Some FLW Tour anglers are so concerned with the conditions at the Red River in Louisiana that they've gone to FLW Outdoors officials to try to get this week's event canceled, or at least postponed. Due to heavy rains in the region, the water is extremely high and cold and there are worries that if a boat breaks down, there'd be no way of stopping it from going over the dam.
Another inch and a half of rain fell last night, so the situation is likely to worsen.
"I'm all for a tough tournament, but the thing I have a problem with is when it becomes unsafe," said Greg Pugh, who expressed his concerns to tournament director Bill Taylor today. "If you break down out there, you're going to lose your boat. That current is running 10 to 12 mph and with the 40-degree water temperature, about 5 or 6 minutes is all you could stand to be in it.
"I've only got one life and my boys only have one daddy. If something happened out there, it could be a real bad deal."
Added Andy Morgan: "I'm not a whiner and I'm used to fishing when it's flooding and nasty and cold, but it reaches a certain point where it's too bad and you have to say enough is enough. (Mechanical) failures are going to happen – it's inevitable. The smallest thing could happen and somebody might not go home, and I certainly don't want to be associated with that.
"I don't want the responsibility of having (a co-angler) out with me and we bump a stump and somebody falls in. It's crazy, and we have to stand up and make our voices heard."
A group of perhaps two dozen veteran anglers planned to get together at 2 p.m. Central time today to determine an approach to take to the 4:30 pre-tournament meeting with FLW officials.
