its not just tourney contestants!!!!!! it happens at every lake.people in general have no respect for other sportsman on the water as well in the field. liberty lake is on of the worst

G -man.I have tournament fished... yet at times I agree with you. It's been rumored that the Bass tournament lobby influenced the 12" and under Largemouth Bass retention restrictions in this state....If they yank the right polititions chain stuff happens like that. though, by and large most Anglers that I encounter are great folks. TJM

I have many friends that are semi-pro, and I'd fish with them any day of the week, but it is changing. The fringe jerk element used to be a boat or two in the past, now its more like 5-10 boats, and thats unacceptable. Why people can't have common courtesy today when we are all having to save money and stay on local lakes is beyond me.

E

What boat launches are open for Long Lake ??

Spokane house, DNR. 9 mile should open memorial day

E

Gisteppo,

I have been checking reports on this site for 2 years now and never felt compelled to leave a comment until today. I think you should be careful when accusing a person or group of people of being a bad steward. First off the word steward is used to describe the handling of a resource and the users responsibility to the resource. Sportsmanship and stewardship are two totally different issues.You may be a bad sportsman in respect to how you treat others around you but that doesn't translate into somehow abusing the resource. An abuser of a resource is detrimental to that resource. He may be very friendly and courteous to other anglers and appear to be a great sportsman. All the while doing his part to destroy the resource for his own pleasure. A bad sportsman is no fun to be around but I would rather share water with a guy who is rude than one who is actually doing harm to the fishery.Tournament anglers as well as any other angler typically try to catch as many big fish as they can. As long as they are properly handling the fish and following the laws you can't accuse them of being a bad steward. Drawing a comparison between a guy who "sorelips" a bunch of fish in a particular hole and a poor steward is ridiculous. My personal experience has been that tournament anglers are very conscientious about the fisheries they compete on as well as any other body of water they fish. The other thing that always strikes me as weird is that you never hear a tournament angler on one of these chat boards blaming recreational fishermen or even pleasure boaters for ruining there tournament experience. For that matter in the 14 tournaments I have fished in the last 2 years I have never heard a protest from a fellow tournament angler describing the issues you are complaining about in your report in regards to another tournament angler. That one is really bizarre because if we are as bad as you say we are wouldn't it be inevitable that we would have conflict with each other. I'm not sure how you can expect another angler to know where your drift is headed and particularly on a day like Saturday where there was zero wind until the 3:00 in the afternoon. We were off the water at 3:45.You also can't blame your success on the fact that someone had already fished a spot. I watched another contestant fish a spot I wanted to fish for an hour and came in literally right behind him ( he was still idling out) and caught a 4 1/2 lb LM and a 5lb LM in 10 minutes. Gisteppo, if I'm not mistaken you live on Long. You should know that there are only 2 tournaments the entire season on this lake. One is held in May or June and the other is always in August. The entire rest of the year you have the place to yourself. It is always disappointing to show up to fish and find a bunch of people on the water but that doesn't give you the right to bash tournament fishermen just because you were disappointed. The public also received more creel census data from that little tournament Saturday than they will the entire rest of the year and the tax payer didn't have to pay a dime for it and we don't kill the fish. All 28 boats released every fish alive. I am not trying to hammer you with my defense and I'm not even saying you don't have a legitimate grip but we all have a legitimate grip about something on a regular basis. My issue is when you make it sound like this is an epidemic that needs to be thwarted before it rages out of controll and ruins our fisheries. The health of the fishery and your personal experience on that fishery are separate subjects and the latter doesn't constitute an oranized effort. Controlling poaching would be a good cause to spearhead. I have thought about giving pleasure boaters lessons on how to launch and load so us fishermen don't have to spend hours waiting in line on the weekend while they jack around with there ski boats.LOL You are right about the morning bite. It was insane.

Gisteppo,

I have been checking reports on this site for 2 years now and never felt compelled to leave a comment until today. I think you should be careful when accusing a person or group of people of being a bad steward. First off the word steward is used to describe the handling of a resource and the users responsibility to the resource. Sportsmanship and stewardship are two totally different issues.You may be a bad sportsman in respect to how you treat others around you but that doesn't translate into somehow abusing the resource. An abuser of a resource is detrimental to that resource. He may be very friendly and courteous to other anglers and appear to be a great sportsman. All the while doing his part to destroy the resource for his own pleasure. A bad sportsman is no fun to be around but I would rather share water with a guy who is rude than one who is actually doing harm to the fishery.Tournament anglers as well as any other angler typically try to catch as many big fish as they can. As long as they are properly handling the fish and following the laws you can't accuse them of being a bad steward. Drawing a comparison between a guy who "sorelips" a bunch of fish in a particular hole and a poor steward is ridiculous. My personal experience has been that tournament anglers are very conscientious about the fisheries they compete on as well as any other body of water they fish. The other thing that always strikes me as weird is that you never hear a tournament angler on one of these chat boards blaming recreational fishermen or even pleasure boaters for ruining there tournament experience. For that matter in the 14 tournaments I have fished in the last 2 years I have never heard a protest from a fellow tournament angler describing the issues you are complaining about in your report in regards to another tournament angler. That one is really bizarre because if we are as bad as you say we are wouldn't it be inevitable that we would have conflict with each other. I'm not sure how you can expect another angler to know where your drift is headed and particularly on a day like Saturday where there was zero wind until the 3:00 in the afternoon. We were off the water at 3:45.You also can't blame your success on the fact that someone had already fished a spot. I watched another contestant fish a spot I wanted to fish for an hour and came in literally right behind him ( he was still idling out) and caught a 4 1/2 lb LM and a 5lb LM in 10 minutes. Gisteppo, if I'm not mistaken you live on Long. You should know that there are only 2 tournaments the entire season on this lake. One is held in May or June and the other is always in August. The entire rest of the year you have the place to yourself. It is always disappointing to show up to fish and find a bunch of people on the water but that doesn't give you the right to bash tournament fishermen just because you were disappointed. The public also received more creel census data from that little tournament Saturday than they will the entire rest of the year and the tax payer didn't have to pay a dime for it and we don't kill the fish. All 28 boats released every fish alive. I am not trying to hammer you with my defense and I'm not even saying you don't have a legitimate grip but we all have a legitimate grip about something on a regular basis. My issue is when you make it sound like this is an epidemic that needs to be thwarted before it rages out of controll and ruins our fisheries. The health of the fishery and your personal experience on that fishery are separate subjects and the latter doesn't constitute an oranized effort. Controlling poaching would be a good cause to spearhead. I have thought about giving pleasure boaters lessons on how to launch and load so us fishermen don't have to spend hours waiting in line on the weekend while they jack around with there ski boats.LOL You are right about the morning bite. It was insane.

DC, I completely agree with the majority of what you say. I think there is a tremendous wealth of information and a good deal of improvement that the fisheries experience thanks to tournament fishermen. You are the norm, the conscientious bass fisherman and tournament guy that goes out and dies his level best to be a good steward and a good sportsman, as you point out. I concede that you are accurate in your statement about the difference as you define it.

Where the difference is, that I see, is that just one or two jerks has become 5 or 6. I'd like to think enough people read these reports to make a difference. Bringing this issue up isn't an accusation of competitors, it is shining a light on a bad element and hoping that the body of anglers as a whole can exert pressure to keep this fringe element in check. It is in hopes that more anglers stick it in the back of their mind that maybe they know someone like this, and can help curb some of the behavior that creates these experiences. As I said, I fish with competitors, and on the whole they are very good about what they do, while being aware of the waters they share.

Im offering up an open seat to you anytime, Ill pay the gas. Come out, lets talk lake and Ill hook you up with some seriously beneficial data about the body of water here that most don't have access to.

As for 2 tournaments a year, I counted 6 total last year, though I think there may be some unsanctioned stuff happening outside the bass club.

E

First of all I can tell by your response that you understood I was not attempting to fight with you about the subject .However too many times people get on these boards and use them as a platform to complain about a greatly over exaggerated experience. I have always maintaned that fishermen are not liars because they over exaggerate the good days as well as the bad days and that levels them out but they do have a tendancy to over exaggerate.I appreciate that you can see another side of the story without being overly defensive.You may be right about unsanctioned events taking place but I'm not certain how you would know there was an event taking place. I say that because it wouldn't make any sense to hold a tournament without a permit and then use contestant banners. You know what I mean? Without the contestant banners there would be no way for you to know there was a tournament taking place. There is a list of tournamnet schedules on the fish and game website. Both bass and Walleye.Those are events that were granted permits prior to the deadline. They will allow permits to be granted after the application deadline depending on the circumstances but in large part they are all listed. Good place to take a peak at when making plans. I fish as many tournament as I can but I check it simply because I would go to another lake if a big event was being held and I wasn't participating. I may take you up on that offer if you are willing to occupy my back seat.

Name your day DC. Ill ride in the back anytime, as Im not exactly stellar at bass fishing and have alot to learn.

Living out here, you get to know the difference between a couple bass boats and events. At 6am, when I hear 20 bass boats all pin the throttles at the same time, seeing some head up, some head down, and have at least 15-20 boats fish my dock throughout the day, thats definitely not normal fishing pressure. Been out here long enough to see which is which. No green labels, but its obvious whats happening.

You can reach me anytime via the email feature in the forums section on this website.

E

is there alot of perch and croppie on long?

Lots of perch...

Some boaters in general are rude , I was at liberty last week and had some numbnut on a jet ski come in close enough that I could have wacked him with my 3/4 oz jig . he did 4 or 5 quick circles in front of where I was fishing then tore back out of there . I feel for you on bieng buzzed . But as for sore lipped fish . . . . excuses excuses you cant blame others for your inability to catch fish . just gotta think outside the box . when it comes to stewardship skills bass anglers have more respect for thier prey than most people . I almost fished the tourny but changed my mind when they made it a one day only game. I wasnt there but I apoligize for the people that invaded your space. better luck next time .

Come on E. Its not the bass guys. Its fisherman or should I say boaters/jet skiers as a whole. The same inconsiderate events you speak of happen to bass guys all the time. As far as sore lipping all the bass, thats a myth. Their are plenty of bass in the lake to go around. 29 boats have little effect on a 24 mile long lake. What you were experiencing was probably a weather change/drop in pressure that locked the fish up. Additionally this has been an extremely cold year and water temps are about 2 weeks behind schedule so the places you caught them last year wont be ready yet.
Stewardship doesnt equal killing a native fish. The common name for "squawfish" is "northern pikeminnow."
I still respect you E!! Lets go fishing sometime and I will show you how to catch them.

Jigmiester, the bass guys have nothing to do with slot limits. Thats a management decision based on best available science. Besides in most permitted bass tournaments there are no restriction except those that are imposed by the tournament director or in some instances a specific body of water may have a restriction (i.e. Long Lake).. If the tournament allowed me to catch a 8" fish then I could do so. Besides if it were up to the bass guys we would protect everything 17" and larger because their the big producers.

Im over it now, I think it was more of a bad mood that day than anything, and I have had my head screwed back on correctly by the fine members of the forum here. I was in the wrong, and I was shown what's right. Thanks to all for making me see the light of day from having a rectal cranial inversion.

As for our fine feathered friends the Northern Pikeminnow, while they are native in region, they are not controlled by seasonal issues and predation as they would be in a balanced ecosystem. As such, they require predation by anglers. Let's go catch a bunch some day and I can show you some stunted fish, some deformed fish, and have a look at their diet, which I think anyone will find to be appalling to the sport fishery fan (bass fry by the pound!).

E