Thoughts on article "Sharing Bass Holes" in BASSMASTER magazine

Anybody read this? What were your thoughts?

The article talks about a "beat the elites" tournament on Smith Mountain Lake the same time BASS is there. The writer is totally against the tournament. It says the tournament was started by people who were angry at BASS for getting rid of coanglers. While I wouldnt want to plan a big tournament on a small lake when BASS is fishing the article goes overboard.

The writer calls the idea selfish. What is more selfish wanting to fish the same lake when the pros do or thinking no one else should fish a public lake when you do. You always hear pros say they fish against the fish not other fisherman well then why is it a big deal every other pro is fishing against the same added fishing pressure.

Skeet made the best point. He basically said they were exposing the fishery and getting paid to be there and it could hurt the community because the public wont see the lakes full potential. It makes sense but I cant see it making a difference really. My guess is the top finishers would find patterns that were overlooked anyway and I dont see the added pressure hurting the total weight alot. Honestly its not like thousands of people planning a vacation are going to change their mind because it took 38lbs to win the tournament instead of 45lbs.

Comparisons were made to sharing a keyboard for an editor or taking nails away from a construction site. I cant believe they think are vaild comparisons. First off its a equal playing field every pro is dealing with the same pressure. First place will pay the same and so on. I dont see how some locals fishing is going to make that much difference.

While there are some good reasons to not have the tournament the article is over the top. Its not that big a deal. The article shows the pros as thinking that when the show up they own a public lake and no one else should fish there. Which I totally do not agree with. We plan a May trip to Guntersville we have for years long before BASS starting going there in May. This year we are going the week before BASS goes for work reasons. We also having a small club tournament there and I wouldnt feel bad at all if we instead fished the weekend the Elite series did. One more point the writer suggests they have the week following the Elite series notice he said the week following not the week before. Point is the article comes off sounding like they have first right to public water. I think people should be curtious and realize they do help a community and do what they can to help BASS but because someone doesnt shouldnt give them the right to get mad. I thought they took a stupid tournament and made themselves look bad.

The only thing that I would have been said about the tournament is they dont like the idea and its going to make the fishing a little more difficult.