The Unwritten Rules that Guide Pro Bass Anglers Through Fights on the Water

When Angler Battles Occur on the Water

®

Fall 2018

CTWROOW’SDA

angler battles on the water

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by Pete Robbins

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oday’s pro anglers have better technology than

ever before, allowing them to pre-fish from

their kitchen tables, dialing in key spots and eliminating water from out-of-state.

Top to bottom, they’re also more talented than their

predecessors, which means that once they arrive at the lake

– no matter how big it might be – they’re going to zero in on

the best places to fish.

In other words, there are no secrets anymore.

It used to be that anglers got into squabbles with one

another because they converged on “community holes.” That

still happens, but now they’re just as likely to battle for “the

juice” before it’s known to the community.

On the pro circuits, it happens at almost every event. It doesn’t matter whether it’s east or west, north or south, shallow or deep.

INFAMOUS SQUABBLES

Remember Aaron Martens and Byron Velvick virtually ending a long-term friendship while “sharing” a key spot at Falcon Lake in Texas? That was a decade ago, and it still stings.

More recently, Greg Hackney and Bill Lowen battled over a portion of a small canal during an Elite Series stop at the notoriously stingy Sabine River in Texas.