Didn't want to hijack the thread already running - Congrats to the G-Man!!!

But I do have a question.  In reading about this, there was a quote from his co-angler about "netting" fish for Gerald all day.  Are nets allowed in the Opens, but not in the Elites?

Not a big deal, but it jumped out at me.

Yes, nets are allowed in the opens. I was surprised by that myself.

On other subjects, it was mentioned that things were done to create "consistency" between the elites and the opens, so I thought it was strange that nets were allowed.

Banning nets does add another element to the actual catching of fish, so maybe they like the idea that this is an area that makes the elite series the top of the line, other than the field of anglers.

at the elites the net thing doesnt really matter in my mind because they just throw the fish over half thte time, and if its a big fish then thats the only time where they actually have to pick it up by hand out of the water.