03-30-2006, 04:51 AM
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Well these are “Pro/Am” tournaments so each angler is on their own and during pre fishing you can only fish with other anglers that are in the tournament or by yourself. Add to this you don’t know who you’re going to be fishing with till the night before the tournament.
Now some pros will take a co angler with them pre fishing just to be nice or to have some one to talk to or for safety reasons but not all co anglers are there for pre fishing so some times even these pros go out alone.
But I think this is a good rule because I’ve seen some of these guys right up on the nose of the boat or even standing on the pedestal seat trying to see bedding fish and I look at it as a safety issue rather then and advantage issue. Now when you’re looking for bedding fish odds are you’re in shallow water and around structure – stumps, logs, rocks and junk so the chance of hitting something causing you to fall in is increased dramatically.
Prior to the original rule that said you had to have some one at the controls, I watched one angler put the boat in gear (Idle speed) and walk to the front and do this with no one at the controls. When I asked him if he thought this was unsafe he replied “I have a kill cord attached to me so I’m legal” the kill cord was about 10 feet long and would allow him to fall in and get run over by the big motor before the cord would reach its full length.
It’s a shame we have to have rules like this in the first place just to save people from themselves.
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Now some pros will take a co angler with them pre fishing just to be nice or to have some one to talk to or for safety reasons but not all co anglers are there for pre fishing so some times even these pros go out alone.
But I think this is a good rule because I’ve seen some of these guys right up on the nose of the boat or even standing on the pedestal seat trying to see bedding fish and I look at it as a safety issue rather then and advantage issue. Now when you’re looking for bedding fish odds are you’re in shallow water and around structure – stumps, logs, rocks and junk so the chance of hitting something causing you to fall in is increased dramatically.
Prior to the original rule that said you had to have some one at the controls, I watched one angler put the boat in gear (Idle speed) and walk to the front and do this with no one at the controls. When I asked him if he thought this was unsafe he replied “I have a kill cord attached to me so I’m legal” the kill cord was about 10 feet long and would allow him to fall in and get run over by the big motor before the cord would reach its full length.
It’s a shame we have to have rules like this in the first place just to save people from themselves.
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