Any thougts on the Dudley incident?

[grab the net]

I have read several accounts on BFHP, BF and other sites. Some seem to think it was ok, playing within the rules, others say it was unsportsman like.

I guess, I am in the middle. I wouldn't have thought to do it myself, but guess when they let you know ahead of time what flight you are in, what did they expect.

I have heard of people in T's I fish, playing a little defense, burning up some spots, other than their own.

Think it could happen here in MN? Any stories?

[Mark Christianson]

No clue what you are talking about. Kinda curious though.

[grab the net]

At a BASS T on the Harris Chain in Florida, Dudley was in the 12th flight. During pre-fishing, he caught the bedding fish he found, knowing that everybody in the earlier flights would get to them before he could.

He called it defense, if he couldn't get them, he made sure it would be very difficult for others to catch them, because he sore mouthed them right before the tournament.

Roland Martin and Peter Thilveros called him unsportsman like.

[Dan Wood]

Sounds like good strategy on his part - I don't see anything wrong with catching fish during prefishing if that is all he did.. Anyone from the general public could have caught those fish too...

[delmuts]

i'm kind of in the middle of the road too. i can see his point, but do think it is kind of unsportsman like. i do think we will see more of this with the increase of the winnings this year.guess we will have to wait and see if more people do it and/or if they change the rules to stop it.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Ohhh boy, Controvercy!!!!

My take is this...

If he did it during the official prefish time, then I would say no foul! If B.A.S.S. didn't want then to catch fish they wouldnt have an official pre-fish. Was it the most sportsmenlike?... Probably not, was it legal? Yes.. should rowland be crying? No, he should just fish!

[Daze Off]

I guess I find nothing wrong with his "strategy" - given that he violated no rules - if the tournament organizers don't like it then do away with advance notice of placement in flights - then fishermen would never know if they were burning their own fish....

Daze Off

[HawgTide]

I don't really have any problem with it(sticking fish prior to tourney). He's not breaking any rules. Sounds like a lot of them do it, but only one admits to doing it. He's also using his prefish time to do this, so it also hurts him. Roland Martin should keep his mouth shut. I lost a lot of respect for him after seeing that interview with him.

[FlipR70]

I think we can all agree that he didn't break the rules by sticking fish; otherwise, he would have been disqualified.

Here's my question ... If you're in the first flight of boats out, is it wrong to run your boat full speed through all of the shallow water you know that others are going to fish so that the fish get turned off before others get there???? I don't think it's against the rules to drive your boat, but it isn't ethical (IMHO) either.

From some of the other boards, it sounds like Roland has pulled a few "interesting" tournament strategies himself. I guess I'm just curious where a person draws the line.

One person said that Roland brought a jet drive boat to a tournament so he could get to some shallow water spots that others couldn't get to. His response to criticism was that it wasn't against the rules. I thought it was an interesting turn of events when he got bent out of shape about this.

There are likely a host of other questionable things an angler could do to give himself an advantage but for me, my reputation isn't worth sacrificing. I would like to hear what Dudley's sponsors would have to say about this thing. I can't imagine that would like to be named in this whole controversy.

The other thing about this is that it sort of turns those of us, who don't fish tournaments (namely me), off towards starting. I was considering starting to fish some small tournaments this year but I'd rather not put up with this kind of thing than get into T fishing and see this kind of thing happen.

Finally, the BASS federation could just announce the flights after pre-fishing is done and it would likely eliminate this problem.

Just my $0.02 - or am I way off,

FlipR70

[HawgTide]

I agree, I wouldn't want to develop a bad reputation by creating these controversies, but the big difference in their world vs mine, is that they are fishing for hundreds of thousands of dollars. We're talking one big fish meaning the difference of whether they fish for another year or go back to work like the rest of us. Sportsmanship in tournaments (and everyday fishing for that matter) is on the decline. For example, it's amazing how many people will pull within 20 yards of your boat and start fishing.

[feetsmelnoseruns]

I agree that the way to resolve the issue would be to announce the flights after the pre-fish, but how do they determine flights, is it done by lottery or current ranking? if it's done by ranking then you'd already know you're going out earlier or later. if it's a lottery, then they could announce the day of the tourney, or night before.

[mnbass2002]

roland should not be talking!!!

years ago roland and a local guy (minnesota) got caught using live bait in a b.a.s.s. tourney the minnesota guy was banned for life on the pro side but roland was not because of his name and bass tourney's were just becomming very big around the country and roland had alot to do with this!!!

[Ray Esboldt]

Why is it that all the top flight fishermen have been caught with live bait at one time or another? Dude, it's urban legend.

So, this Dudley guy could actually drive away from the tournament with 8 flat tires. I would think it would be beneficial to make more friends than enemies when your liveliehood is on the line.

[flytyer]

mnbass2002,

Didn't know about Roland getting in trouble with the live bait issue.How long ago was that? Was the Minnesota angler someone we would all recognize if we heard his name?

[beeflover]

Dudley was interviewed today on bassmasters, he pretty much admitted that rather than improving his own chances he was prefishing to screw up another anglers prospects.

This defines bad sportsmanship to me. Within the rules, so what, if you can't do it with some class and sportsmanship you shouldn't be there. Would you wanna teach you kids to play the game this way?

I've only fished a few tournaments but the rules are incredibly stringent already, many competitors are taking the sport and themselves a little too seriously.

Dudley's not going to gain many sponsors with this kind of bad publicity.