To Pay or Not To Pay?

Friends, this blog is going to be more of a question seeking comments and answers from you then my normal writings. It is a subject that keeps popping up over and over and I have been asked by a very good friend of mine to see what everyone thinks about this. I hope that you will take the time to comment directly on the blog. If you do not want to do this you can always shoot me an e-mail with your comments, just put comments in the subject line. bill@billbrendle.com I will then post your comments for you but not your name if this is what you request.

The question is; should co-anglers, non boaters, in tournaments pay the boater for gas? If so how much should they pay them. On average a person on the Pro side of a tournament spends well over $300 in fuel locating fish and putting together a pattern. He has insurance, over $40 K in a boat, truck, etc.

I have heard everything from "you are going to be here anyway" to "wow this is a good way to get a cheap guide and learn the lake so I can fish it next time". While we are on the subject how about the person who when you are on a off shore hump that took you years to find pulls out his handheld GPS and punches it in?

Are the large tournament organizations creating this type of environment by telling the co-anglers that these things are "not in the rules" as they are struggling more and more to fill the field on the non-boater side. Throwing ethics out the window?

Please, we need your comments, the only way these things will ever change is education on both sides and in order for this to happen both sides need to talk!