Harris chain

[TnRiver46]

You can’t stare at your screen if it’s behind you 😂 

[Tennessee Boy]

22 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

You can’t stare at your screen if it’s behind you 😂 

It’s so boring watching a guy’s butt staring at a screen. 😆

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Crazy watching these locals fishing so close to Mckinney.   

 

They could care less about an Elite Series guy fishing besides them 🤣

 

Florida man ain't moving over for nobody.  

[DinkDonkey30]

39 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Crazy watching these locals fishing so close to Mckinney.   

 

They could care less about an Elite Series guy fishing besides them 🤣

 

Florida man ain't moving over for nobody.  

Probably feels normal. Watching some of the other Florida tournaments the guys might as well have been fishing on a flotilla lol. 

[TnRiver46]

49 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Crazy watching these locals fishing so close to Mckinney.   

 

They could care less about an Elite Series guy fishing besides them 🤣

 

Florida man ain't moving over for nobody.  

In my experience, the Florida man (or TN man) is fishing there first and the elites come in on top of them. Just like they guys fishing a fruit jar derby for 50 bucks come in on top of me 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

At Grand all the anglers were so complimentary of the local anglers giving them so much space, you hear this from time to time.

 

Seems some places have more "respect" for the Elite Series guys than others.   I don't have a problem one way or the other, if I was out there on my one day off, I'm not yielding to anybody if I was on the spot first.  

[TnRiver46]

Milliken let his 5th keeper go about 15 times because he didn’t know the length limit…… ouch. Probably would have only added 1-1.5 lbs to his total but points are points 

[gim]

2 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

if I was out there on my one day off, I'm not yielding to anybody if I was on the spot first. 

 

Same.  Although I can't imagine I'd even be fishing waters with an Elite event going to begin with, especially during the event.  The same concept would apply to any person fishing in a tournament or not though.  Fishing in a tournament does not give anyone rights to a spot.

[Capt Steve]

I fished Tuesday and I saw quite a few guys practicing on Griffin. Nobody bothered me and I didn't bother them. 
I'm old school when it comes to fishing near someone. It seems that a lot of people nowadays pull up right next to other boats that are already fishing. Maybe it's because the waters are a lot more crowded and that's what some of the younger people are used to. When I was growing up, if someone was sitting in a spot that you wanted to fish you went somewhere else. If you wanted to fish that place you should've gotten up earlier. You never pulled in on top of someone.  
 

The last few years that I was guiding, this happened quite frequently  I had other guides (and non guides) pull up so close to me we could cast into their boat. Poor manners.

 

[JediAmoeba]

45 minutes ago, Capt Steve said:

I fished Tuesday and I saw quite a few guys practicing on Griffin. Nobody bothered me and I didn't bother them. 
I'm old school when it comes to fishing near someone. It seems that a lot of people nowadays pull up right next to other boats that are already fishing. Maybe it's because the waters are a lot more crowded and that's what some of the younger people are used to. When I was growing up, if someone was sitting in a spot that you wanted to fish you went somewhere else. If you wanted to fish that place you should've gotten up earlier. You never pulled in on top of someone.  
 

The last few years that I was guiding, this happened quite frequently  I had other guides (and non guides) pull up so close to me we could cast into their boat. Poor manners.

 

In the Northeast if you don't have another boat or kayak fishing within 100 yards if you it's a rare day. When I was younger in western pa, you wouldn't dare but now in eastern pa you can just pull up next to someone and drop the trolling motor because everything is crowded. 

2 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Milliken let his 5th keeper go about 15 times because he didn’t know the length limit…… ouch. Probably would have only added 1-1.5 lbs to his total but points are points 

How do you not know? And they should have a Marshall or someone to contact. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Milliken said that during his weigh in.....said he culled like 13-14 fish without realizing he didn't have a 5th one in the boat.   

 

 

[Choporoz]

5 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Seems some places have more "respect" for the Elite Series guys than others.   I don't have a problem one way or the other, if I was out there on my one day off, I'm not yielding to anybody if I was on the spot first.  

There is a sense of entitlement among some pros that rubs me the wrong way.  More than a couple have said that they are there just one weekend and it is their job, so locals should give way.  On the other hand, I have had guys ask me if I am fishing a tournament and when I said yes, they have backed out of an area they were on first.  So, I will often do the same.  But it always comes down to tone and attitude. The most respectful always get the most grace.

[F14A-B]

McKinney looked like a kid playing in the bathtub today. He camped out on top of that lock and dam about all day. 

[Susky River Rat]

@JediAmoeba people know nothing about crowds or fishing pressure till they fish eastern   PA. It’s nothing to have 3 boats in casting distance of each other. I don’t mean long casts either. The river it’s even worse because the fish pile into certain areas. 

[TnRiver46]

14 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Milliken said that during his weigh in.....said he culled like 13-14 fish without realizing he didn't have a 5th one in the boat.   

 

 

Oh gotcha. I thought he didn’t know the length limit, which judging by the weigh in is 12” . Although when I was at Toho seems like the minimum was 14 but they gave tournaments a special permit to weigh anything 12 and over 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Been watching Live for over 2hrs.....ZERO FISH CATCHES!

 

Harris Chain makes me yearn for the Sabine River 🤣

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Dang that was an awesome fish catch and reaction by Brad Whatley.

 

Spit some tobacco juice the moment he was boat flipping a 5+......saying "get yer butt up in here" 🤣

[Captain Phil]

I have lived on and fished the Harris Chain for over 40 years.  My feeling is Bass Tournaments have worn out their welcome here.  There are entirely too many on the Chain.  Between local, club, regional and National tournaments you can't even get close to a boat ramp on weekends.  Back twenty years ago, no one would think of pulling up on someone's fish.  Today, if you catch a fish you have five boats heading your way.   The place for a big national tournament is Okeechobee. Fishing back to back in someone's back yard is not what I call fun.  It's getting ridiculous! 

[TnRiver46]

I was going to ask watching the weigh ins, have they beat the Harris chain to death ? I think captain Phil answered that 

[JediAmoeba]

10 hours ago, Susky River Rat said:

@JediAmoeba people know nothing about crowds or fishing pressure till they fish eastern   PA. It’s nothing to have 3 boats in casting distance of each other. I don’t mean long casts either. The river it’s even worse because the fish pile into certain areas. 

We get all the traffic from the surrounding states. And you are right about the amount of boats near you - it's silly.

[Capt Steve]

2 hours ago, Captain Phil said:

I have lived on and fished the Harris Chain for over 40 years.  My feeling is Bass Tournaments have worn out their welcome here.  There are entirely too many on the Chain.  Between local, club, regional and National tournaments you can't even get close to a boat ramp on weekends.  Back twenty years ago, no one would think of pulling up on someone's fish.  Today, if you catch a fish you have five boats heading your way.   The place for a big national tournament is Okeechobee. Fishing back to back in someone's back yard is not what I call fun.  It's getting ridiculous! 

I agree @Captain Phil  

If nothing else they should not allow tournaments during the spawning season. There were Saturdays in February that had 5 tournaments in the Harris Chain in one day. 
How many bass can be taken off the beds before it begins to be detrimental to the fishery?  

But, typical of Florida, they don't want to say "no" to anyone. Too much money involved.  They'll wait til the horses are out before they close the barn door. 
 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Pressure is one thing, but Drew Benton nailed it at the weigh in....." it really burns me knowing my tax dollars are going to destroy such an awesome fishery"

 

I can't think of anything more destructive to Bass fishing than killing off the grass.   

 

Matty Wong called out the HOA and karens on it as well.    I deal with this on my home lake.    It's a massive pet peeve of mine.   So sad to witness time after time on awesome fisheries.  

[Susky River Rat]

@AlabamaSpothunter that’s why I stopped fishing lakes. 

[Capt Steve]

Grass has always been a love/hate relationship with people. When I was growing up the Harris Chain had almost no Hydrlla in it to my knowledge. Griffin was completely full of lily pads with trails running through it. 
Most Florida lakes had lots of hyacinths floating around. They too could be a problem if left alone. 
Hydrilla was considered a non native invasive species. 
Yes, I know grass is good for fish and for filtering water. However if left completely alone hydrilla will completely take over lakes. You should hear people complain 
when they can't even run a boat because the grass is so thick. 
Anyway, I'm not defending anyone here. I wouldn't want to be in their position of managing the water. Too many opinions. 

Small patches of grass is great for fishermen. But last year by late summer there were places in the chain you couldn't even get your boat on plane because of the thick "topped out" hydrilla. 

I'm sure the skiers and pleasure boaters really complained about that. 
 

What I always hated was the dead mucky bottom after the grass died. 

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

18 minutes ago, Susky River Rat said:

@AlabamaSpothunter that’s why I stopped fishing lakes. 

Almost all of our big rivers down here have been impounded.   Unrelated but I'm seriously considering getting into small river fishing in pursuit of the Cahaba, Tallapoosa, and Warrior Bass.    Two of those three can only be caught in Alabama, and the Cahaba can be caught in my back yard.