Bassfan Feedback

• Tony Smith of Northport, AL writes:

  Monday, June 30, 2014

  RIP, Troy Jens. Glad to have known you and called you a friend ... you will be sorely missed by those who knew and loved you. Godspeed, my brother.

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• Jerry Fulkerson of Concord, NC writes:

  Saturday, June 28, 2014

  Like always, the Forest Wood Cup has a high octane field this year. With that much talent competing I'm absolutely sure that we're going to have an exciting four days in August.

  For me, the most exciting part is that, after giving the entire FLW field a one-tournament lead, Anthony Gagliardi fought back and secured a spot in the Cup. Five months ago, there weren't many people who gave him much of a chance to do that.

  Congratulations to Anthony for a job well done. I'll be there at Lake Murray in August to watch him bring the season home.

  Disclaimer - Anthony is my son-in-law, so I'm not exactly a totally unbiased observer.

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• W.M. Oppelt of Frankfort, IN writes:

  Saturday, June 28, 2014

  RE: MLF format – This format has been used for years. Several small clubs and small tournaments have used this system. To pay, ain't happening.

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• Johnny McLean of Little Rock, AR writes:

  Thursday, June 26, 2014

  RE: Balog on fishing shows – Joe, totally agree with you on Parker, totally disagree with you on Zona. I want to learn something when I watch a show. Zona spends three-fourths of his time talking and trying to be a comedian. Also, I don't get much out of watching him on a family outing or fishing a private lake where you can throw anything and catch a 3-pound bass.

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• Rich Adams of Southern Pines, NC writes:

  Tuesday, June 24, 2014

  RE: MLF format – The problem I see with it is people not being honest and having to have an observer in every boat. Other than that, love the format.

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• Bobby Munlin of Toledo Bend, TX writes:

  Saturday, June 21, 2014

  RE: Lane's boat fire – Just wondering if it was the charger and the wires running up to the trolling motor that caused the two fires. Could it be?

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• John Barbaro of Leesburg, FL writes:

  Saturday, June 21, 2014

  I have a pet peeve. I watch pretty much all the final weigh-ins of the Bassmaster and FLW events. The last two anglers are put together to await the final weight of the last angler. When the winner is announced, on most occasions he goes goes crazy. On very few occasions he turns to the losing angler and shakes his hand before going nuts. This to me should be the way all winners should act.

  To not show respect to your fellow angler shows a lack of class. Just putting it out there with the hope that these anglers see we are watching and noticing who are class acts.

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• Harold Sharp of Hixson, TN writes:

  Friday, June 20, 2014

  RE: Balog on BASSFest – Joe and others question the logic in the BASSFest one-day event on Nickajack. Here's another way to look at it – it was a one-day tournament against 89 anglers with no entry fee and a guaranteed $10,000 to the Top 10, plus another one-day tournament with no entry fee and a good chance for another grand or two with 20 pounds in a lake full of 8-pound bass. Not a bad deal for missing the cut on day 2.

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• Mark Melega of Rices Landing, PA writes:

  Friday, June 20, 2014

  RE: Monsoor's season – Is that the same Tom Monsoor who nets carp on that Bottom Feeders show on Discovery? A quick search says yes. His biggest worry in life has to be his son Jedd screaming at him all day long while they net carp. If anybody treated me that way we would both be in the river.

  Tom, you will live a happy life fishing if you can teach your son some respect. When I first put 2 and 2 together I thought, "Look at this punk yelling at this FLW pro bass fisherman." Then I saw it was his own son. What a way to live!

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• Greg Hughes of Bismarck, Ill. writes:

  Friday, June 20, 2014

  RE: Lane's boat fires – As a two-boat owner who stores them in an attached garage, I'm still concerned about cause. Just says two possible fires. Assuming sabotage?

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• Shane Kuykendall of Auburndale, FL writes:

  Thursday, June 19, 2014

  RE: Lane's boat fires – Chris, I'm sorry that happened to you. I couldn't even imagine something like that happening. I've just joined the Lakeland Bassmasters this year as a co-angler and I'm having lots of fun and learning a lot! I've met Arnie Lane at the meetings – he's a great dude – and have become an instant fan of you and your brothers. Awesome to see a native Polk County guy go out and win big! Also just wanted to say what a blessing to have so many people come to your aid on such short notice. That's got to make you feel real good.

  Anyways, keep winning big for me down here in Lakeland because I'm rooting for you, brother!

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• Carter Northcutt of Frankfort, KY writes:

  Thursday, June 19, 2014

  RE: VanDam tops $6 million – This is no surprise. If he can keep at his current pace he should break the $10 million mark by the time he calls it quits.

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• Harold Sharp of Hixson, TN writes:

  Thursday, June 19, 2014

  It's interesting to read the comments of the Open anglers who fished BASSFest with the pros. I dug up an old quote someone gave me years ago that explains it: "A pro is a rookie who, day by day, learns more and more about less and less until finally, he knows everything about nothing."

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• Tom Baldwin of Cedar HIll, TN writes:

  Tuesday, June 17, 2014

  RE: Evinrude G2 – Nice to see a 15% increase in fuel economy, but that's not a whole lot, considering 15% of what is currently an outboard that might get what, 4 mpg? We need to do better.

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• Tom Tanner of Jonestown, PA writes:

  Monday, June 16, 2014

  RE: Evinrude G2 – I have to give them credit for "thinking outside the box," but that motor is going to be a "I love it" or "I hate it" deal for most consumers. People will appreciate all the technological features, but it is a very strange-looking motor that looks like it was designed by people who asked everyone but fishermen what they like.

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• Gamble Hicks of Los Angeles, CA writes:

  Sunday, June 15, 2014

  RE: MLF – The 2-minute penalty for fish hitting the carpet stinks. Other than that, good format.

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• Joe Balog of Harrison Township, MI writes:

  Saturday, June 14, 2014

  Thanks for all of the comments on the recent Florida bass fishing articles. I intend to forward all of your thoughts on to my contacts at the Florida FWC in regard to low enforcement rates. Perhaps that will help get the ball rolling. I encourage you all to do the same by writing, emailing or calling the FWC with your concerns.

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• Scott Visker of Lakeland, FL writes:

  Wednesday, June 11, 2014

  I'm not sure I agree with most of what Joe Balog contends in his recent article about the proposed changes in Florida's bass regulations. First, bass fishing may have been great in his father's youth, but it's pretty darn good right now, too. It's been getting better and better ever since the changes in the early '90s to a five-fish bag limit and 14-inch minimum length.

  I have fished tournaments on the Kissimmee Chain for over 30 years. When I started, it was extremely rare to have a 10-pounder win big-fish honors. Today, just about every little 10-boat jackpot tournament has one over 10 pounds for big fish. Winning weights for eight fish back 20 or 30 years ago used to be around 20 pounds in most tournaments. Today, if you don't have five fish that go over 25 pounds, you might as well not bother weighing-in.

  We had a 20-boat tournament last weekend that was won with five fish that went 39.65. The top 4 boats all had over 29 pounds! That used to NEVER happen. So I'm not sure how many more trophy bass they think they can squeeze out of these waters, but I can tell you it won't make any difference at all if they don't enforce the regulations they have in place. And I can tell you upfront, they don't.

  Jason Law spoke in an earlier Feedback posting about our "snowbird issue."We have many, many northern visitors that come to Florida with one aim - I want to fill my freezer and take some back for the neighbors. Unfortunately, most of these people don't care that there's a five-fish limit with only one fish over 22 inches. They catch, keep and fillet everything because they know they're not going to get caught.

  I live in the Camp Mack area and I see the carnage every day during the winter, but I never see anyone from the FWC come around. I've been fishing in Florida for well over 30 years and I have been checked for a license one time.

  Enforcement of existing laws is a sad, cruel joke here in Florida. Rather than spend a bunch of money implementing these new regulations, I wish they would take that money and hire a few more enforcement officers. That's got a better chance of increasing the number of quality fish than setting a 16-inch size limit.

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• Jason Law of Pembroke Pines, FL writes:

  Thursday, June 5, 2014

  Balog on proposed Florida regs – Good article, Joe. I've been following it closely as well. On the subject of delayed mortality i can understand that this is something that just happens to some fish that are stressed – 1 in 4, not so sure about those numbers, and I'd really like to know how they can capture such data. The one thing i do know is every year I see multiple 5-, 6-, 7- and 8-pound bass being placed into coolers and shown off at the fish camps around Lake Kissimmee. I can tell you that those fish have a 100 percent mortality rate.

  Two years ago, while staying at Camp Mack, we had a group from out of town who said they came down every year in February. They then proceded to pull three 8-pound bass from their cooler, while stating they had a couple more the same size earlier in the week, that have been sliced and diced for consumption. This happens time and time again every December through April in Florida. I understand the economic impacts that visitors bring into the state, but when we clump the meat-eater group in with the "delayed mortality" tournament group, I feel we do an injustice to the reporting. I can tell you that more fish are killed on a daily basis (Monday through Friday) by going into coolers than are ever killed over a 1- or 2-day weekend derby on the local lakes.

  The topics of discussion will still bring out exemptions for tournaments, so nothing changes there. If they don't give the exemptions then you may as well write off tournament fishing in Florida, so what are we actually saving, other than adding more bureaucratic red tape just to hold a tournament and looking for a place to lay blame. I am not saying there isn't an issue and I applaud FWC for gathering input from anglers across the state. If figuring out the delayed mortality rate was apparently 1 in 4 (which I'm still trying to figure out how they track fish that were let go and ended up dying), I just hope they can give me some data on the number of fish that go into coolers. Then we will be able to move forward.

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• Charlie Hartley of Grove City, OH writes:

  Thursday, June 5, 2014

  RE: Balog on proposed Florida regs – Good stuff, Joe. As you know, I am I huge fan of Florida (Ohio boy has seen enough snow and hard water). Many states have become aware of the economic impact of trophy bass fishing – not all want to retire to the golf course. Let me know when you want to discuss my plans for "The Bass Villages" retirement community with visiting touring pros and exclusive trophy bass tournaments.

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• Bruce Bridwell of Gainesville, FL writes:

  Sunday, June 1, 2014

  RE: MLF format – I think this format removes a lot of controversy surrounding tournament bass fishing during the spawn. I know of only one place where the effects of this has been detrimental in a specific area of a fishery.

  Tournament fishing will always be controversial during the spawn. I think nature will always "find a way," whether it's visible or evident to us or not.

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