Dalton Tam

So competitive eaters are athletes? Heck Yea! I'm an athlete!

I'd say this pair of definitions speaks for itself. Like many have been saying, there are "athletes" that aren't necessarily "fit," but they are athletes or participants in a "sport" all the same. Being very involved in wrestling for much of my life, the term "athletic" definitely has different standards for different individuals. I most certainly believe the more fit someone is the greater their individual opportunity is to be competitive in a fishing tournament. The relationship between psychological functioning and physiological capacity is positive. If someone can better handle physical stressors such as excessive heat or fatigue while still maintaining a high level of mental focus, I cannot see how it'd be argued that they wouldn't be more successful than otherwise at such a high tournament level. All in all, the argument of "who's an athlete?" and "is this or that called a sport?" is continuous and goes well beyond competitive fishing. However, when one considers the definition of the term "sport" and "athlete," I believe it would be terminologically correct to label those anglers as athletes. JP Agreed.....

I understand that they didn't break the rules "technically" but if you guys would have read the way the kid and the guide acted on the other forum, you might think differently about it. The guide himself stated: "I have several guide buddis that were willing to take kids out in this tournament." I don't understand why nothing was stated saying we could use a guide with the absence of money. I have family friends that guide on Toledo Bend that live up that way, just wasn't re assured that it wouldn't be a grey area, plus I wouldn't think it'd be right to do (as you can tell). Not trying to go about this the wrong way....... just stating my opinion about it and, I personally think its wrong. The bigger issue is that the TBF didn't allow a lake draw or even put the tournament centrally located in the state. It was right at the back door of the only other area in the state that has TBF teams which can be sitting at the lake in 30 minutes of their homes where as it took us 3 hours to reach it. That gives them the advantage of killing the competition every time its held their. It would be like them coming and fishing against us on our home lake. I wouldn't think it was fair and would request it be held somewhere else. And I'm not going to let it get me down in tournament fishing, just gonig to get back at 'em in the World Finals on Dardanelle this summer. Thanks for the replies and opinions.

As I stated, I'm not trying to take these kids titles away, I simply beleive it was an immoral thing to do and, no I haven't contacted the TD about it because I did not know about it until two weeks after the tournament. I am in the process of contacting the National Youth Director right now to let him know about our discontent and see what steps, if any, can be made to make sure it doesn't happen again. Yes, the facts are straight, as the kid and the guide himself have admitted to it on another forum. Every team in the boat is required to have a "Coach" or someone to drive the boat and as every competitive angler knows, finding the fish is 90% of the equation in competitive fishing. The other 10% is catching. If these kids did not have to find the fish on there own, how are they learning to tournament fish? It is comparable to a major league baseball player hitting the ball for a team of little leaguers, while all they had to do was run the bases. Look at it how you want to, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. How close do you have to get to breaking the rules before it is considered cheating?

LOL maybe you should go back to college....... ;D

I just recently fished a tournament on Caddo Lake for a High School Fishing State Championship. I had never been on the lake before in my life and drove 3 hours to get there. I would like to have taken time to pre fish the lake but, being in Highschool, didn't have the means to do so. Once I arrived on Friday evening for the meeting, it was easy to see that we were the only team that wasn't local. When I say local, I mean the only school that wasn't located within 30-50 miles of the boat landing, and this got under my skin a little, but I didn't let it bother me too bad. We ended up placing fourth with a VERY small weight.... nuff said :-[. There was a 14" to 18" slot limit on the lake that killed us but all in all we CAME IN FOURTH! I was sort of proud of myself because of our circumstance. I just recently found out that the kids that took first place were FISHING WITH A GUIDE! on tournament day. We are all required to have an adult to drive the boat for us during the tournament. This man is a "WELL KNOWN" guide on this lake and is proud to say he fishes the lake over 200 days a year. The rules of the organization say: 3. NO INFORMATION The purchasing of, or bartering for, information about locating or catching fish on tournament waters, including but not limited to GPS waypoints (other than through commercially available sources) and the hiring of fishing guide services is not permitted by contestants or coaches within 10 days of any tournament. Violation of this rule may result in disqualification. The way these guys got around this rule was by saying that the guy was a family friend who was willing to take them without pay. Another point is that the kid who won, his dad is the director of the Benton High School Bass Club. Why wouldn't this guy want to take his son on the lake? I am very upset about this and, although I don't wish that these guys' titles be stripped, I feel that a rule needs to be made to prevent it from happening again. I would like to know what you guys' opinions are about it. Here is the Guide's website if you are interested: http://caddolakefishing.com/

My entire family.... they have always backed me in every tournament and always given me faith, even when I had little myself.

LOL we only went for a couple of hours. I didn't put any hurt on the population at all. I talked with a guy that caught 160 this weekend and my buddy bagged close to 5000 shiners Saturday morning at the store. Our home lake is one of the best crappie lakes I've ever heard of in my life. This picture just come from the first time I actually went "Crappie" fishing. I am a bass fisherman at heart.

My buddy was a happy camper, lol. We caught these in two hours, it was a good day. I hear that they are catching them better now than when we caught them a month ago but it's time to put the "perch jerkin" equipment up and catch some PIGS!

I had a professional photographer take this picture for me, lol (Glenn). I had to post this picture. I think I'm gonna blow it up and put it on my wall!

yea ?????? I dont understand the responses to this post

Thanks guys. I should have had these pictures up sooner but the internet at my hotel was on the frits. I will put som more pictures up as soon as I get the camera back from my mom.

Due to the fog delay, I took some great pictures of a few pros spending time with their families as long as they could until the fog lifted. Here are some great shots of other anglers.

final verdict on first day is Aaron martens with 20.7 Scott Rook with 19.? and KVD with 19.3

That's my happy face! lol ( one with Edbassmaster)

Would have been more if the lady from right her locally wouldnt have iced her catch down all night on ice before weighing it in. It weighed over 16 lbs originally. It had also spawned out so it would have had atleast a pound or more of eggs in her. Here is the story if you wanna read it. http://www.bastropenterprise.com/sports/x227916487/Near-record-bass-makes-the-news Pic: http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRmn9AqCf90kFnrQWCjv0rGr7fRmOED01zGEdmYuGTqw8Cb6OnS

18 Finally!

Real nice fish. I'm so pumped and ready for some warm weather to get here.

In. time to show you guys why the Classic is here this year. Although south Louisiana and North are like two different worlds

If you wanna take duck photos you need to move here my friend.

I've heard that when a female's egg sack begins to have red blood vessels around the sack they are about to begin spawning..... Is this true? and if so I caught a female the other day up shallow when the water temp was around 55 degrees I did clean her and found this... But the watertemps have dropped down to the mid 40s again so if it is true... will they continue spawning or will they hold off until the water reaches that temp again?

I know this may seem odd to you all but I have caught fish in other ways than the original way to use a senko. I've ran out of fluke or shad type baits before and popped a senko through grass and caught nice fish. I've also fish senkos weighted texas rigg. Actually that was the first way that I used them. I caught several fish that way also. I know that if you have a problem putting a bait down because you are catching too many fish on it than you have a problem because I'd be using that bait all day long. When is the last time you saw KVD put down a crank bait because he was catching "Too Many" fish on it. THAT'S ABSURED! I mean if it is working and you are catching alot of small fish. Try doing something different with the same bait to catch larger fish like use a weighted hook and move a little further from the shore line. Now it is good to be versatile and be able to turn it off at anytime it begins to stop working but as long as the bite is coming my way I'm sticking to that pattern.

Looks like you guys had alot of fun. Me and a buddy of mine went out to a local lake and caught 21 crappie today. We caught some SLABS too. I think I'll post some pics soon.

I think it all changes according to who wins what tournaments and what they are using. I just say if something is working for you.... try something else and if it doesn't work better go back to what you know. Word of advice, never try something new on tournament day..... bad idea :-/

yep... met u there last year