i fish solo quite often.  i like fishing with a group plenty.  i am a bit of a professional trash-talker.

 

wagers?  nope.  i let my buddies do their side bets and stuff.  they know to leave me out of it.  i just dont gamble.  not even for fun.  last time, two of them bet "biggest single fish" measured on a board.  winner got to pick lure of choice from the losers kayak tackle box.   my friend lost his lucky A-rig.  hahha. it was funny to watch and part of me wished i had participated.  but in general, i will only participate on who gets to pay for lunch, if anything.

 

money?  NEVER.  two friends are going to Washington for Salmon.  i think the wager is up to $600 now...and they havent left!!  it is just the pot that has developed.  hahah.

 

you?

Never gamble. When I go fishing, I'm too focused on catching fish. Gambling would only be a distraction.

My brother in law, his father, my father and myself used to go to on a week long fishing trip every year for Northerns/Musky and we ordered a decent sized trophy and kept track on the bottom of who won biggest northern/musky each year. We also got a smaller "contingency" trophy for biggest bass. 

 

Winner of each got to display it in their house for the year until the next trip where you had to bring it to the lake for the new trip.

 

Really miss those days. 

1 hour ago, Darth-Baiter said:

but in general, i will only participate on who gets to pay for lunch, if anything.

 

I do this a fair amount with my family or one of my close friends.  Usually the biggest bass earns a lunch, or a blizzard at DQ on the way home.  Its not too expensive and makes things a little more interesting.  Plus who doesn't like cold ice cream after a few hours in the sun?

 

Twice a year I do a small derby against another boat/people we know and the losing team has to pay for the winning team's lunch and a pitcher of beer afterwards at Applebee's.  Just did that last Friday actually, and my friend and I put a can of whoop ass on my old man and his partner.  The only thing better than beer is FREE beer.

 

I don't fish in tournaments so this is a very mild way of adding some competition to fishing sometimes.  Always only voluntary, of course.

That reminds me I owe my wife 5 bucks. 

Tournaments is the only gambling I do. I don't gamble on it otherwise.

I almost never gamble.  Whether I win or lose, the process is just too stressful to me.  Even a tiny wager that I don't care about adds more stress than excitement for me.  And the best thing about fishing, to me, is the stress relief.  Why would I purposefully ruin that with gambling?  

But hey, if you enjoy that kind of thing, then more power to you!  I won't judge.  So long as you respect my "no thanks", you'll still be alright with me.  We're all a little different.  I love post-war Japanese Cinema.  I'm sure a lot of you guys would think that's a good way to ruin several hours of your life.  

We never bring money or property into it, I feel like it's a surefire way to eventually have someone "feel some type of way" about the outcome, but there is always a standing competition between us for who catches the most and/or biggest bass in an outing.

I went salmon fishing with two other buddies on the Niagara River drifting through Devils Hole. We made a bet of $50 for the first fish. Second bet of $50 for the most fish & a final bet of $50 for the biggest fish. No qualifiers or restrictions. Guess who won all the others guys money with only one fish caught that day between the three of us? I laughed the all the way to the bank. They never made that stupid bet again without qualifiers. LOL 

I do gamble.  A bi-weekly nickel, dime, quarter poker game and a monthly trip to the Temple of the One-Armed Bandit.  With fishing it's just friendly competition, who caught the biggest, the most.  My buddy and I are headed up to a lodge in NE Ontario for a week of fishing.  We do keep score of the number of fish we catch, in this case, smallmouth, walleye and pike.  Who catches the biggest of each species and the most.  Just for bragging rights.  Last year the guy I went with really doesn't know what he's doing and we ended landing a 121 smallmouth.  This year the guy I'm going with knows what he's doing.  I hoping we might land between 150 and 200 smallmouth between us for the week.  I'll give him a slight handicap since I'll be fly fishing, maybe 50% of the time.

17 minutes ago, Fallser said:

We do keep score of the number of fish we catch, in this case, smallmouth, walleye and pike.  Who catches the biggest of each species and the most. 

 

My Father goes to Ontario every June for a week with his side of the family.  There are usually 10 of them total and they all toss 10 bucks into a pot for 4 different species of fish - whoever catches the biggest of each species gets the pot for that species.  They have walleye, northern pike, lake trout, and other.  The "other" category is always interesting.  It has been a variety of species.  Whitefish, perch, smallmouth, and one guy even won with a 10 inch sucker once lol.  Pretty decent haul of almost 200 bucks if you can snag 2 of the 4 categories.

2 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

i fish solo quite often.  i like fishing with a group plenty.  i am a bit of a professional trash-talker.

 

wagers?  nope.  i let my buddies do their side bets and stuff.  they know to leave me out of it.  i just dont gamble.  not even for fun.  last time, two of them bet "biggest single fish" measured on a board.  winner got to pick lure of choice from the losers kayak tackle box.   my friend lost his lucky A-rig.  hahha. it was funny to watch and part of me wished i had participated.  but in general, i will only participate on who gets to pay for lunch, if anything.

 

money?  NEVER.  two friends are going to Washington for Salmon.  i think the wager is up to $600 now...and they havent left!!  it is just the pot that has developed.  hahah.

 

you?

I put myself through college hustling tennis and fishing, (plus BEOG) so yeah...

2 hours ago, Dwight Hottle said:

I went salmon fishing with two other buddies on the Niagara River drifting through Devils Hole. We made a bet of $50 for the first fish. Second bet of $50 for the most fish & a final bet of $50 for the biggest fish. No qualifiers or restrictions. Guess who won all the others guys money with only one fish caught that day between the three of us? I laughed the all the way to the bank. They never made that stupid bet again without qualifiers. LOL 

This sounds like the fishing equivalent of a Nassau bet in golf.

4 minutes ago, KSanford33 said:

This sounds like the fishing equivalent of a Nassau bet in golf.

A typical day fishing for salmon was catching several fish per day per guy. So we were not considering only one fish to be caught for the day when the bet was made. Usually that bet is a wash because you could plan on wining one arm of the bet. 

4 hours ago, Mobasser said:

Never gamble. When I go fishing, I'm too focused on catching fish. Gambling would only be a distraction.

Ernest Hemingway wrote that any activity that requires gambling to make it interesting isn't worth doing in the first place. I concur. 

If It wasn't for the competition of tournaments I probably wouldn’t bass fish. I fish organized tournaments at minimum once a month and my buddies and I (usually 5-10 people) do throw together tournaments often. Example, group text goes out saying 6-2 on lake x this Saturday, 5 fish, $50, $10 bb. 
 

I don't gamble in the traditional sense...never been in a casino, only played scratch offs I've got as a present and maybe bought 10 Powerball tickets my entire life. Did bet a fishing buddy a 6pk I'd out fish him. Seemed like a sure thing  considering he out fishes me once every few years. Guess what? He outfished me when it counted

I only put up money for tournaments.

I don’t remember making any kind of bet in fishing.

Once I was on a party boat deep sea fishing. There was a voluntary 50.00 per person pot for biggest fish that I did not join.

I caught a big amberjack early on that was the big fish most of the day. I was hoping someone else would catch something bigger so I wouldn’t feel bad about the money or being humiliated that I hadn’t joined in.

In the last hour, someone caught one a little bigger….

5 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

i fish solo quite often.  i like fishing with a group plenty.  i am a bit of a professional trash-talker.

 

wagers?  nope.  i let my buddies do their side bets and stuff.  they know to leave me out of it.  i just dont gamble.  not even for fun.  last time, two of them bet "biggest single fish" measured on a board.  winner got to pick lure of choice from the losers kayak tackle box.   my friend lost his lucky A-rig.  hahha. it was funny to watch and part of me wished i had participated.  but in general, i will only participate on who gets to pay for lunch, if anything.

 

money?  NEVER.  two friends are going to Washington for Salmon.  i think the wager is up to $600 now...and they havent left!!  it is just the pot that has developed.  hahah.

 

you?

Funny you mention this, because I was going to tell you this - unless the law has changed in my state, WA state you CANNOT have any kind of wager for fun, even among friends without notifying WDFW (WA Dept of Fish and wildlife) first. 
 

How ironic that they’re coming to my state, lol. 

4 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Tournaments is the only gambling I do. I don't gamble on it otherwise.

Ditto

I go fishing to relax and have a good time. My friends know I don’t care how many or who catches the biggest fish. Betting, even for a hamburger, never comes up. I’m not on the lake for competition. 

The only gambling I do is at work getting food out of the vending machine.

7 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

i fish solo quite often.  i like fishing with a group plenty.  i am a bit of a professional trash-talker.

 

wagers?  nope.  i let my buddies do their side bets and stuff.  they know to leave me out of it.  i just dont gamble.  not even for fun.  last time, two of them bet "biggest single fish" measured on a board.  winner got to pick lure of choice from the losers kayak tackle box.   my friend lost his lucky A-rig.  hahha. it was funny to watch and part of me wished i had participated.  but in general, i will only participate on who gets to pay for lunch, if anything.

 

money?  NEVER.  two friends are going to Washington for Salmon.  i think the wager is up to $600 now...and they havent left!!  it is just the pot that has developed.  hahah.

 

you?

I would never gamble. I'm not necessarily against it in moderation, but I'm just too much of a pansy to put my money on the line. When I'm fishing with family, whoever is the last one to catch a fish buys lunch.

2 hours ago, islandbass said:

Funny you mention this, because I was going to tell you this - unless the law has changed in my state, WA state you CANNOT have any kind of wager for fun, even among friends without notifying WDFW (WA Dept of Fish and wildlife) first. 
 

How ironic that they’re coming to my state, lol. 

Update: It turns out there must be 6 or more people or else they would have to notify the WDFW, so they’re off the hook, lol. 

It sux that I live in a tax and fee happy state. They milk me such that I have to buy a freshwater license and a salt water license. Also, you are not a “senior” to get the $7.50 senior license rate. Anyone 15-69 must pay:

FW $29.50

SW $30.05

combination license: $55.35

Shellfish: $17.40

The one redeeming quality that keeps me here is the ? evergreen. Peace. 

Edited August 10, 20223 yr by islandbass
Updated info

I’m not a gambler. I’ve fished a couple

tourneys and forking over the entry fee hurt my soul