The Pros' Responsibility

Monday, June 5, 2006
by Ray Scott

The anglers themselves have a sizeable responsibility as well.

This came to mind when I heard about the recent disqualifications of the Bassmaster Elite Series pros at the Santee Cooper tournament and when I saw the unprofessional performance of Mike Iaconelli at the most recent Classic.

To refresh your memory, Kevin VanDam, Alton Jones and subsequently Randy Howell, (fine men all) were disqualified for violating a rule that says you cannot allow your co-angler to assist you in finding and catching fish in practice. VanDam’s co-angler drove the boat while he looked for beds; Jones’ son, Alton, did the looking while dad drove the boat; and Howell later admitted a similar violation.

Photo: Bassmaster.com Kevin VanDam was one of three anglers disqualified from the Santee Cooper Bassmaster Elite Series due to unfamiliarity the rules.

I talked to tournament director Trip Weldon, a good man who doesn’t hesitate to enforce the rules. He doesn’t believe the pros knowingly violated the rule. As a matter of fact, part of the rule banning a co-angler’s assistance during the practice period is relatively new, and the pros in question apparently weren’t aware of it.

However, that’s no excuse. All tournament anglers – especially pros – have a responsibility to know and follow all the rules. The rules I wrote in 1967 have always been the foundation of the BASS Tournament Trail. Granted, today there is at least six or eight times more verbiage in the rules than there was some 39 years ago. But they still have a duty to know them.

Here’s the big reason why: The public is cynical and suspicious by nature, and many assume that these great fishermen are cheaters. They lie. After all, all fishermen are liars, right? Wink, wink. The high-profile pros getting disqualified really feeds into that cynical thinking.

I asked Harold Sharp, the first tournament director of BASS, for his take on this situation. Harold was famous – or infamous, depending on your view – for his uncompromising enforcement of the rules.

“Pros should know the rules, but they don't,” Sharp said. “Very few pros really ever read the rules very carefully. They are more concerned with catching bass than knowing all the rules.

“Most of the pros I've known are not looking for a way to cheat or bend rules. They are concentrating on catching bass and they expect BASS to run a fair game and apply the rules to all anglers equally. They know that they themselves are not going to cheat, so they are not too concerned and expect BASS to catch the cheaters while they worry about catching bass.

“Pros must follow rules and most do that. But if the rules are not written very plain and specific, in some cases a pro will be in violation without realizing it. I doubt Alton Jones ever thought that he was violating a rule because his young son was looking at bedding bass. This DQ does not make sense. With bedding bass everywhere, how could Alton’s son have been helping him? With Alton Jones’ bass fishing ability, how can his young son, who is just learning to bass fish, be assisting him in locating bass?”

“Alton Jones received a DQ, lost his entry fee, a chance at $100,000, and Classic and Angler of the Year points because someone reported that his son was riding the front of the boat looking for bass beds – with bass beds everywhere you look.

“Then you have to wonder when you see things like David Dudley’s practice of hooking bedding bass in practice to deliberately keep other anglers from catching bass in the tournament, and when it is reported to BASS, they decide that no rules were violated. Or when Ike throws one of his temper fits and only draws a one-day DQ. That makes it especially difficult for some to understand how BASS can DQ anglers like KVD and Jones.”

These DQs – and lack of DQs – serve to illustrate how difficult it can be to police and referee a sport, especially bass fishing. They certainly illustrate you can’t write a rule for every situation and you sure can’t dictate how to be a sportsman.

But one thing is for sure – no pro is exempt from the rules, even the most admired and respected. And that’s how it should be.

It is the responsibility of every competitor to know the rules. Ignorance is simply no excuse. The integrity of the sport is on the line.