Corpusfishing.com

[Tyler]

Courtesy of the Caller Times:

Anglers can test rules of courtesy
By David Sikes (Contact)
Originally published 04:01 a.m., April 10, 2008
Updated 04:01 a.m., April 10, 2008


Boating courtesy requires subjective judgement and awareness on many levels.

And yet the system generally works, guided somewhat by the Golden Rule and by our innate sense of fair play. This is not about legal rules and rights.

As most of you know, maritime regulations are not as explicit or extensive as rules of the road. Our bays don't come with traffic signals or speed limits unless you count no-wake zones. On the coast we negotiate much of our navigable waters as if driving through a big empty parking lot without lines or barriers, safely avoiding shallow water and other hazards and allowing reasonable clearance for fellow boaters. This is the ideal in deeper water.

But on our flats there is plenty of room for error, misjudgments, misunderstandings and endless debate regarding the paths we take and the distances we keep.

This is a really sensitive and contentious issue among anglers, not necessarily because boating discourtesy is so pervasive but rather because our attitudes about fishing are so personal. Compare the difference between your attitude on boating and driving.

Driving in traffic is an everyday necessity for most of us. Fishing, on the other hand, is a recreational choice. In many cases, fishing is a bonus or privilege of where we live, or a result of the discretionary time and money we have earned. It's something we feel we deserve.

Comparatively, we defend these activities much differently, too.

I complain with a modest level of annoyance about discourteous and disrespectful highway drivers. My emotional reaction to speeders in my neighborhood is much greater because it's more personal. But most of us dismiss roadway transgressions as part of urban life.

We're not as quick to dismiss rude behavior on the water. I listen to a lot of folks complain about what another boater did to them while fishing. Often these conversations involve furious gesturing, indignation and some pretty intense name calling.

"How dare anyone infringe on my recreation," is the message I hear.

Double this level of indignation, sensitivity and anger and you'll come close to how they feel when the transgression is performed by a tournament angler.

Obviously there can be some prejudice involved here. Tournament anglers, with their colorful costumes, fast illustrated boats and rooster tail prop-spray, are easy to spot and apparently easier to hate. In the minds of some locals, tournament anglers are like carpetbaggers pillaging our natural resources, disrupting our quality of life and then stealing away after taking what they came for, even though most contest fish are released.

The biggest complaint? They burn the flats while pre-fishing.

Pre-fishing generally is done within the week prior to bigger fishing contests. It's when contestants scout waters to become familiar with them and to find fish. They may or may not actually wet a line. Pre-fishing is not necessarily a time to catch fish, but rather a time to locate potential tournament winners in hopes of returning to catch them on contest day.

It's common enough for selfish contestants, particularly those with tower boats or scooters, to run the perimeter of a flat or to run a grid within a clear shallow area. If a local angler is on a flat where this occurs, he sees this fish-spooking practice as disrespectful and arrogant.

This is not common or tolerated in other states, I'm told. And unfortunately, many of the contestants who do it live in the Coastal Bend or fish here often.

The practice certainly shows a disregard for other anglers trying to catch a few fish that day. The perception is that the flat is ruined for the rest of us for a period of time, lowering our expectations and spoiling our confidence. And the reality is that when the practices are repeated it pushes fish off the flats or makes them so wary that they're difficult to catch.

Most locals feel that our flats are for drifting, poling, wading or using a trolling motor to quietly search.

Only within the Redfish Bay State Scientific Area, could this be a legal issue. Within that 32,000-acre area, it is unlawful to cut a trench or otherwise uproot seagrass with the propeller of a gasoline-powered motor.

I've spoken with many tournament anglers, mostly locals, who denounce flats burning. They tell me that when they learn other competitors are guilty of it, they chastise them for the same reasons we would and also because the practice reflects poorly on ethical contestants and on tournaments in general.

This image problem created by a handful of discourteous contestants is a concern of tournament organizers too. Tournaments are money makers for communities, for organizers, for image-conscious sponsors and for contestants. They also can be a promotional tool for recruiting new anglers, which is good for resource conservation.

Organizers want this practice to stop and they want to know who's doing it. The Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup has gone to an invitation-only format to create a more manageable field of competitors who feel the same way. Issues such as courtesy and sportsmanship generally are covered in the rules of all major contests. And flats burning specifically is mentioned when briefing contestants before each tournament. This is particularly true in the Coastal Bend, where flats burning complaints are more prevalent compared with the number of similar complaints heard at other venues.

Please report violations to tournament officials. When you call be prepared to provide registration numbers, boat descriptions and whereabouts. If you recognize a violator, report the contestant's name.

REPORT BAD BEHAVIOR

FLW Outdoors: (270) 252-1000 or Info@flwoutdoors.com

IFA Redfish Tour: (478) 836-4266 or office@redfishtour.com

Oh Boy! Oberto Redfish Cup: (888) 372-6544 or INeedHelp@RedfishNation.com

Texas Redfish Series: (210) 385-3333 or office@RedfishSeries.com

To report suspected illegal activity call Texas Parks & Wildlife at 289-5566. If the violation is in progress, call (800) 792-4263.

[Capt Mike Singleterry]

Thanks TT !!!!

Mike

[ccbobber]

if it works, my respect will return for the tournaments. even topdog will take his hat off to all who practice what they preach. a big thank you to david for saying what a lot of us believe.
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ccbobber

[RodBreaker]

Great article by Mr. Sikes! Could you all explain to me what "burning" is and how it increases your fish catching? I hadn't heard of it until a year ago and it reminded me of of "herding" which TPWD banned quite a few years ago.

[Capt Mike Singleterry]

Rodbreaker...."burning" would be running your boat in a zig-zag pattern across a flat looking for groups or schools of redfish. Most people that burn a flat continue to drive the flat until they find fish and not fishing until they see the redfish. This pattern can move anything else off the flat
and burn an area that anyone else might want to fish or run close enough
to there you are drifting or anchored to run anyfish off.
Seems you already know about "hearding".

Mike

[RodBreaker]

[MJW]

What an awesome article, it touched on soo many issues and really hit the nail on the head
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Work hard to play harder!!!
MeetMikeandLori.com

[Romann]

You have to ask - Did courtesy in fishing become a thing of the past or is this a result of the evolution of shallow water boat technology pushing this surge of trying to get shallower and deeper onto a flat?. I believe that many boaters have very little free time and are so honed in on catching rather than fishing that they are missing the real joy, and in doing so don't really pay too much attention to the tides, wade fishers or that prop scar they are leaving behind.

I generally just give them a big round of applause as they pass on by.
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Don't let them take the Flour out of the Bluff!

[oldsaltyone]

Great article. If you call in on someone, be SURE that you have correctly identified the boat. While I'm sure burning goes on at all times, the only times I've had it affect me was the day before big tourneys. I'll never know if those guys are looking for fish or trying to scare fish away from other contestants. It may be a legal method but it just takes away from "fair chase" if you ask me.

[Master]

I personally love the use of the word Carpetbaggers. It really fits.
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Cody

[skunked]

I fish most of these tournaments and am glad that the tours have acknowledged this problem. I take flats burning personally because it gives the rest of us a bad name and it has messed my fishing up countless times. Most of us would rather run aground than mess someone's fishing up. There is only a hand full of tournament teams that do this, but it sure does seem like everyone I know has encountered them in one place or another. The encounters are never good.