Dudley controvrsy

[scott lewis]

What do you all think of his defensive stratagy in Flordia

Is this a common practice.

Seems like a waste of good practice time since you can't stick all the fish.

 

[Steve Rizza]

Heck, if you're going to do the "defensive fishing" thing,why not just go up to the leaders and run circles around them in your boat.Run up and down the banks that they will be fishing with the motor trimmed up spraying mud and water everywhere.



There's nothing against it in the rules,so it must be OK to do,right ???????????



I think it was a wussy tactic,and he is getting what he deserves.



But that's just my opinion.

 

[Dan Sullivan]

What happened? Fill me in!

 

[al cannia]

And isn't our sport suppose to be about angler ability?About figuring out the bigger fish and how to catch those fish during any conditions? I think the guy is a jerk/big baby and what he is doing is not good for fishing or the sport,just my 2cents.

 

[Steve Rizza]

Sully,
http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/stories/20050211/fishing/75545.shtml

 

[Jim Brone]

I certainly wouldn't do it, but it isn't against the rules. So unless and until they change the rules, I have nothing bad to say about the guy. But again, I wouldn't do it.

 

[Dan Sullivan]

Thanks Steve

 

[Robert Lariviere]

Is what he did right not sure. Would I do it, don't think so. As far as Dudley can I fault him no. If he found those fish those fish were his and he can do what he wants. In a tourney if they want to be that stupid and sting your own fish go ahead. Did he hurt anyone, no way. First of it was 2 fish. Second its the spawn down there. If though he caught them on they, those fish should have been able to be caught again then next day. Not incommon to catch the same fish on the bed mulitple times in one day. Last I kind of blame BASS for this. What do theyexpect having tourneys during the spawn. Things like this are going to happen when they fish spawn tourneys especially as the sport grows and more money is put up.

 

[Joe G]

I live on the chain where this happened and i think what he did was wrong . I can tell you this ,local tourneys as well as a big one that just fished here the past 2 days has made it known that if you willing hook a beding fish by sight fishing within 24 hours of the tourney you will be DQ'd. BY sight fishing that is ,cause 95 % of the beds you cant see but know they are there. there are only about 5 canals where the water is clear enough to see good for great sight fishing. then add 25 boats in that canal every one is catching fish the ones you can see go first then the covered beds next. speaking of which ill be bed fishing tomorrow ....joe

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

And what about all the fish that were released into the canals including like 13, 8lber's? He didn't do anything wrong, period. It wasn't even unsportmanlike because if you have ever bed fished, you would know that a bedding bass will hit anything in the nesting sit till their dang lips fall off!! I don't care if he stuck them or not!! I could go in right behind him and catch those same fish. If he wanted to mess them up, he could have run his rig over the beds and tore them up, that is the only way to keep those bedding fish from biting. I have taken clients out three days in a row and caught the same fish!! I won't well them during the spawn and when you release them they go right back to the same beds. You wanna eliminate the probelem.....stop fishing the spawn...period.



TOXIC

 

[Bruce Freeman]

I hate to agree with Scott..LOL As far as the rules go, he did nothing wrong. What he did do wrong was fes up to doing something alot of the others where doing and not talking about............

BF

 

[Steve Long]

If BASS wants to avoid this behavior in the future, they just need to quit telling fisherman what their order of launch is until the night before the tournament starts. If Dudley doesn't know he's leaving 150th, he doesn't stick those fish in practice.



The whole incident was blown out of proportion too. He stuck two fish, a 5 and a 1.75. Based on the talk around this incident it sounds like this practice isn't uncommon on the pro tour. It sounds like lots of pros do it but only one was willing to admit it out loud.



Maybe PR was at work here too -- Ike dq at classic, Dudley sticking in practice, Bitter outrage on proximity of competitors. Money from sponsors comes from exposure and it seems like the pros have found there's more than one way to get that TV, website, written exposure.

 

[Texas Transplant]

Well, there is a sportsmanship rule, and if he didn't violate it, he bent it. But, I'm also somewhat relieved that they didn't single him out with a DQ.



He readily admitted that the reason he did it was because he had a late flight. In that case, he didn't do it defensively, he did it to intentionally attempt to hurt others. That's very poor sportsmanship.



And the comments he made on Basscenter (or Loudmouth Bass), shows his maturity level, anyway.



Tex

 

[scott lewis]

I agree not against the rules but isn't this a stupid plan

wouldn't his time be better spent looking for his own fish. Or maybe he can't find his own fish

I have heard of this in locals also

bad tactic

 

[Brian Bell2]

I see no problem with it.. All these pros complaining about his strategy have sour grapes.. He did what he had to do to give himself the best chance of winning, based on his launch slot, he broke no rules....

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Most are missing the point......He didn't mess up anybody's fish.....Those same fish could have been caught the same day. If his plan was to stop those fish from biting, then he failed. Everybody gets tunnel vision and can't get past the fact that he did it. It's not unsportsmanlike because he did nothing to prohibit those fish from biting the next day (short of putting them in the well and relocating them to another part of the lake). Keeping flights secret and so on does not address the real problem. Stay off those fish during the spawn PERIOD. Make bed fishing a thing of the past.



TOXIC

 

[Larry Harp]

I have a question, and since I don't fish tournements this may be a dumb qustion but I'll ask anyway...Isn't catching fish what you do during pre-fishing? I realize that the idea is not to fill the livewell but don't most tournement anglers catch a few fish during pre-fish? Granted, if you can see a fish on the bed there is really no point in going ahead and hooking it but what is the harm really? I don't think two spooked fish will have much of an effect on a system a large as the Harris Chain.



What Dudley DID suceed in doing was getting inside the other pro's heads. Kind of like talking about another guys sister when you're on the line of scrimmage. He also got a lot of free publicity. I had never heard of him until a week ago.



Harpo

 

[Texas Transplant]

While most of the pro's do catch some fish, many are just trying to find bites. In many cases, they bend or remove the 'hook', so that they can just feel the strike.



A common problem in local tourneys, is the guy's who go out on Friday (for a Tourney on Sat), and find the mother load. Caught 12 yesterday, from this spot. Then on Sat., caught 1. In some cases, the fish get what many anglers call 'sore mouth'.



Tox is correct in that some fish on a bed will strike at a bait, regardless. Some won't. Last year on Santee, it was generally reported that many pro's had to work for 60-90 minutes to get one good strike off a bed.



One of the 'unwritten' rules of tourney fishing (especially by the pro's), is not to hook bedding fish that you can obviously see. What many will do when they can see (or sight fish), is simply use a bait to see what they will strike at, but without a hook.



Tex

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

I don't have a sister....but say anything about my mother...well!!!



Normally the pro's just shake them off, de-barb or throw hookless baits. The idea is to find them or pattern them not catch them. When they are in as small of an area as a canal and EVERYBODY knows they are there, that's another thing altogether.



TOXIC

 

[Dan J.]

Harpo hit it on the head.



David did what he sought out to do, create controversy, shake up the competition, and draw a lot (too much IMHO) of attention to the subject of bed fishing.



Whether you believe it or not, if you fish during the right Spring/Summer moon phase (or when it's just right for the fish) you are most likely catching fish in the spawning/bedding stage of their life cycle. Whether it's sight fishing a bed or (i.e.) running a deep jerkbait on points, you're most likely catching and weighing in fish that will have their spawning cycle disrupted to some degree. Just a fact of fishing a Spring/Summer tournament, wherever you live.

 

[Tony Payne]

The best part about Dudley's strategy?



He got into the MINDS of his competition... regaurdless of the fish he "caught"... he threw them all for a loop.



Not that it did him alot of good, but I think that was his "real" strategy.



And, according to the shows on Saturday morning, he only caught 2 fish.

 

[Texas Transplant]

He really got into Peter T's mind - he won!



Tex

 

[Staci Matheis]

An absolute waste of his time.



Even if he could effectively damage someone's chances, just how many other anglers' does he think he can cover in the short time allotted?



He proved himself to be a poor (at best) competitor.