08-05-2006, 10:51 AM
[cool][#0000ff]One of the chapters in my (upcoming) book is about tubing and tooning being serious fishing systems...not just a "poor man's boat". After fishing from boats, banks, piers, shore and "floatation craft" for over 50 years, I still fish mostly from my tube because it is more efficient...and it is fun.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Down in Arizona I fished a boaters' bass tournament "unofficially" from my tube. That is, I had the bassers casting all around me and running over me while I fished, acting like I wasn't even there. But, I caught and released quite a few large bass that would have won the bass tournament, in plain view of the boaters. They were not doing too well.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Later, at the weigh in, I watched as each team weighed in only one or two puny bass. Just for grins, I carried my basket of big crappies up to the scales. I knew the guys who were running the club tournament and they okayed it. My smallest crappie outweighed their biggest bass, and the announcer verified that he had witnessed me releasing several bass that would have beaten their largest...and that I would have easily won the overall tournament with my total bass. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Nope. There was not an "awakening". None of them congratulated me or acknowledged that I might just have a better system...or that I might be a worthy fisherman. Just a lot of grumbling. And, most of those guys were still rude and unsportsmanlike on the water whenever I encountered them out there again. And, most of them continued to fish the same way...month after month...regardless of how the patterns changed with the changing seasons. Every time I saw them they were "running and gunning" down the bank, throwing spinnerbaits or crankbaits...even when the fish had gone out into 40 feet of water for the hot summer or cold winter.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Down in Arizona I fished a boaters' bass tournament "unofficially" from my tube. That is, I had the bassers casting all around me and running over me while I fished, acting like I wasn't even there. But, I caught and released quite a few large bass that would have won the bass tournament, in plain view of the boaters. They were not doing too well.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Later, at the weigh in, I watched as each team weighed in only one or two puny bass. Just for grins, I carried my basket of big crappies up to the scales. I knew the guys who were running the club tournament and they okayed it. My smallest crappie outweighed their biggest bass, and the announcer verified that he had witnessed me releasing several bass that would have beaten their largest...and that I would have easily won the overall tournament with my total bass. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Nope. There was not an "awakening". None of them congratulated me or acknowledged that I might just have a better system...or that I might be a worthy fisherman. Just a lot of grumbling. And, most of those guys were still rude and unsportsmanlike on the water whenever I encountered them out there again. And, most of them continued to fish the same way...month after month...regardless of how the patterns changed with the changing seasons. Every time I saw them they were "running and gunning" down the bank, throwing spinnerbaits or crankbaits...even when the fish had gone out into 40 feet of water for the hot summer or cold winter.[/#0000ff]
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