one that would be interested in seeing it.

[kb_rn]

You putting all of the blame on the tournament fisherman. Not the guys that catch and keep anything. Most tournament guys take care of there fish. But yes 10th place will be lower. I have been in the area fishing for awhile (15years). I think the fishing is good. Yes, Harris was great when it had grass. That is not on the fisherman at all. That is on the state. And if you ask me the pleasurer boaters also cause they dont want that in the lake. Now I am sorry you cant go out and catch 5 bass in 5 cast. Tell me where you can do that (20lb). At times and in spots you can do that at Jordan and Falls. But you have to find them.

I love fishing. If it was easy everyone would do it. Most tournament guys love the competition. They played sports and love that aspect of it. You talk about the dead fish after tournament. But I have seen people keep way to many fish. Or clean the fish at the boat ramp and throw the rest in the water.

Lets face it. I dont think we will agree. It is almost the best time here in NC. When all the wake boats and jet skis are put up for the winter.

if you’ve only been here 15 years then you only saw Harris as a fraction of what it once was. And yes the state killed it along with a lot of other lakes. I don’t have any problems catching fish but it’s because I got away from going to the dead seas listed above. Sure I can go fish my brains out all day and get 5 bites and the occasional day where you catch double digits…..if that’s fun to you then have at it…..not for me.