Last week we broke the sad news that co-anglers no longer have a place to call home since Major League Fishing decided to eliminate co-anglers all across their tournament circuits.
Today, I want to talk about a couple of co-anglers I drew out in both the BFL’s and the Toyota Series. Like anything else, you can get a good one or a bad one depending on the co-angler you draw.
I can honestly say that most of the co-anglers I drew over time were great people. Not always good anglers, but 90 percent were really good folks who I have become friends with.
Then there are co-anglers I wish had never gotten into my boat! Let’s focus on those. The first one that comes to mind was a gentleman who was paired up with me years ago on Sam Rayburn.
While I try not to judge people (until I see them) this was one angler who was not the picture of health and was not looking to be on the front cover of GQ magazine.
This guy weighed 350 pounds plus, if he weighed an ounce. He had all kinds of health issues and notified me that he had major lower back issues while we waited for take-off on Day 1 of the tournament. He told me he needed surgery and was just putting it off.
One hour into the tournament I needed to make a long run up the lake to a group of fish I had found in practice. The problem was that the wind was blowing out of the north at 20 miles per hour. If you know Sam Rayburn, that means a rough ride!
As I headed across the lake in three-foot rollers, my co-angler, through high-pitched moaning and groaning, decided he could not make that kind of run. I then shut down the boat and told him he had two choices, either suck it up and make the run or I could drop him off back at the boat ramp and he could go home.
Before you think I’m being a little insensitive, the problem with this situation is that there’s a tournament rule that states an angler cannot handicap another angler in the boat. He was penalizing me by not allowing me to run the lake like I needed to in order to compete.
After a short phone call to the tournament director, the decision was made for me to drop him off at the ramp. While I really hated this, because I never had to kick anyone out of my boat before, it was obvious that he was in no kind of physical shape to be fishing bass tournaments.
My next bad co-angler was a gentleman who I was paired with on Day 2 of the National Championship on Red River. The Red River has been very good to me over the years, and I was actually in position to win this event, sitting in the top 5 after Day 1.
The co-angler I drew was from Tennessee and had at least 15 cups of coffee before he got into my boat that morning. This guy was so wound up and excited to fish on Day 2 but had never done that well in tournaments before.
He literally walked so much on the back deck of my boat that I thought he was going to wear a hole in my carpet. It only got worse after we left the dock that morning. My first stop was on the main river in a spot where I had caught at least a three-pounder three days in a row.
Let me back up and explain a rule that existed in this event. The rule stated that at no time may a co-angler make a cast in front of the boat or past the pro/boater during the tournament without permission from the pro/boater.
So now that you know the rule, the rest of this will make total sense to you. As I fished my first spot and caught the three-pounder, my co-angler decided he would throw past the front of the boat into the exact spot!
As I was putting the fish in my live well, I noticed him set the hook and pull a four-pound bass off the spot I was fishing. The only way he could fish this spot was to throw past the front of the boat, which was a rules violation.
Being the nice guy that I am, while fuming, I reminded him of the rule and requested he not do that again. He apologized profusely and said he wouldn’t do it again. So, I forgave and forgot and moved on to my next spot just off the main river.
When we arrived, after making three casts, I caught another quality bass on a spinnerbait going down the backside of a rock jetty. While I was boating this fish, my co-angler decided to make a cast past the front of the boat — AGAIN! He caught another bass that was a keeper.
Trying to be nice, I once more reminded him of the rule. The problem was that he was working off a caffeine high and was totally out of control with his actions and his emotions.
Then it all came to a head about 15 minutes later when I hooked another good fish on a Texas rigged worm and as I was fighting this bass, I noticed him throw a bait past my head and in front of the boat! At this point, I’m done with this idiot who obviously could care less about the rules, so I took things into my own hands…literally!
While fighting my fish, I simply reached up, grabbed his fishing line, and bit it in half, which cost him his favorite crankbait! He exploded and could not believe that I actually did that. I looked at him while putting my fish in the live well and in a very calm voice I told him that he had two choices.
“You can keep throwing in front of the boat if you want, but understand this, I will not sign your weigh slip at the weigh-in which means you’ll be disqualified from the tournament. Or you can quit casting past the front of the boat the rest of the day. Your choice, Slick!”
Let’s just say the last four hours of this event were extremely quiet, and he did not speak five words the rest of the day. I guess some guys are just slow learners and have no regards for the rules. But I was more disappointed when I didn’t get a Christmas card from him.
Despite these two bad apples, I have overwhelmingly enjoyed the vast majority of my co-anglers. The old BFL format will be missed now that it’s a team trail and will leave a void in the sport especially for the weekend warrior.
Contact Steve at sgraf26@yahoo.com