Thats Not Fishing Mon Yesterday morning I watched 3 boats burning miles of flat and shorelines. This always leaves me scratching my head. What do I mean by burning? Its when someone uses their watercraft to search for fish by running the shallows in the hope of finding a concentration of fish . News Flash to burners -- fish arent always schooled up or even all that concentrated in one area. Often - and much more so these days due to so many folks burning flats - the fish are spread out as scattered singles. Even if there is a concentration - it may be thin and located in a small area of the flat or shoreline that is easily spooked by a running boat. So basically - you burn dudes are screwing up the very thing you are searching for -- sort of a Zen paradox - irony - kinda thing. This is aside from the fact that they are also ruining acres of fishing opportunity for everyone else. Screwing themselves and screwing others -- a lose - lose scenario. Where they got the idea that this is the way you are supposed to fish is beyond me ? I guess this got started by those watching some BS Redfish tournament on ESPN, where the commentators touted this tactic, and coined the term Reconnaissance Under Power ( aka - RUPing) as an euphemism for burning. Though - you cant blame it all on tournament coverage - guides have been using this run and bump em up tactic for decades. This was perhaps marginally acceptable when the bays were less crowded. Hey - look around - those days are gone. Im always reminded of this personal anecdote when I see guys burning a flat ---- A famous Belizian fishing guide was in the states getting medical treatment, and he asked me to take him out on our Texas flats to look for for Redfish. He wanted to see first hand the kind of Texas fishing I had described . I was poling a mid coast flat when a guy in a scooter boat burned the area. When the outboard noise had died down - the guide turned to me and calmly asked in his Carrib speak, What he do mon ?. I replied, He would tell you that he is fishing. The guide said , Thats not fishing mon. Yep - that pretty much sums burning up - Thats not fishing man.
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 11:48:48 +0000
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