GPS Pirates
The evil side of tournament angling
By Steve Bowman
ESPNOutdoors.com
(Archive)
Updated: June 13, 2008, 4:53 PM ET
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GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. — In some ways the Bluegrass Brawl has turned into a classic battle of good versus evil.
That is obviously not the battle anyone would have guessed would play out on Kentucky Lake.
It seemed more promising we would see the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year race take shape: You know something like Kevin VanDam showing out in all his glory in a fight of fishing skills with Mike McClelland, Skeet Reese and Todd Faircloth — sort of an ultimate cage match between the sports best and brightest.
We are kind of seeing that. If you are fishing fan, it is pretty exciting stuff. This event will set the tone for the final leg of the race to the title.
But in the middle of all that, this event has revealed an ugly, downright sorry side of bass angling.
That ugly side is what's taking place on the water around the top pros. This weekend, there are two other big tournaments scheduled to take place on Kentucky Lake. That's nothing new.
Sharing water with other anglers is part of the game, something every angler, regardless of skill level, should expect when they launch their boat.
What they shouldn't have to deal with, though, is the utter disregard for ethical behavior from the anglers they are sharing the water with.
That gate swings both ways: Amateurs should demand and expect ethical behavior from the pros when they are on any lake. Pros should expect the same respect from the amateurs.
It doesn't always work that well, and there are isolated incidents that occasionally take place.
But At Kentucky Lake unethical behavior has been widespread. Dozens of tournament anglers are following the Elite Anglers, which on the surface doesn't sound so bad. It's part of the game that should be expected.
What shouldn't be expected or tolerated is using the pros' experience, skills and knowledge to practice for their own upcoming tournament taking place at the same time.
In layman's terms, it's called the "bent-rod pattern"; you see someone catch one, move in and compete, maybe win, based on someone else's skill and expertise.
Not the way most of us would do it, but it's certainly the way a lot of folks are trying to do it this weekend.
They aren't simply watching, they are actively motoring up to the anglers (some on plane), and as the pros catch a fish, these folks are marking the spot on their own GPS systems, so they can return later and reap their own rewards.
"What can you do?" asked Skeet Reese, who is in the middle of the battle for one of the sport's biggest prizes, the AOY title. "There's nothing you can do. I've never seen anything like it in my life, though.
"There's no ethics here. There's none. Zero.
"I guess somehow it just became kosher for you to pull up next to somebody and mark a waypoint."
That shows a total lack of respect, made worse by the fact these Elite anglers are taking off at 8 a.m. every morning, only to find these GPS pirates already competing on top of their areas.
It's already had an impact on this game. VanDam came in early on Day One to keep from continually practicing for other. Still other anglers have resorted to not playing the game the way they need to: Gerald Swindle stopped fishing his primary areas, because one tournament boat was unabashedly following him, marking everything he did on a GPS. That's been a common practice among the pros, only playing half of the time to keep from giving away everything.
Swindle's expectations are that the boaters aren't using the information to take a kid fishing next weekend — he fully expects the GPS pirate in question to be sitting on his primary spot come Saturday morning, trying to win fame, glory and cash — on Swindle's work.
There is nothing right or good about that. It's downright evil, if this guy expects to use that information to compete and win against the good and ethical anglers in his weekend tournament ... especially if his greed impacts the outcome of more than one event.
Whatever happened to bass tournaments that measured the ability of a group of anglers finding their own fish and using their own skills to catch them?
It's become totally lost. And for the life of me, I can't find a perfect analogy for this in any other sport.
The only thing I can think of is Steve Bartman, the guy who reached onto the Chicago Cubs' playing field a few years ago to snag a fly ball: His actions stole an out from the Cubs and, some feel, knocked them out of the playoffs and potentially even a World Series.
That poor sucker only wanted a ball from a big game he could show his grandkids some day. But in the process he unwittingly changed the outcome of the team's future. (And he was a Cubs fan!)
Just like any baseball fan, you want to catch that foul ball. It's your right to do that, and one that most times gets you a pat on the back from the other fans sitting around you.
I doubt those same pats would come were a fan allowed to leave his spectator area, run onto the field and grab a fly ball for their upcoming Little League game, especially if that ball had been the last out of the inning.
And they do it just because they live there, have a ticket and have the right to grab anything they can get their grubby little hands on.
In a nutshell, that's what is happening here.
Spectators are great. And they should be able to watch the game and learn things from the pros.
But to impact the game in the name of their own greed shouldn't be tolerated.
It turns the simple good of watching these pros into something very dark, and, well ... borderline evil.
There were alot of pros that were really disgusted with this. I can understand why.
Also...I can`t remember which one, but one of the Elite pros was quoted as saying "I want to move down here. Everyone has a $40,000 truck, a $40,000 boat, no one works, and they fish everyday."
This is BS
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hunting170
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This is BS
One day, long, long ago, there lived a woman who did not whine, nag, or bitch.
But it was a long time ago, and it was just that one day.
But it was a long time ago, and it was just that one day.
Have a friend of mine that we always accused of being on the "bent pole" pattern. I really dont see anything that can be done about the stealing of gps coordinates. It is what it is, I am not saying that it is right, but............
I thought the last quote of the article was hilarious.
I thought the last quote of the article was hilarious.
That's funny you don't look Druish.
i guess none of those cry babies have ever fished a trout park opener or fished a heated crappie dock. nothing like a 80 yr old grey hair lady sittin on your lap after you've pulled in a few slabs. bent rod is about right.... 
i have little sympathy for them boys. the sport has gotten out of hand and too comercialized. no, i'm not jealous. i just have a problem with the ethics of it all, plus i don't see the need for a wigger to break dance on the boat deck when he just caught a 4lb bass.
i have little sympathy for them boys. the sport has gotten out of hand and too comercialized. no, i'm not jealous. i just have a problem with the ethics of it all, plus i don't see the need for a wigger to break dance on the boat deck when he just caught a 4lb bass.
You have the same thing on Truman. I was out in my boat one day hammering the hybrids and whites. Two guys pull up a short cast away and start fishing. The driver had binoculars around the net. I told them I needed some casting room and they pulled back. When I limited out, the fish moved on, and one of them said we saw you catching them and thought we would check it out. I saw their boat come from a long way off. I spent hours locating the fish and getting on them. They couldn't even find the school when the moved. duh. lazy bastages.
Haus, ever seen a 50 year old man break dance on the deck of his Triton? It probably wouldnt be a pretty site, but iffin I caught a 4 lber in a tournament you better get out the rap music. (not really)T HAUS wrote:i guess none of those cry babies have ever fished a trout park opener or fished a heated crappie dock. nothing like a 80 yr old grey hair lady sittin on your lap after you've pulled in a few slabs. bent rod is about right....
i have little sympathy for them boys. the sport has gotten out of hand and too comercialized. no, i'm not jealous. i just have a problem with the ethics of it all, plus i don't see the need for a wigger to break dance on the boat deck when he just caught a 4lb bass.
With that being said, those guys mentioned only fish there 1 time a year for maybe 4 or 5 days.
That's funny you don't look Druish.
