NortheastBass.com

It seems that some people tried to pull a sneaky move and get bass fishing tournaments in RI all but banned completely.

Some unscrupulous people somewhere decided that bass fishermen, specifically tournament bass fishermen, should not be allowed to hold tournaments between the hours of 12 Noon and 8 PM.

What does this mean for you, the tournament bass angler? It means that any and all 8 hour tournaments that normally start at 7 Am and end at 3 PM will become history. It means that all of the weeknight tournament trails will become history.

This really sounds like the work of lakeside property owners here in RI. It’s pretty sad that people who own property on a lake think they actually own the whole lake, including the state-owned boat launch.

Here’s the part that gets me. Bass Fishermen pay tens of thousands of dollars into state and federal coffers every year. This money is supposed to be spent on maintaining the boat launches and improving the fisheries. The way this money is generated is via a federal excise tax that is put on fishing tackle. Every time we buy fishing tackle, we are also paying for the boat ramps, the access areas, the fisheries management, etc.

So what do the lakeside property owners pay toward this? Nothing, Zero, Zip. Not a penny.

Oh, and let’s not forget about the recreational boaters that have seemingly been whining too, about overcrowded boat launches. What do they pay toward the maintenance of these ramps? Same thing.. ZERO. Not a penny.

So why is it that we, the tournament anglers are targeted? Because we are visible to the general public, which makes us easy to target. When someone pulls up to or drives by a boat launch and the parking lot has 10 – 15 trucks and trailers parked in it, it makes us easy targets.

Supposedly their complaint is that we cause the parking lots and launches to become unusable because we overcrowd them.

Everyone has the same privilege to use the launches and parking areas. If we happen to get there first, it seems that this bothers some of them.

Do yourself a favor. Make your voice heard on this issue. Get in touch with DEM and tell them that you disagree with this proposal. Here is the necessary contact info to make phone calls and to send emails to.

W. Michael Sullivan, Director
235 Promenade Street
Providence, RI 02908-5767
(401) 222-2771
Fax 222-6802 michael.sullivan@dem.ri.gov

Michael L. Lapisky, Chief
4808 Tower Hill Road
Wakefield, RI 02879
(401) 789-3094
fax 783-4460Michael.Lapisky@dem.ri.gov

Dudley, Christine – Freshwater & Anadromous Fisheries Biology
789-7481christine.dudley@dem.ri.gov

When you write or call, please be sure to be polite, but let them know that the idea is a bad one.

I believe that if we make our voices heard we will defeat this ridiculous idea and put it to rest quickly.

So.. speak up and be heard to preserve our rights to use the public launches.

Now go bag a hawg.

Curt <><

It’s hard to believe that the water temps can’t seem to break the 70 degree mark and stay there!!

I fished at Indian lake tonight and the water temperature was still only 65 – 67 degrees. That’s pretty incredible for the first week of June.

I fished at Glasgo Pond two days ago and the temps were nudging 70 when I left, but yesterday was rainy and today was cloudy and cool, so it went into a downward spiral.

The weather for this weekend is being forecast as very HOT, so maybe this will get some things cranking up and get the night bite going 🙂

Now go bag a hawg!

Curt <><

For me it’s aluminum!

I have had aluminum boats now for the past 20+ years. I like them.. period. They suit me and my style of fishing. They are easy to maintain, lighter to tow and are normally cheaper to buy than a comparably-equipped fiberglass boat.

Have you ever been fishing a certain lake and stayed away from an area of the lake that you really wanted to fish, but were afraid to go in there because you didn’t want to scratch your boat? You see, I really don’t have that problem 😉

Oh, and have you ever wanted to get into a really shallow cove, but couldn’t get in because there wasn’t enough water to keep you from bottoming out? I don’t usually have that problem either!

Did I mention that I like aluminum boats??

Sure, they don’t ride quite as smoothly as the fiberglass boats and they may not go quite as fast, and.. they might not sparkle in the sun, but who really cares? In the area that I live in and fish in an aluminum bass boat is almost the perfect boat.

Some fiberglass boat fanatics might get ticked off when they read this, but that’s OK, because while your waxing your boat and worrying about scratching your gel coat, I’ll be out catching bass 🙂

Now go bag a hawg!

Curt <><