Does anyone think Mark Menendez would have been able to exicute that plan with a co angler in the boat?

For those that didn't see the Elites on Dardanelle.    Mark opted for an aluminum boat with 90hp.    He ran an hour up lake where he had to go through a cement culvert to get to his 1/4 mile fishing hole.   On day 3, the lake dropped some and Mark layed on his belly and manually removed some big rocks.    

I believe that was a 17' G3.    It has one livewell with a divider, one lid to the livewell.    Two limits in that boat would be very hard to accomodate.   15" minimum on that lake.    

 I can assure you, the only storage for the co boater would be the floor.   A G3 has no back deck storage, under the passengers seat is the cooler.  

     Does this validate the pro's asking for the co anglers to be removed?

   By the way, its the first BASS tourney won in an aluminum boat since  the 1994 win on the Connecticut river by Roland Martin.

   I thought Menendez' was too cool and couldn't have happened to anyone more deserving.     What I know of Mark, he's always been a very respected pro.

       

 

     

IMO I thought it was awesome seeing him win that event. Helps show you dont need 50k+ bass rigs, and simple little boats can sometimes be better. Also, although I dont like the fact they got rid of co anglers, I dont think he would have been able to do that, the weight might have pushed the boat down an inch or so making it not fit...not sure. But either way it was awesome to see someone win in a boat that is affordable to alot more people.

Matt, let me tell you about Mark Menendez.

He used to be one of the presenters at the old Bassmasters University and he was great.

Personable; friendly; entertaining; intelligent; humorous; and he had some great information he shared with us.

I had never followed Mark before his Bassmasters University presentations. After one session the first year I heard him, I was a fan.

He is a great guy who had to overcome some medical issues.

I am very happy he is back on the tour and is doing well.

He is a quality person. One we all should exemplify.

I couldn't have said it any better Sam!

I met Mark at those same Bassmaster Universities in Richmond in the 90's. I was probably around 16 years old and I cornered poor Mark during lunch and asked him questions for the whole lunch break on how to make it to the Pro level. He answered everyone of them and at the end of lunch he gave me his home address and phone number to call him if he could do anything help me achieve my goal of one day fishing on the tour! He still knows me by first and last name to this day and I know this because my best friend ran into him at the Classic in Lousiana this year and he told him the exact same story I just typed! I am so happy for Mark. He was more than due and I hope his year continues to go well!

I think that the only draw back to having a co angler would have been that he would have to split up the fish with the co.  Other than that It would have been the same outcome.  He still had a person in the boat with him every day (that I know of) and he could have told his co to bring very little tackle since it was fairly basic flipping and pitching stuff. But I could be wrong.  We will never know though  ;D

That is a really cool story, thanks for sharing that.

Do you think he would have used a 17' boat with a co angler onboard?

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That livewell has one lid with a divider, I have fished out of the same boat a dozen times last year. When we, as a team collected fish out of there, we placed worm bag protecting one side and used body on the otherside. Trust me, those fish jump with a 3 foot hole open.

Thus my point, he had no space for a second angler. And any larger boat wouldn't have ever got under that bridge. Thus that game plan  would have never materialized for him with larger boat.

Co Angler=camera guy

He would have been fine they were using aluminum boats before when they had coanglers.