Professional Bass Fishing

[Spurhunter]

I've been laid up recovering from foot surgery for 9 days now so I've watched more fishing than usual. I miss the old days of the Bassmasters and the FLW Tour. I still love the Bassmaster format, but most of the guys I like to watch have retired or went to MLF. And I despise MLF. Watching elite level pros beat the banks trying to catch 50 dinks is not interesting to me. Having multiple "championship" rounds a week plus all the other championships they have going on is silly. And finally, the new team events where 3 guys are on a team talking to each other on headsets is utterly stupid. After 15 minutes I had heard enough of the "Come on boys! Let's go!!!" to last a dozen lifetimes. I guess it's like nascar and everything else. "Progress" keeps moving leaving us old timers in the past.

 

[Spurhunter]

Oh, and why does BASS let these guys weigh in fish that are foul hooked? Especially with forward facing sonar? Looks like it would be pretty easy to snag fish with a jerkbait when you are watching them on screen if you wanted to cheat.

 

[JBell]

Mlf was supposed to go back to standard format. Foul hooking only applies to sight fishing. Always has.

 

[TheLBLman]

Looks like it would be pretty easy to snag fish with a jerkbait when you are watching them on screen if you wanted to cheat.

Never thought about that. Good point.

 

[Spurhunter]

Foul hooking only applies to sight fishing. Always has.

My point exactly. With forward facing sonar they are kinda sorta always sight fishing. At least the guys fishing offshore targeting specific fish. Kyoya Fujita threw a jerkbait at Santee Cooper and never made a cast unless it was to a specific fish on FFS.

 

[JBell]

Yea. But it's still different than bed fishing 10-15' away…..

 

[wadeelwood]

Bass and FLW was the best two fishing tours ever. MLF won't make it much longer. Guys are leaving to come back to Bass. It will all come full circle.

 

[Spurhunter]

I watched the MLF team event today because two of my favorite local guys were in it, Mark Rose and Jimmy Washam. I was glad to see those guys on the big stage again, but if I had taken one sip of beer every time someone said "boys" or "let's go" I would've died of alcohol poisoning before the tournament ended.

 

[TNReb]

Snagging a fish with forward facing sonar isn't easy.

The forward facing sonar shoots forward in the shape of a cone. The farther away from the boat, the larger the cone.

It only shows on the screen in two dimensions. If I remember correctly, the Livescope cone angle is around 20 degrees. At 50ft away from the transducer, that cone would be roughly 17ft wide. Even though it looks like your lure is right beside the fish, it could be 17ft to the left or right.

 

[bowhunterfanatic]

Bass and FLW was the best two fishing tours ever. MLF won't make it much longer. Guys are leaving to come back to Bass. It will all come full circle.

Not trying to start an argument but that ship sailed. MLF went back to a biggest 5 format on all but 1 or maybe 2 of their tourneys. I guess nothing in life is truly fail proof but MLF is here to stay.

 

[Spurhunter]

Not trying to start an argument but that ship sailed. MLF went back to a biggest 5 format on all but 1 or maybe 2 of their tourneys. I guess nothing in life is truly fail proof but MLF is here to stay.

I've only seen a few MLF events on TV that weren't the "catch as many one pounders as you can" deal. But they have a lot of 5 big fish tournaments that don't make TV.

 

[poorhunter]

I am a fan of BASS tournaments. Haven't seen any in probably 15-20 years until a couple weeks ago when I just happened to come across one on YouTube. So now I've watched 10 videos from the past several years (mostly The Classic) and I really enjoy it. I'm not the biggest fan of the whooping and hollering but the fishing is fun to watch.

 

[JBell]

Mlf's main pro event went back to standard format. Not sure about the team one. But the main one is back to biggest 5. The same catch, weigh, release style though.

 

[East TN Bowhunter]

Yea. But it's still different than bed fishing 10-15' away…..

Not really.

 

[JBell]

Yes it is a fish on bed will circle back and set up like it was most of the time. You can see exact location of bait and fish. A suspended bass 50' out with a bait as erratic as a jerkbait…..

 

[RUGER]

Oh, and why does BASS let these guys weigh in fish that are foul hooked?

Interesting you say this.
I just watched a youtube video of Gerald Swindle fishing on Lake Murray the other day.
He spent 45 minutes trying to catch a bedded bass and when he did he realized it was skin hooked on the outside of the mouth.
He was fishing alone that day and could have very easily put it in the livewell.
He was self-filming and explained it all then chunked it back in the lake.

Wonder how many would have done that?

 

[JBell]

I'm sure the local clubs would not have. I'm pretty sure they have to self film in the bigger tourneys. I think it's required in the Toyota series(step down from MLF)

 

[WTM]

i dont care for any of it anymore. the days of KVD or Clunn are just about over. if i want to watch split screen fisherman/livescope then ill watch johnny shultz on youthtubes or garmin guru make an ass of himself. its sad when your "best/favorite technique" is listed as electronics under your BASS profile.

 

[Madbowh]

Don't know much about all this but first and last time on a guys boat he run right in the middle of all the bass tournament guys on Douglas while they were praying before take off yelling you boys ready to catch some fish. Yes he was hammered and we went straight to drop me off after that. This was years ago.