BassBlaster

Now Bassers Are Being Blamed For…

This is a first for me. Over the years we’ve all heard about tourney anglers being blamed for “catching all the fish,” “killing fish,” hogging boat ramps and even entire lakes, running too fast and really it’s a pretty long list.

All of it hogwash…except maybe for the running too fast part. (I’m thinking of a story Alton Jones told me once of a coot hitting his face so hard it left a perfect imprint of it on his face…or whoever the story was about.)

The latest accusation is: trash. From this article:

I received an email this week from a reader who lives on Wilson Lake [AL] who has some concerns about the many tournaments on deck this year for the Shoals.

While glad the tournaments, organizations and anglers come to the Shoals and support the local businesses, she fears some of the anglers might be leaving more than their money behind.

She has noticed after some major tournaments she finds more trash than usual floating on Wilson Lake.

The trash includes oil, water and soft drink bottles and what she described as “just garbage.”

No freakin’ way am I believing that tourney fishermen or tourney fishermen who are spectators at major events do that. Obviously a thing or two can fly out of the boat at speed, and maybe that’s what this is about – this being all of one complaint. But still, that one complaint made the newspaper.

Dang! What’s next? I can see the headline: “Bass Anglers Found Responsible for Global Warming, Says Gore, Inventor of Interwebz.” (No politics intended.)

The headline lower down on that page might read, “WI Lawmakers Hire Booz Allen to Help Define ‘Cull'” (lol).

 

2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. Jeremy Adair

    April 30, 2011 at 8:37 am

    In all honesty, I think the burden of responsibility for keeping the lakes clean lie on the shoulders of everyone who uses it. Tourny folks, casual folks, as well as lake side residents. That said, casual anglers are just as responsible for littering as anyone else. Ever see a Minnesota lake after ice out? Check it out some time, it’s a sad, disgusting sight.

    It doesn’t make sense to me why one group of people would be targeted for blame above another. In fact, there are bass clubs in MN that spend time cleaning up the boat landing after they finish their weigh ins. These groups set a good example that the rest could follow. It shows respect for the resource and reinforces a positive image for the sport in general.

  2. Chad Keogh

    April 30, 2011 at 1:09 pm

    It is everyone’s responsibility, but when you are an organized group you become a target. So if I belonged to the local bass club there, I would organize a lake clean-up and maybe seek some local press coverage of the clean-up.

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