Spot Thoughts, Part 1
Got a call Saturday morning from a fishing industry bigwig who wondered whether up-to-the-second information on Classic anglers is harmful, both in the short term (during the derby) and long term.
What prompted the issue, he said, was BASS’s blog updates and especially the location info about where Aaron Martens and Kevin VanDam were fishing in Cataouatche on day 1. He believed revealing that info meant:
> More spectator boats would be at that spot.
> Other pros might move in and fish it. “No matter how much money is on the line, whether it’s $50 or $50,000, people will do that,” he said.
I wondered if some locals also would go in there and fish it – during the Classic. As crazy as that sounds, it happens. I’ve seen it.
I didn’t know what the answer was to his question, and still don’t. I know that during my tenure at BassFan one of the things we wouldn’t do was publish location info unless a pro volunteered it and said he was okay with us publishing it, or unless it was already published somewhere else – although we didn’t always do that.
That’s because the most sacred info in fishing is the spot. Not how or what lure, but where.
We all know about some spots that have been “ruined” or fished out because pros or local sticks have been followed and their spots GPSd by others and returned to later. Public display of this info is just another level of the same thing.
But to use the above example, what choice does BASS (or anyone) have? People want to know that info, and if BASS or whatever tournament organization doesn’t report it real-time, someone else in a boat with a 3G/4G connection will.
So with today’s technology, this seems inevitable, wouldn’t you say?
Why?
Thought you’d enjoy the reason for the call – funny. At some point in the convo I said, “Why are you calling me?” He said, “Because I’m part of the industry and don’t want to rock the boat.”
Me: “Last time I checked I’m part of the industry too.”
Him: “Yeah I know but you’re not afraid to do that. You like that.”
Well, no, I don’t like rocking the boat, but true I’m not afraid. Of what? It’s not like I’m talking about anything any regular ol’ bass fisherman isn’t. But for all those who don’t know “the industry,” there’s a fear that if you rock the boat at all, you’ll be blackballed by certain folks. To quote KVD’s favorite band, this can be (not always):
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Dwain
February 21, 2011 at 1:46 pm
I’m not a fan of the BassTrakk thing showing projected weights, thats too much information, i like more drama than that.
Also I agree there is no good reason to tell during the tournament where they are, on the recorded show after words with the google maps thing showing where they were fishing at is great, but not during the event IMO
Chance
February 21, 2011 at 3:06 pm
I like the drama too of people bringing in their sacks and seeing if they knock off the current leader. By the time the weigh in of the top six started you already knew who was going to win.
I often wonder if there are people out there that would ruin a spot just for the hell of it or sabotage a spot of an angler they don’t like. Like running through an area with their big motor going. What could someone really do if that happens? Nothing? That is why I don’t like the spots being revealed.
Jeremy Adair
February 21, 2011 at 6:15 pm
I couldn’t care less about where they were. I’m more interested in the kind of structure, cover, air/water temp, etc.. I can take that info and apply it to the lakes that I fish.
As far as GPSing spots, I do think it’s inevitable. Our technology is getting better and so are we because of it. For instance with SI (or structure scan for the Lowrance crowd), many, many “spots” have been revealed to be a smattering of stumps on a 5 acre flat. Or maybe a sunken tree just off the main channel. Spots get found sooner or later and it’s getting easier.
Again, I don’t care about the spot they were catching them at. I want to learn how to apply their experience to my fishing, and really, the live blog, basstrak, all that stuff doesn’t really help that. It’s the column that comes out that night or the next day. In my view, the rest is just filler.
Bass Pundit
February 21, 2011 at 8:49 pm
First, at this point the only tournament that gets this type of same day blanket coverage is the Bassmaster Classic. We aware from that coverage this year that in a few cases locals were already in and fishing places the pro’s chose to fish before the pro’s ever got there. I suspect “the tank pond” was like Beeswax Creek, an already known community hole. Honestly I don’t think the past 3 Classics have been won on anything resembling a secret hole.
How many spectator boats were there in “the tank pond” anyway? KVD said the spectators were the best he’s ever had in a Classic. But I overhead Palanuik and Martens off-mike before the Day 2 press conference talking about people around them fishing. I think the Bassmaster.com blog might have mentioned someone fishing as well.
Personally I don’t have a problem when spots are mentioned. As I have blogged before there are no secrets anymore.
Dwain
February 21, 2011 at 9:39 pm
I don’t think anyone wants the spots kept secret after the tournament, were talking about telling it live while the event is still taking place. I agree that telling everything they are willing to about how they won and where helps us all get better, and is a great part of the sport.
Ronald J. Lindner
February 22, 2011 at 10:22 am
In this discussion some deeper underlining questions remain unexplored. Basstraxx provided the NOW of the game, especially on the first morning. Especially with there minute by minute reports around 11:AM.
This kind of “on the scene†radio announcer reporting, has always been missing in fishing tournaments. If the super bowl were to be aired on TV a week or two later, most of the excitement and sizzle would be out of it.
From it’s onset Hy Peskin who dreamed of a kind of a world series of fishing, knew, because of the vastness of the playing field, you could not get an immediate audience. And for decade upon decade, the game was played with this major handicap. I have spoke to bass and walleye pro alike, and explained to them why the level of money they are receiving is not at the same level as golf, tennis, etc.
In fishing tournaments you have no gate to sell tickets and after that, the tournament organizers must buy television time rather than SELL the show to the networks.
This being said the new technology we saw over this weekend could be a step in just that direction. Obviously in order to keep anticipation alive they cut a lot of that reporting out late in the day of the last day. As far as revelations is concerned it is interesting that KVD in an interview with Tim DeVoe of Outdoors First websites, early in the morning of the last day said flat out, what he was fishing with and where he was fishing, and who was there with him. These revelations, which were posted on the web before take off, obviously didn’t hurt his success.
On the other hand as mentioned by other writers, I guess the spectators remained honorable, and no “nut cases†came into screw things up…. even though it was known exactly where the leaders were and what was happening.
In speaking with my brother Al, who was also monitoring the activities, he agrees that this last weekend, and with the new technology perhaps unwittingly, opened the next door to wherever we, tournament affectionados are going.
Brian
February 22, 2011 at 12:04 pm
Ditto Ron’s thoughts on this. I really think that the best way to make the sport of bass fishing a “spectator” sport, and more interesting to the public at large, and especially the anglers, is via technology such as BASSTrakk, but only if they can get a hold on the accuracy problems witnessed all week.
If I were running the Classic, I’d arrange for all boats to be GPS tracked and shown (as an icon) on a real-time “Google Earth”-type image accessible on your mobile device or computer, where ever in the world you are at the time. You could watch anglers ‘on the move’ as they ran to and from their areas, and moved between spots. By clicking or toggling on any anglers boat icon, you would be able to get a pop-up with their number of fish in the well and their estimated weight, perhaps even their ‘speed over ground’ (SOG). Here, a halfway accurate tabulation by observers/reporters in the boat would be important as relates to the weight.
I could even imagine this on a large holographic image, similar to what the news stations used for reporting the last election, with a host/announcer that could follow the action live on TV. Imagine the host pointing and clicking on an icon to report Iaconelli’s weight, when all of a sudden he sees one of the boat icons zooming across the map. “Whoa, looks like KVD’s making a move from the south end of the lake, and GPS has him running wide open at 72.3 mph. He’s certainly wasting no time in making his move. Will the run pay off? We’ll know shortly.”
They can make cooking into an exciting TV sport, ala “Iron Chef”, with Alton Brown announcing and roving reporters closer to the action down in the kitchen. Why can’t we do the same with the Bassmaster Classic, or the FLW Championship?
admin (mostly Jay)
February 22, 2011 at 6:15 pm
Didn’t ESPN’s BASS do the GPS tracking thing on TV coverage in the early 2000s or am i misremembering?
Brian
February 23, 2011 at 7:57 am
You’re right on Jay. They had a nice aerial lake view, and the host (McKinnis? – can’t remember) would show the GPS track of any individual angler, usually just a few guys in the Top 5. I want to think it was 2002 when Ike won Seminole for the time period.
The bottom line in my eyes, if you can’t get (or even don’t need) the fans in the stands, then bring the playing field to the fan. Realtime updating via technology will allow for this, and there is still plenty of “room” for advertising/advertisers in this scenario, which should generate the income stream.
Bass Pundit
February 23, 2011 at 3:49 am
Piggy backing on the tracking/clicking on the anglers idea. Honestly I don’t think we are to far away from being able to put a high quality digital camera in every boat with the marshal and having the marshal shoot photo’s or video that can be instantly edited by the marshal or a host of volunteer producers and uploaded to the Internet when there is something worth taking the time to watch.
Tim
February 22, 2011 at 12:34 pm
Here is the interview Ron was talking about on BassFIRST. We’ll be covering the whole Elite Series, so watch for the same coverage throughout the year.
http://bass.outdoorsfirst.com/videos/02.20.2011/3331/Bassmaster.Classic.Kevin.VanDam.Day.AM/
Boar Hog
February 23, 2011 at 8:30 am
So it sounds like most of the gentlemen above think real time location information is a good thing, or at least a necessary thing, and the idea has been floated that it brings our sport closer to “mainstream sports”, where realtime broadcasting of a tournament becomes possible. We’ve essentially had that capability for several years, and several previous Classics were, for all intents and purposes, broadcasted realtime. That makes the current decision to delay the Classic broadcast for a week hard to figure. Why even bother at this point? I already know where everyone was and how they caught their fish. I’ll be out catching my own fish this weekend when they show it on TV…..