Off limits VS No off limits?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Brian Walters on March 11, 2009 at 8:48pm

I agree with the enforce part but we as tournament anglers are pretty good about rules and I am sure they would stick to it. I know that there is the chance that someone will get out and fish during off limits time. I still think off limits is the best way.

Brian Walters

Permalink Reply by troy kelly on March 11, 2009 at 9:17pm

my club (western) just did away with our off limits. we had a sunday midnight till sat blastoff offlimits. the club voted to due away with it and the main reason i heard was for club level "fun" tournies if a guy wants to go over and whack some fish let him. it cost alot of money to drive to banks might as well get all the time on the water you can while your over there. As far as larger tourney circuits i like the offlimits

troy

Permalink Reply by Eric DeLay on March 11, 2009 at 9:20pm

I don't really care one way or another about off-limits. It seems to make the biggest difference in the spring if it is around spawning time. Things can change pretty dramatically in a week that time of year. As for the enforcement of it, so much of what we do is on the honor system. There are a heck of a lot of ways to cheat at bass fishing and short of having an observer in every boat or subjecting everyone to lie detectors much of it is unenforcable. I think that the fraternity and social aspects of bass fishing help keep most people honest. A few random lie detectors when real money is involved doesn't hurt though.
Brian Bassguy Walters said:

I agree with the enforce part but we as tournament anglers are pretty good about rules and I am sure they would stick to it. I know that there is the chance that someone will get out and fish during off limits time. I still think off limits is the best way.

Brian Walters

Permalink Reply by C-RIDE on March 11, 2009 at 9:41pm

Man thats a hard question to answer depending on who you are. I think the off limits protects the guy who has to work a 40+ hour week and makes it an even playing field. On the other hand the fish can completely change what they are doing from one week to another. So I guess it really does test a fisherman to be able to put the pieces of the puzzle together and really become a fisherman. A successful fisherman should be able to go to a body of water and gather enough info to find out what the fish are doing and get a game plan for different scenarios if temp or weather changes. I like the off limits rule for that exact reason. It makes it more challenging and gives the fish a better chance.
I also think that that rule really is hard to enforce. You just have to hope that most guys are going to respect and follow the rules that are set. I think that Bass fisherman do a good job of respecting and following the rules that have been around for years.
We have modified the rules for our club and made the local tournaments off limits the weekdays prior to the tournament but allowed the non-local tournaments to be open to prefish all days.

Permalink Reply by Eric DeLay on March 11, 2009 at 9:46pm

-"We have modified the rules for our club and made the local tournaments off limits the weekdays prior to the tournament but allowed the non-local tournaments to be open to prefish all days."

That is a great idea C-RIDE then a guy could go over one day ahead of time to pre-fish and save himself a trip the weekend before.

Permalink Reply by Ronald Hobbs, Jr. on March 11, 2009 at 9:57pm

I say no off limits under certain circumstances. If there is money on the line like over $2,000 then maybe. The people that are going to cheat are going to find a way to cheat off limits or not. If it is a draw tournament it would be pretty hard to cheat as stocking fish etc. the non boater would tell. Team tournaments are the only ones that I think have a more of a chance of a cheaters personality to come out.

Ken if you are asking if you should make the federation nation tournaments have an off limits then I say no, there really isn't a point, yeah if there was the fishing might be a little easier but you always have to remember everyone is fishing the same lake.

If you are asking if a team type format should have an off limits I say yes, but remember this only keeps the honest people honest.

Permalink Reply by Keith Brooks on March 11, 2009 at 10:08pm

I do believe in the off limit period. As Chris stated the average working guy cant get out and spend the week prefishing. It should be enough to go out on the lake on an equal footing and put the pattern together in the time frame of the tournament. We do allow Friday prefishing of our clubs travel tournament to give people who have vacation time some value for making the trip and getting the one extra day, but not the whole week. As far as enforcement goes I think so many people would recognize an anglers truck and boat even being in the area that it would be a big deterent.

Permalink Reply by Ken Day on March 12, 2009 at 7:59am

It was really just a question that I wanted to throw out their. BASS of Washington does not have off limits. The reason being is I had a tournament for the kids that was suppost to be off limits. I got a call from a dad saying he saw some other kid anglers coming off the water. I made a call to those kid's dad and ask if they were out on the water prefishing and he said no and got very upset and concerned. I was on the way to the lake but had no way off visually seeing it for myself, so it was his word against another. At that point I found out it is a unforcable rule so why have it. From that point on we have not had a off limit period.

Ronald Hobbs, Jr. said:

I say no off limits under certain circumstances. If there is money on the line like over $2,000 then maybe. The people that are going to cheat are going to find a way to cheat off limits or not. If it is a draw tournament it would be pretty hard to cheat as stocking fish etc. the non boater would tell. Team tournaments are the only ones that I think have a more of a chance of a cheaters personality to come out.

Ken if you are asking if you should make the federation nation tournaments have an off limits then I say no, there really isn't a point, yeah if there was the fishing might be a little easier but you always have to remember everyone is fishing the same lake.

If you are asking if a team type format should have an off limits I say yes, but remember this only keeps the honest people honest.

Permalink Reply by Mark Maderos on March 12, 2009 at 9:31am

I'm for "no off limits". I enjoy the BASS Federation rule that allows me to go to Banks, Tri cities, etc and get a day on the water to get a feel for the fish. Being that I don't have much time on the water with those bodies of water, the extra time is of great benefit. Likewise, guys coming from the eastside and want to fish Washington or Sammamish, an extra day or two for them is invaluable. To me it's all about the fishing. Anytime we can get more time on the water to fish is a good thing. The biggest circuits allow for a prefish period, granted they have a long no fish period leading up to the event, but everyone then has 2 to 3 days to figure out what's going on. It makes for more fish being caught. Managing your prefish time, techniques, fish you catch, etc, all part of the puzzle to put together.
I hope BASS stays with the no off limits.

Mark

Permalink Reply by Mark Maderos on March 12, 2009 at 3:33pm

LMAO

Mark

Panic Minnow said:

Maybe have a variable rule, where the first 3 place winners of the previous tournament (club level) are not allowed pre-fish. It would be like a handicap for the other guys in the tournament......Nah, that would just penalize the guys (winners) that do well and give the other guys (losers) a better shot.....

Permalink Reply by D.J. LaRoche on March 12, 2009 at 8:18pm

I could go either way on this one. I like to get the extra time on the water, but I also feel for the guys who can't go as often as they would like due to work or other obligations. This should not prevent the people who are fortunate enough to be on the water, putting in their time from doing so though. I guess it just doesn't matter either way to me. LOL.

Permalink Reply by Shawn O'Connell on March 12, 2009 at 9:11pm

I do like the off limits for big tournaments. I do worry about the fish getting sore mouthed. It might not be as big of a problem as I think but it has and does concern me. One nice thing now is that most of the large tournaments have at least the threat of a polyghraph which I would hope helps keep the less honest guys out there straight. Maybe-Maybe not

I can see the concern about enforcing and I'm sure there are guys out there that circumvent the rules, but I think most of the guys in our area that take the tournaments seriously want to win on the up and up.

I do understand how time constraints from work or what not can hamper the ability of some to be able to go prefish a week or so prior to a tournament.

Most of you guys have been fishing the tournaments longer than I have so have probably seen the pros/cons play out more. I just have a hard time getting over someone going out and soremouthing a bunch of fish.

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