I was informed of the off limits rule,(no fishing a lake 5 days before a tourney) right after I planned all my vacation time. Is this something that has been brought up before? I planned on taking a few days off before each tournament to get there and maybe get a pre-fish day in. I wanted to spend a whole week at Roosevelt to take in the lake and the beauty i hear is out there. What is the theory to this rule, since this club is suppose to be fun and enjoyable for the family. It costs twice as much to pre fish a lake a week before, then make the trip a second time to fish the tournament, espicially to Eastern Washington. I can see this rule on a big money circuit to even the playing field a bit, but not in a club designed like ours. I have always liked how people don't keep too many secrets and help people with new lakes. Some of us won't gain much, fishing a lake a few days before a tourney, when some of the guys have been fishing them for 10-15 years. I just wonder what others think about this and maybe some of you might agree to lay of the restriction.

This topic comes up every year...and falls every year.  As a matter a fact, it was quite a debate last year and when the votes came in it was a landslide.  Because it's a family club, many people don't have 7 vacations a year if you catch my drift and would put many people at a serious disadvantage.  But feel free to watch this post and get a feel from some of the other long time members...Chris, Glenn, Kirk, etc.  Btw...nice boat!


Terry

Well it might give someone a slight advantage, but were not fishing for a seed to the Bass Masters Classic or anything. I understand that not everyone can take an extra day to pre-fish but that shouldn't keep the ones that can from being able to fish the lake. I was just surprised when I heard this rule. We didn't have that rule in my last club, and I'm not trying to compare the two. It just caught me by surprise. I have never been to Roosevelt and fished Banks once in high school from a 12 ft jon boat. It's a disadvantage for me to put in my money and not get a chance to pre-fish. Now yeah I can go the week before and then turn around and drive again, but that costs twice as much. When I could just get there a day or 2 early, set up camp, and fish a few days waiting for Saturday. I just thought more people would agree that the rule doesn't put anyone ahead of anyone else. Your not guaranteed to win the tournament just because you fished the day or week before anyway.

So here is my two cents worth.  As a guy who can fish 200 days a year and am trying to this year,  I know that I could put alot of people at a disadvantage if I choose to fish the entire week before a tournement.  My schedule allows me this much time.  It definitely would be unfair to the rest of the club members, except maybe my backseater!!!   Now if you all want to change the rule, go ahead, it will make it alot easier for me to win the angler of the year.  But this club is not about that.  I feel that we should leave the rule as is.  Mainly because it is a level playing field for everyone.  The fish and the anglers....  How fair would it be for me, say, to go to banks the week before the tournement, fish all the airport bays and sore mouth the largemouth????  Not very nice for you guys who might be thinking about fishing those areas come tourney time...  Or maybe go into Lind Coulee and sore lip all the usually places for the smallies... My point is that  I enjoy the tournies because it is competitive..  Between me and the fish and the rest of you with an equal chance to make it happen or not come tournement day.  As for fun fishing before a tourney with the family, the only lake I see a problem with is the Columbia river.  The rest of the lakes are close enough to another quality body of water to fish, Banks to Roosevelt, Potholes to Scootney/Moses, Washington to Sammamish, etc... That fun fishing with the family before a tourney shouldn't be a big issue.
  Just me two cents guys.

Mark

Well mark when put it that way, it makes sense. You would definitely have an advantage over the rest of us. I think its cool too that you notice that and don't take advantage of it. It shows your character. In my case, I planned on taking one week of vacation and thought how nice it would be to head to Roosevelt, (where I have never been) and stay until the tourney. I can live with the rules. I enforce them everyday. it didn't want to pee in anyone's Wheaties, just wanted to get a feel for everyone's opinion. I haven't been in this club for 15-16 years like some others to know what has been or hasn't been discussed. I am sure topics come up every year that have been up before. This doesn't mean that things can't change. Change is good, but maybe not with this rule.

Actually, Rob, when Mark brings up the rules that way... I want them to change so I can see him win Angler of the Year... EASY!



Chris

I would like to add my support of Mark's post and the effort made to address policies and rules that may not make much sense.  This is what this site should accomplish.  Initially, when I read the first post, I could not find it in me to agree, but.......What if we did something similar to the off-limit rules for the Potholes Open.  The tournament is a two day event beginning on Saturday morning.  Friday is slated as a practice day.  Not much advantage could be gained, just provdes anglers an opportunity to get tehmselves on the water early if they so choose.  I can appreciate the comments of rising fuel costs, etc., and cannot think of a recent time when one day could have or would have benefitted my performance over other anglers.  I have been using the Friday prior to the Potholes Open for the past five years and the only benefit that I may have received was knowing water levels, temp, etc.  Sure, I found fish on Friday, but I can guarantee it has not given me an unfair advantage.  My best finish in the Open has been fourth and that was NOT because I fished on Friday.  As Mark has stated, you could use that time to sore mouth fish that others may target, but that would be an absolute waste of the time given to scout.  I would not even call the one day prior to an event as pre-fishing.  A good example of the Friday exception would be the Spring tournament on the Columbia River.  Having only fished this area of the river twice before, I would like to be able to check out the hazards, etc., on the water.  This exception may be just the ticket for someone who is having trouble deciding whether or not to participate.  Just my two cents as well so fire away......
Kirk

So are you you saying you would the rule to stand or don't see it as a big deal? It sounded like the Friday before didn't give you much of an advantage. What do you think about 2 or 3 days? Now I think anybody who spends 15k or more just to be on the water to fish (boat), would benefit from a full week of fishing right before a tournament, but that's not what I'm talking about. When we fished the Colorado River in Arizona for our tournament, some of us went Wed night and fished Thursday and Friday. Of course not everyone had that opportunity, but you don't hold that against your fellow members. Out of the people that pre-fished, none won the tournament either day, or second if I recall correctly. The patterns change over a course of a week. And I don't think intelligent bass angler is going to stick all the fish they see bedding in the spring. But its nice to cruise around and see where the may be holding. The Columbia River thing is a good example of why you would want to get out there a little early. The information would spread to the others that couldn't get there early anyway. Example: "Hey there's a few fish here"...."Watch out for rocks there."