Bass guys on Arthur with HUGE engines

So I'm sitting under the 422 bridge yesterday when two bass boats come roaring up under main engine.  To be fair, they powered down just before the bridge and idled through and past me (which was neighborly of them).  As they passed I yelled and gestured 20hp limit at the lead boat.  The driver looked at me like "idiot non bass-guy, screw you" and kept going.  Which angered me to the point that I yelled "So just **** it then, you don't care about the rules?!"  Then it took an odd turn... passenger in the boat says (quite calmly for being shouted at) "we have a waiver from the state."  
 

 
Is that a thing?  My reaction to that was "My bad then" since lets be honest, that COULD be a thing and I'd have no way to know.  And other than being bass guys roaring around doing bass things, they weren't really putting me out.  Maybe they were doing some pre-tourney discovery to see if they could have a Bassmasters at Arthur or something.  /shrug.  Thought I'd see if anyone knew what their deal was.  
 
The lead boat had a 250 on it and the follow boat a 200.  They headed down into the Porter's Cove finger.  
 
On an unrelated note, the fishing was hot garbage.  But that's a different thread.  

Hmm, wonder if it was the Fishing University guys. They are to be filming at Arthur and also a Glade Run, but not till Sept 10-11 (they could've been pre fishing). Was it a Honda outboard? They use a "Charger" bass boat

Just think of all the tourisim dollars this show will bring to Arthur. It will be Yuge! Make Arthur Great Again

Right, Pork. Who wants to watch a couple of slow talkin' good ol boys from the south, anyway!

we where there on sunday and they came by us just south of the bridge maybe 40 or 50 ft fairly close for the wake they pushing, about 20 min later a park ranger came by in park boat on patrol , we flaged him down and told him about the idiots, he said that was the second complaint and asked where they went , we told him not sure but up into one of the upper fingers, he said he would look into it. that must not have worked out because about 45 min they came back through heads toward 422 one went straight to 422 and the other went into a couple of bays then back out. if they where there scouting they could have done it with a 20hp like everyone else. I don't think the fish commish should let these shows or tourneys have exclusions . fish by the rules we have or not at all. ok I'm done but that felt good !

I've watched the show a few times and basically each has a guest in the boat with them, (often times reps from tackle or equipment companies who sponsor) and they compete against each other for pounds of bass. They go to schools and encourage kids to do the best they can to create good work ethics and also enjoy the sport of fishing. The tackle sponsors put up some cash for the students. Other than that, they give almost no tips finding fish, makin' a presentation, and catchin' them other than the particular lure the sponsor is pitchin' for the show. Slow talkin' good ol boys with $75,000 boats, (probably given to them at less than cost), just to advertise Charger, Honda, etc.

bubbaman
we where there on sunday and they came by us just south of the bridge maybe 40 or 50 ft fairly close for the wake they pushing, about 20 min later a park ranger came by in park boat on patrol , we flaged him down and told him about the idiots, he said that was the second complaint and asked where they went , we told him not sure but up into one of the upper fingers, he said he would look into it. that must not have worked out because about 45 min they came back through heads toward 422 one went straight to 422 and the other went into a couple of bays then back out. if they where there scouting they could have done it with a 20hp like everyone else. I don't think the fish commish should let these shows or tourneys have exclusions . fish by the rules we have or not at all. ok I'm done but that felt good !

Where does DCNR dock their boat? I have never seen a DCNR ranger in a boat patrolling on the water, only PFBC boat and WCO's
 with a motor bigger than 20HP...

psu_fish
 
Where does DCNR dock their boat? I have never seen a DCNR ranger in a boat patrolling on the water, only PFBC boat and WCO's
 with a motor bigger than 20HP...

Davis Hollow Marina.  The DCNR boat has the controls up front with a hard top.  They aren't out too often.  One was out the last time I was there, he was hanging out at the Bear Run launch.  Nice guy. 

The Lindners still do the teaching thing. After they sold In-Fisherman to Doug Stange, they started up Lindner's Angling Edge, a faith based company with all the same sponsors and more. It's all family, Al & Ron, Jim, (who is Ron's son), a couple of the grand kids, (one of which started his own business called Angling Buzz), and then there's Jeremy Smith, Dan Surah, Dave Csanda, Matt (what's his name), in other words most all the guys that were with the Lindners in In-Fisherman. I have all 10 walleye DVDs, and each has 6 segments on different presentations at different times of the year, and about a dozen mixed DVDs, (some of them are 3 DVD sets) for a total of about 18 that have all the bass and some walleye presentations, plus 3 of the DVDs on the crappie and 'gill presentations, but only one so far on Muskies. www.anglingedge.com for a learning experience.
BTW, I am not affiliated with the company in any way and do not profit from any sales. I'm just a sucker for the angling knowledge plus a lot of great photography.

EMitch I think the other host is matt straw , and the angling edge is on one of the cable channels not sure which one , sportsmen channel or the outdoors channel I think. We caught a lot of catfish on sunday and some small crappy, some cats where in the mid 20 inches , I went back out early Monday morning by my self and could not by a bite. beautiful day but terrible catching .

This post will probably wind some watches, but here goes anyway.

There have been a lot of topics permeating this thread — waivers from the state, outdoor shows being nothing but sponsors ads, nothing to learn from outdoor shows, etc. I’ll try to give a different view.

Waivers are given by the state all the time to step outside the normal rules. And not just for fishing.

I got a warning, thankfully not a ticket, for being on plane (it was on the Allegheny River, so unlimited horsepower) within 100 feet of a fuel dock. First, I didn’t know this was a law, but that is on me, I should have. But the rest of the story deals with the waiver.

We were fishing a tournament out of South Side on the Mon River and had been fishing up the Allegheny. On the way back toward the Point, we directed to move run on the opposite side of the river than the side everyone always ran because there was a college rowing match going on and the person in the row boat (but not a scull), said they had a waiver to shut down the one side of the river for the competition.

This person, as far as could be determined, had no authority, other than what he told us, to do so, but we complied with his wishes.

We were idling through the No Wake Zone at the at the Point (I actually fished it when there was no zone) when a PFBC boat roared up, on plane in the zone, with lights, siren, and bullhorn going. They demanded our fishing license and boat registration and got nasty when asked what we did.

As they were checking everything, but still not telling us what we did and demanding that we quit asking questions, another tournament boat pulled up to see if we were okay.

When told to leave by the officer, one of the participants in the other boat told them they were not leaving because he was my attorney (truth be told, he was an attorney, but not mine).

At that point, the officer got a whole lot nicer and said we had run past a fuel dock on plane within 100 feet about three miles up river. We specifically asked where and if the area was marked with No Wake buoys. They responded that it was naught, but technically that didn’t matter (which is true).

When we informed the officer that we were not that far upriver, he responded that he wasn’t sure it was us, but we were the first sparkly boat he could catch up with. Turns out, he was jacked because he had to work on a Sunday because of the issuance of permits for the tournament and the waiver for the rowing contest, so he figured he was going to write as many tickets as he could.

Another waiver story was actually costly. We were again up the Allegheny, this time with a limit that was big enough to win. This was 25 years or so ago, so the $3,000 prize money was a lot more than it is today.

As we were heading for the launch, the PFBC boats had a section of the river blocked off. When we asked why, it was because they were filming a major movie with Bruce Willis and had a waiver to shutdown the river anytime Mr. Willis was in a boat on the water.

So we sat there for three hours, missing weigh-in, and tossing the winning fish back. In addition, once the river was back open, we were approached by river rescue because when we didn’t show up for weigh-in, tournament officials called the authorities to look for us, fearing an accident.

So, just how many minutes of your fishing day did these waiver holders disastrously disrupt?

With regard to outdoor shows, I can say I don’t watch them, with a few exceptions. I watch Jim Shocky and MeatEater. I watch Jim’s show to see the crazy places he travels to that I wouldn’t have the stones to go to and MeatEater to see how he cooks some of that stuff (most of which I would never eat).

Before going to Africa, I watched as many shows as possible — to learn the game species, the types of shots to expect, and how the interactions with the PH go when involved with herd animals.

I truthfully haven’t watched a fishing show, with the exception of Flip or Jose (both have not been on for a long time) during my tarpon fishing days.

But if you aren’t learning anything from these shows — that is your fault.

I don’t mean learn something from what they are telling you, but learn something from what they are doing. Keep in mind, these guys probably catch more fish in a year than you will in your lifetime, so they must be doing something right, they just aren’t outright telling you, probably because the stuff that you aren’t doing is so second nature to them, they don’t even think about it.

I attended a bass expo where Hank Parker, in his heyday, was speaking. He was asked how to determine subtle bites on plastic worms and his answer was, “I can’t tell you what it feels like, I just know. And how I just know is that for every bite you get, and are guessing whether it is or not, I get 100, and I just know.”

An example of this would be a practice day my fishing partner, The Drake, and I had on the tribs before a One Fly event. He literally banked 40 steelhead and I caught one. We were using the same fly, same rigging (which I actually suggested), the same rod and line, and fished the same runs. He was just doing something I was not.

Now, I’m not the greatest nymph fisherman on the planet, but I’m not bad at it either — we fished the One Fly three times, finishing second twice, winning it once, having the lunker twice, and neither of us finishing worse than 4th. He was just doing something different.

So rather than watch and listen to one of these outdoor shows, turn the sound off and really observe.

How was their boat positioned relative to the shore, relative to visible structure, relative to underwater structure or contours?

How far were they casting?

What was the speed of retrieve and what was the cadence of any rod movement?

In other words, what are they doing, not saying, that you don’t do?

The reality of outdoor shows is they are nothing except extended advertising for the sponsors. Back in the day G, when I was involved in this game as host, guest, or sponsor, the contracts included how many times a product would be mentioned or shown per show. In fact, one of our stipulations for our sponsored boats included a certain number of valid sales leads per month. It is, and always will be about return on investment.

So if you don’t like being pitched to, turn off the sound and forward through the commercials, but pay attention to what is being done if you want to catch more fish.

You do know that the only reason the Linders did what they did was to get people to subscribe to their magazine, right?

I watched Flip to see how far he led moving tarpon, the cadence if retrieve, the length of line strips, the rod angle during various stages of the fight, etc.

Never watched much of In-Fisherman because they often targeted species I had no interest in in places I would never fish. Can’t comment at all on how good the show was based on the limited views.

If yinz like watching a good hunting show that's far more about story telling than it is about hero shots, check out Raised Hunting.  It's about the only outdoors show these days that I'll not only watch the whole way through, but love every minute of it.  Not a lot of "how to," and of course there's advertising, but it's so much different than everything else out there these days.  
 
I really like Jim Shockey's shows too.  Dude is the real deal.  
 
BTDT, ya brought back some good memories from my childhood of watching Hank and Bill on Saturday mornings on ESPN with my dad.  Always loved Jerry McGinnis too.  I liked In Fisherman, but it wasn't on ESPN that I recall and I always had trouble finding it.  
 
The fish were still stupid and not dumb on Sunday at Arthur.  'Cept for one really big something or other that gulped my son's Gulp minnow and shredded his 6# mono in about 3 seconds.  He was dumb for 3 seconds, and then stupid after that.  That sound about right?

Jerry McGinnis..... good gosh talk about bringing back memories. Jerry was always fun to watch. Never did I see Jerry without his best friend with him.

The Fishing Hole can still be found on Youtube.

Good times.



Psssst Dave, rethink your question bout dumb or stupid.