About once a day I get on bassfan.com to read about professional bass fishing. I enjoy reading the stories, the strategies, and the techniques.

As a fan I get a real kick when great moments in tournament fishing unfold. KVD and Aaron going cast for cast in the Classic. Guys making crazy runs to fish for 2 hours then run back. Skeet going on a tear and crushing the field week after week. I'm clicking reload on the live blog every 5 minutes!

You know what does nothing for me though? Reading a stories about guys who win tournaments by planting brushpiles or using jetboats to get to otherwise in to otherwise inaccessible backwaters.

As a fan, why should I give a rip about the guy who went out with his buddies at night and chainsawed trees, drug them out to subtle areas and sunk them? Sure you still have to catch the fish from those areas, but you're taking away the level playing field by doing it.

At the FLW cup on Lanier this year, it's well known that a lot of brush planting went on. It goes on in a lot of the FLW events - this is nothing new. And part of the game is to plant the brush as close to the event as allowed, to make it hard for others to find (plus bass often like green brush).

How is this fair for the guy who qualified and drove 2,000 miles to the event to practice for 3 days? What other sport has this kind of obvious imbalance in the playing field?

This feels no different to me than the major league pitcher who puts some pine tar on the ball or scuffs it up with a nail file. He still has to strike out the batter but he has an advantage that the next pitcher doesn't.

I feel the same way about this whole jetboat thing. As a fan, why should I care that some guy got to sit in a pond full of stupid bass and catch them till his arms fell off while everyone on the main body of water struggled?

At that point it's not a fishing competition any more. It's an equipment competition. And the guy who drives 2,000 miles to the event faces the same uneven playing field because he can't tow 2 boats behind his rig!

In the Elite series he couldn't even borrow or rent a jet boat because the boat would have to be wrapped. But several guys on the Elite's have wrapped jet boats, and the support to get the rigs to the lake. All in the hope of getting to some spot where the guys with props can't reach.

When my Bass Times comes in the mail should I care what lure that guy used to catch his fish? His stupid pond bass that would hit a hula popper on a carolina rig? I sure don't care.

BASS and FLW should ban brush planting and boats without propellers. They should level the playing field because the fans deserve it. The fans deserve to hear about the guy who was the best fisherman on a level playing field, not the guy who had the most resources, lived the closest to the lake, or had the most buddies with quiet chainsaws.

The jet boat thing seems ok to me. Just another tool (albeit an expensive one). Do you feel the same way about the first guys with side scan? Power poles?

On the other hand, any time you're actively modifying the environment to your advantage, legal or not, that seems like cheating to me. Adding brush piles, moving fish, whatever... cheating.

The jet boat bugs me because it makes it very very difficult for people who travel long distance to fish the events to compete fully. In theory a guy could rent a jet boat at the venue and leave his regular boat at the hotel or whatever. But it just creates this imbalance in the competition that bothers me.

Anyone can buy a powerpole, side scan, aqua view, hydraulic jack plate, super soaker filled with bubbles, etc. But it's a much higher bar for a guy to travel cross country with 2 boats. I can only assume that's why FLW banned it (correction from my earlier statement). I really feel like BASS should do the same.

Ha, vindication:

http://bassfan.com/news_article.asp?id=4146

yea. thats smart. must fish in same boat. agreed. the whole banning bama rig is silly to me though. some people are just so afraid of change its pathetic. afraid to get beat by new techniques. the science is showing that plastic worms and crankbaits are probably doing more damage than a bama rig...and the fishes mortatility should be the most important. also, the tournament format of live weigh in fish and then release is so awesome. makes it more fun for the fan....makes it better for the fish. when you release a bass instantly opposed to culling and keeping it in and hauling it all the weigh in you are substantially increasing the fishes chances of survival. im basing this conclusion on common sense. I have no science behind it :)

Agree. Alabama rig is something anyone can buy and use within the guidance of whatever the local state laws are. So there's no way for one guy to get an advantage over the other guy using it in a tournament. So have at it!

I like how BASS did the boat rule, saying you have to stay in a similar boat all year. Maybe some guys will gamble and fish a jet all year. If so - then props to them (pun intended) :) It makes the field even between people traveling from all over the country to compete.

Good job BASS