Big Muddy Tournament Date

Allen

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Remember that the game & fish claims all these fish we area catching now live in the river & don't migrate.....I think this tourney will prove to them what all the fisherman already know. You'll have the best sticks in the area fishing this tourney & the quality of fish will be nothing compared to their normal tourney in May.




Maybe you're new to the concept of science, but the NDGF test nettings don't lie. They may not have been the best worded, or misconstrued by the masses, thoughts they've put out there because obviously...fish swim. Their point has always been one of despite the migration of the bite, they find plenty of walleyes in places where people aren't catching fish when they use nets or electro-fish.

I've seen it myself back when I commercial fished Lake Sakakawea and Audubon with 500 ft seines. We were targeting non-gamefish (carp, catfish, goldeye, buffalo, etc) and would try to avoid places where we thought we would find gamefish (walleyes and pike). On occasion though we would run into big concentrations of walleye in places we didn't think they belonged and would go back the next day to try and catch them with rod/reel (sportfishing) only to often discover they weren't in the mood to bite. And then be back the next day with the seines only to prove (well, we were still chasing non-game species) that the damn things were still there and were in no mood to feed.

We've all seen this if we've been at Cabela's or anywhere there's a large aquarium with gamefish. Just because there's a minnow in the face of a walleye doesn't mean they will eat it. Water temp, atmospheric pressure, seasonality, etc all play a role in where the hotspot shows up.

We all know walleyes, pike, smelt, and every other species of fish run to their local spawning grounds at the right time of year to congregate and lay their eggs, duh. What does NOT take place is every walleye in Lake Oahe showing up at the snagging hole on the Heart. That would be a true migration, what you and I observe in the bite migration is far more to do with conditions that it is a mass movement of fish. Walleyes find suitable spawning grounds in every single tributary from the face of Oahe Dam up through the tailrace of Garrison dam, and to my knowledge a given walleye will use whatever is closest (unlike salmon which seek what they think of as home waters).
 
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AaronJ

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Having the Big Muddy where and when they do is akin to what it would be like if Bismarck decided to hold an F-1 or Indy Car race through the city streets during the McQuade softball tournament while also doing some intensive street cleaning, maintenance, chip sealing, turning lane additions in front of every bar, restaurant, and liquor store, while also hosting a 6hr parade from Horizon down Washington to Solheim.

Whats worse than a regular troll? A hypocritical troll.
 

SDMF

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Whats worse than a regular troll? A hypocritical troll.

Now I'm a hypocrite because a buddies 8yr old asked me to take him out on campground tournament day? You haven't even mentioned the Bass tournament I fished out of Kenora 15yrs ago
 

AaronJ

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Now I'm a hypocrite because a buddies 8yr old asked me to take him out on campground tournament day? You haven't even mentioned the Bass tournament I fished out of Kenora 15yrs ago


Wait, I thought he had boat problems? Ya Clay, you are a hard headed, opinionated, hypocrite that uses huge brush strokes when you dont like something. If you are sooooo opposed to tourneys you would have politely let the 8 year old down. Or was it boat problems (confirmed to be BS by the boat owner)?
 


SDMF

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Wait, I thought he had boat problems? Ya Clay, you are a hard headed, opinionated, hypocrite that uses huge brush strokes when you dont like something. If you are sooooo opposed to tourneys you would have politely let the 8 year old down. Or was it boat problems (confirmed to be BS by the boat owner)?

I fished it under protest, I can't recall the exact reason why. I honestly don't recall if A-man asked or if MV just wore me down.

I'll be interested to see the economic impact of no Chamber Tournament assuming life is back to relative normalcy. "Look at the $$ we bring in." is ALWAYS the defense for the non-tournament fisher-people having to put up with tournament Assholery. I contend that fishing tournaments drive away as much or more $$ than they bring in because non-tournament people don't enjoy fishing near tournament boats.
 

Kurtr

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I fished it under protest, I can't recall the exact reason why. I honestly don't recall if A-man asked or if MV just wore me down.

I'll be interested to see the economic impact of no Chamber Tournament assuming life is back to relative normalcy. "Look at the $$ we bring in." is ALWAYS the defense for the non-tournament fisher-people having to put up with tournament Assholery. I contend that fishing tournaments drive away as much or more $$ than they bring in because non-tournament people don't enjoy fishing near tournament boats.

speaking of mobridge only. The hotels will see huge difference as tournaments bring more people here than just fun fishing.
 

SDMF

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speaking of mobridge only. The hotels will see huge difference as tournaments bring more people here than just fun fishing.

It'll be hard to quantify. If they're not as busy this summer some will say "it's lack of tournaments" others will say "Covid-19". If they are just as busy or busier it'll be chalked up to pent up demand due to being home-bound as well as <$2 gasoline. Nobody has a financial interest in saying, "Maybe more people came here to fish because we DIDN'T have any tournaments."
 

AaronJ

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I fished it under protest, I can't recall the exact reason why. I honestly don't recall if A-man asked or if MV just wore me down.

I'll be interested to see the economic impact of no Chamber Tournament assuming life is back to relative normalcy. "Look at the $$ we bring in." is ALWAYS the defense for the non-tournament fisher-people having to put up with tournament Assholery. I contend that fishing tournaments drive away as much or more $$ than they bring in because non-tournament people don't enjoy fishing near tournament boats.

It will be interesting to see the overall economic impact of COVID on the recreational industry as a whole. The larger tourneys do bring in some overall IMHO; not sure about the Chamber considering the entrants and their ties to the community. Tournament "Assholery" is no different than weekender "assholery". Most tourney guys I know dont like to be in crowds.
 

SDMF

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Most tourney guys I know dont like to be in crowds.

Except the crowd at the ramp, and the bridges, and deep rocks in July/Aug, and pre-fishing where/when they see a group of boats, and, and, and, and...............

It's funny, they don't like crowds but they PAY for the privilege of being guaranteed to be launching at the busiest boat ramp on the lake?
 
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AaronJ

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Except the crowd at the ramp, and the bridges, and deep rocks in July/Aug, and pre-fishing where/when they see a group of boats, and, and, and, and...............

Same said about weekenders that done know how to back a boat and wont accept help, tie up at docks for 20 minutes blocking the ramp, get boat set up while at the ramp, have no clue how to clean fish so take up space for a REALLY long time at the station, dont have spot lock so chuck an anchor that doesnt hold, cant control a boat so nearly run into others, cant cast well so hang up others around them at a bridge, and, and, and...... we could volley back and forth on this for years. You are still a hypocrite. I am still both a weekender and tourney guy.
 

Fly Carpin

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Most tourney guys I know dont like to be in crowds.

tenor.gif
 

SDMF

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Most tourney guys I know dont like to be in crowds.

Since the title of this thread is about the Big Muddy. Tell me what positives for fishing in general come out of holding the Big Muddy tournament based out of Bismarck on the Mo river in early May?

It doesn't help relations between tournament and non-tournament anglers to bring in more folks to help plug up already very busy ramps.

I can't imagine it helps relations between folks who have river-front property and fisher-people.

It doesn't help relations between shore-fisherpeople and boat fisher-people which is exceptionally strained @ that time of yr since it's the best fishing the shore-fisherpeople will experience all season.

So again, what's the positive to fishing in general that the Big Muddy provides?
 

AaronJ

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Since the title of this thread is about the Big Muddy. Tell me what positives for fishing in general come out of holding the Big Muddy tournament based out of Bismarck on the Mo river in early May?

It doesn't help relations between tournament and non-tournament anglers to bring in more folks to help plug up already very busy ramps.

I can't imagine it helps relations between folks who have river-front property and fisher-people.

It doesn't help relations between shore-fisherpeople and boat fisher-people which is exceptionally strained @ that time of yr since it's the best fishing the shore-fisherpeople will experience all season.

So again, what's the positive to fishing in general that the Big Muddy provides?

I don't fish the Big Muddy. I have heard it is very well ran and fun to fish though. Maybe if a child asked you to fish your guttoral objections would wain and you would fish it... Who knows.
 

SDMF

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I don't fish the Big Muddy. I have heard it is very well ran and fun to fish though.

But that doesn't answer the question of what positives does it provide to fishing in general?

It's easy to list the detriments, I'd like to hear someone defend the positives.

Fishing tournaments should be limited to only being allowed to coincide with waterfowl season when all the non-tournament boats most likely have shotguns on board.
 
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Kurtr

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It'll be hard to quantify. If they're not as busy this summer some will say "it's lack of tournaments" others will say "Covid-19". If they are just as busy or busier it'll be chalked up to pent up demand due to being home-bound as well as <$2 gasoline. Nobody has a financial interest in saying, "Maybe more people came here to fish because we DIDN'T have any tournaments."


the huge change is the fishing is so good around every ones home with all the lakes now the "river" as it was called when i was a kid just is not a destination like it used to be. So for mobridge the tournys give people a reason to come. on non tournament weeks and weekends the ramps are less full and gas stations are less busy. The guys that own them notice it big time. its easy to tell in a little town of barley 3000
 

AaronJ

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But that doesn't answer the question of what positives does it provide to fishing in general?

It's easy to list the detriments, I'd like to hear someone defend the positives.

Again, I dont fish it. I dont know if its locals, if donations are made to organizations (other than the mandated 10% to NDGF), dont know if they put on a kids fishing clinic, do know how far they run for increased $$ spent on fuel, hotels, etc, dont know if there are idle zones not adhered to, dont know if a local pro puts on the water electronics clinics, dont know if they have volunteers helping with loading and unloading of tourney and non-tourney boats (allowing non-tourney to launch 1st), dont know if the fish caught are cleaned and donated for a community fish fry.....dont know.
 
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ranger150

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I don't fish the Big Muddy. I have heard it is very well ran and fun to fish though. Maybe if a child asked you to fish your guttoral objections would wain and you would fish it... Who knows.

It is not a well run tournament. All they care is how much beer is sold.
 

pitchnjigs

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SDMF Have you fished the Big Muddy? here’s a few positives about the Big Muddy.
1. The Big muddy uses a private ramp. No worries about plugging up the local ramps.
2. The bait and gas stations do very well for a couple weeks maybe more.
3. Less boats on the river that Saturday mainly due to 3 person teams. 300 anglers fishing out of 100 boats.
4. The relationships and even great friendships built over 15+ years of fishing this tourney is priceless.
5. Dakota Tackle and Scheel’s I’m sure do pretty good.


Hopefully this will answer some of your questions and negative thoughts on tournament fishing. Hopefully you can enjoy fishing the same as most anglers. Stay positive it makes fishing fun.
 

roosterfish

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SDMF I think you are way off base and arguing to argue!!! The muddy is NOT the chamber or the cup. The majority of the people that fish it are local or live near Bismarck and would be fishing here anyway, only on this day 3 guys in one boat instead of 3 seperate boats!!!
 


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