Champ188

Very nice. Thanks for the report!

Shoot yeah, let’s have another tournament! Just what the lake needs.

Thanks for the good report, Phil. Enjoy the feed.

Great report, QB. Glad to see that Fin put some fish in the boat for ya.

And therein lies the biggest rub of all ... the state DOES NOT see fit to supplementally stock our lake with bass, so they are on their own to replenish themselves.

Settle down guys. No one would cheat in a tournament. Especially not these local club/jackpot fellers. I have it on good account that they are just out there having fun and spreading good cheer to mankind. Shoot, we wouldn’t have a gas station, restaurant or maybe even a lake without them!

Agreed, a great job.

Flathead ... it’s what’s for dinner! 😀

X2 ^^^^

Who said anything about anyone’s skills, much less mine? I was clarifying that no one outfished Pete Wenners by 39 pounds to 9 pounds in a single day. When I fished Central Pro-Am, I was known as a good draw for co-anglers because I went out of my way to ensure they had every rightful chance to catch fish. During those years I helped three of those guys win the co-angler side of the tournament and also had a BFL guy win on TR out of my boat. In fact, one of those CPA winners was in the top five of last week’s Costa derby co-anglers. So yes, I suppose I am quite skilled ... at seeing that my co-anglers enjoy a very good and hopefully productive day on the water.

I don’t know about Missouri but in Arkansas our schools are funded by property tax, or millage. Sales tax has nothing to do with it.

What about a tongue patch? Did it have one? On a serious note, that's the best way to tell. Nice fish either way.

It’s a 3-day event. The co-anglers fish with a different pro each day so no one put 39 pounds in the back of anyone’s boat. The winning co-angler weighed 14 fish for 39 pounds over 3 days. Pete had 9 pounds over two days. He missed the cut to participate the third day.

Harvey is indeed a very good fellow who last year rightly put his family first and turned down a chance to compete on the Elite Series. Now he’s guaranteed a berth in the 2019 Bassmaster Classic. Proud to call him friend.

I'm all in.

By your own math that’s a 14.5 inch crappie at best. Two x 5.5 = 11 + 3 (amount of fish on third board) + .5 (for generous .25 gaps between boards) = grand total of 14.5. So did you measure it or not?

Would is the operative word there. Or is it wood? Aw heck, doesn’t matter anyway,

I think goal 1 should be to get thru the derby without anyone running over another boat or otherwise mishandling their rig. FLW and particularly the Costa Series has a terrible track record of late.

Well isn’t that just cute as a button on a mutton? 😆

Man, those boards sure look like 2x4’s to me.

LOL I’m only in if they come with a jersey and a book on how to justify anything in the name of derby fishing.

Holy hypocrisy, Batman. You denounce EVERYTHING SAID on this site (especially against tournament fishing) as opinion and conjecture, but you want me to take it for fact? Laughable.

I'm going to offer some of my own closing thoughts, and as Mark so admirably did above, I'll try to keep reason foremost in mind. Only to satisfy the earlier request for qualifications to speak to this matter, I've participated at practically every level of this sport --- successfully. Qualified for six straight Central Pro-Am championships out of the seven years I fished them, previously qualified for multiple Mr. Bass of Arkansas championships, won a Ranger boat and trailer at the age of 26 in the 400-angler Arkansas Arthritis Foundation tournament, etc. Enough of that. To answer tjm's question above, organized bass tournaments are on the north side of 50 years old. Ray Scott held the landmark All-American Tournament on Beaver Lake in 1967. Sure, there was competition before then, but that pretty much stands as the birthdate of tournament fishing as we know it today. In the context of Table Rock Lake, I have one major beef with tournaments and that is this ... the state of Missouri, along with regional and local chambers of commerce and other pro-tourism bodies, continues to recruit national-level derby after derby to our lake. Naturally, oodles of other smaller tournaments are held, too, and we all know that fish care isn't always the best. OK, I can live with that, if I must. BUT, and this is the spearhead of my point, this lake CANNOT withstand this continuing barrage without some supplemental stocking of bass. OUR FISH are the very fuel for this fire, but the same state government who wants to crow about its glorious natural resources --- and glorious they are! --- is not willing to spend a drop in the bucket to sustain them. And unless MDC begins providing some help to these fish that we are plundering at an alarming rate, we are all going to pay a hefty price in the form of fishless days on the water. I could go on about why I chose to back off of my own tournament fishing ... rudeness on the water, the dropoff in prize money vs. the cost of participating in derbies, etc. But others have more than adequately covered that. The bottom line behind my concern and negative feelings toward derbies on Table Rock is that we darn well better start putting some fuel (fish) back in the tank or the motor is going to cough, sputter and die.

David Vance is one of the original and best guides on Lake Fork.