Fishing as an ameteur in a Pro Tournament

Last June, the In-Fisherman Professional Walleye Trail held a first-ever tourney here on the St. Mary's River. It covered over 50 miles of river system and included Canadian waters. Participants such as Gary Roach, Mark Martin, Ted Takasaki, Mark Romanack, Kim 'Chief' Papineau, and many others were present.

Many of us locals were excited, and several people I know decided to enter the tourney for the experience of fishing with a pro (I did not). The fee was $600 and you had to bring your own lunch and (duh!) pole.

Well, the guys went to the pre-tourney briefing and learned they would fish with a different pro each day..... no problem. BUT! They also learned they would be paying each pro and additional $40/day for gasoline expense, which I thought was a crock of shiet.

Several of the amatuers got paired-up with well-known pros, and some of those pros were downright ignorant and rude to the amatuers. For instance: The pros told the ama to launch the boat prior to take-off, and a few of the ama's refused, saying they weren't familiar with how to launch a boat. Well.... several of the pros got mad and threw tantrums right there at the launch in front of everyone.

One of my friends lost a $200 pole because the pro took a 40 mile run in 3 foot seas. My buddy could see his pole bouncing around and asked the pro to stop so he could re-secure it.... and the pro refused. I thought that to be inexcuseable.

Finally, another buddy paired-up with a pro who made him 'wash' all the nightcrawlers and wouldn't bait his own hook because he didn't want his clothes to get dirty. For the same reason, he wouldn't take any fish off his hook when he caught one. Besides going thru all this, the pro told my buddy not to speak to him all day.

A resounding complaint I heard from most amateurs was that they were treated like peons for the entire 3-day event.

Maybe its just me, but from what I've heard about this, my opinion of these 'Professional Fisherman' is no longer what it used to be. I fully realize that big-money is at stake and this is these guys livelihood. I also realize they incur TREMENDOUS expenses..... but it just seems that the manner in which the amateurs were treated was a bunch of bull.

BTW: none of 'em did very well; in fact several of the pros went fishless because the mayflies were hatching. I kinda felt it was poetic justice. They are coming back this summer in late July since they said it was the most community help the PWT had EVER had.

But I know several locals who won't be coughing-up the $$$ for the so-called 'Privelage' of fishing with the pros.

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VEGETARIAN: Indian word meaning 'Bad Hunter'

[This message has been edited by yooper (edited 01-21-2001).]

Yooper I fish with pros alot most of those guys are jerks. But there are a few that will give you a hand. in the bass tournements I would say john murry and ben matsubo, and don Iovino are the ones that will give you the most help. Ive talked to DON on the phone many of thimes and he has no problems helping a guy out.

The only reason there is a pro-ameture even is to make the pot bigger for the pro's. If the money's were kept seperate for the ametures I think there would be very few pro's fishing.

The only difference between a pro and a amatuer is the price they pay for the entry. usually the amt. fee is about half but not always.
I will always enter a tournament as a pro just because I'm not going to kiss some guys butt for the money i have to pay.

I have seen the pros in action here in AZ they will do anything to make sure they win. Ive seen the tell other people to move out of a spot because they were fishing for alot of money and these people were in a good spot.
I think most tournament (pro or amatuer)fisherman get a bad name because of this also. Ive talked to people at stores that said they think bass fisherman are the rudest people in the world. And its because there in an old boat and some guy moves in on them in a shinney new bass boat and tries to take there area.

I fish the tourney's for fun not for the money.I help as many people that I can. I will go out of my way to help people that are fishing with kids. If I see a kid and dad not catching fish I will usually give them baits and have them follow me to where I was cathing them. My daughter and I did that with a guy and his kid last year. we were at the boat ramp loading the boat on the trailer and so was this pair. after talking to them a few mins I had them talked in to going again.
we took them out showed them the spot, and how we were cathing the fish. within 20 mins they had fish on. the father was very happy and the kid was estatic. he caught about 6 why we were there.

Delw

Delw

I am going to tell you both something. That is why I haven't fished the local circuit for the last two years. These guys are a bunch of egotistic jerks who cut in front of you why you are fishing a bank,won't say two words to you and think they are the best. I think alot of them cheat.The lakes we fish are from 6000 acres to about 12,000 and each of these lakes have their typical producing spots. Maybe 10 or fifteen spots are known to produce and then you take about 60 to 75 boats and then you have problems. But you can be doing everything the same as the next guy by using the same jig and fishing the same laydowns on the same banks and these top few take first or second every time. Nobody is that good. These guys will hire guides or have buddies that live at a particular lake to do their work for them. They weigh in big bass in every tourny. Now figure that out! That is why I am just taking it easy for now and enjoying fishing the way it is suppose to be. I just wanted to see how I could stand up to the next guy but it hasn't been a true test so I quit. They can have their debt. I don't need to go out and finance a $30,000 boat and truck every year just to look important. They aren't fooling anyone! This year I am going out ,dropping the anchor and kicking back and using some live bait and catch some fish. No more running and gunning!

P.S.,Give them the finger!

Thats the attitude I get from alot of people fishing in AZ concerned hunter. Pretty much thats my attitude also with some minor difference's. But there are a few guy's that are honest.


Delw

I know,I don't know if I would actually give them the bird but I certainly don't think very highly of these guys! And you are right,there are some good guys out there but I am starting to think very few. It really bothers me to see trash and fishing line up and down the banks. Some are just plain ignorant. Don't care about others' space and see you catch a fish no matter what size and they are sitting next to you like they have known ya for years. I give everyone their space and avoid crowds. I mean what are your chances with 10 or 12 lines next to each other with something different on each one? Looks kind of suspicious to me. I guess I should quit complaining because I simply cannot control what others do.

There are rude SOBS every where these days.Even the bait dealers have turned into aholes.If you don't buy 20-30 dollars worth of bait you get the evil eye.I walked out of a bait store last year,I asked for 5 dozen large minnows.The guy threw his lip up and said in very agitated voice ''Thats all your gonna buy'' I said nope,I aint gonna buy shiet from you and walked out and will not go back.Used to not be that way.

I'm pretty good on the local waters when it comes to catching 'eyes.

A co-worker tried to take advantage of this by getting me to accompany him and a pro he'd met go on a pre-tourney expedition.

I told him, "No way" and explained that I wasn't going to give out my honey-holes to someone who is supposed to be a 'Professional'. If I had, all those idiots would have converged on those areas and fished 'em out.

So yeah; I agree that they cheat to a certain extent. However, most of the money they make is thru product endorsements and seminars.

We don't owe those guys nothin'.... they're the ones that decided to mortgage everything they own just so they could have a shiny boat and label themselves a 'Pro.'

I had never been around tournamant pros before; but now that I have, my opinion of them has markedly changed: A bunch of pompous jerks.