The Great Prefish Debate!!!!

[IceManDude]

I'm sure many will offer their opinion on this one.

To Prefish or not to Prefish... that is the question!!!

This is in regard to the OFFICIAL PREFISH DAY on the Friday of the tournament weekend

[paul r]

3week ban before each event

jmho paul

[Breamingwithjoy]

I liked the idea of hookless fishing to find the fish but not overly spook them.

[gtxrally]

Originally Posted by Breamingwithjoy

I liked the idea of hookless fishing to find the fish but not overly spook them.

I think BWJ has the right approach here.
You still want to be able work out what thay are taking. there are more factors than just catching a few to why the fish turn off etc like pressure changes and temp drops.

And also for most they don't get to fish these waters that often so they enjoy the 3 day fishing weekend. like me.

Dale.

[crusty]

I think having a prefish ban may allow some anglers to catch a better and more fish for an event.
I also think a prefish is ripe for exploitation. If an angler sends a mate who's not in the tournament out to fish then he's not breaching the rule but he's gaining a significant advantage.
I think it also gives a much larger advantage to an angler who lives nearby the waterway because he has a greater knowledge of the system to start with. The locals already have an advantage of local knowledge, banning the prefish means the advantage is even greater.

It might be that the prefish ban is beneficial to the town running the tournament as it means a serious angler needs to visit the town in advance of the tournament to work out the system if he wants to give himself a better chance. Maybe the better anglers do this anyway and it might explain my tournament record of donuts.

I think the prefish without hooks is a good idea, or maybe just a bit of education for the anglers advising them that in the prefish they should quickly explore areas and not catch lots of fish because they will likely make it harder for themselves in the tournament.

Anyway after all that I vote allow a prefish to level the playing field a little bit.

[dawson]

Agreed,

Hookless pre-fish is the way too go. Still allows anglers to locate fish and fishy areas without putting much pressure on them.

JD

[walloper]

i think pre fishing is a must as you may have never been on that particular water way and spending a day on the water in this situation helps when it comes to navigating. any one who stalks around smashing fish in numbers can't expect to do well in the spots they've hit. it boils down to common sense as individuals, but as a group, yes on pre fish it gets something of a pre-LOOKOUT BREAM, HERE WE COME. at the moment no pre-fish means, if your in the comp stay off that water way, trying to police that other wise, for example..go navigating without rods, is way too hard.
my vote lies with allow the pre-fish.

[tomd]

I'm with wolloper & crusty, the pre fish makes the event more professional and makes a chance victory less likely.

Everyone needs to develop their pre fish strategy so that fish are not unduly spooked.

PS if this discussion is a result of the VicBreamClassic event on the Glenelg R on the weekend I believe other factors were at play to shut the fish down on tournament day

[tomd]

forgot to mention that its a tournament, all you are trying to do is win. Doesn't matter how many fish you catch. If you want to catch fish, pick the best location, the best time, best tide, best time of year, least fishing competition etc and go for it.

if anyone thinks that by pre fishing they are "wasting" fish that they won't catch on tournament day, remember, the pre fish is optional.

[Squidgee_Man]

Personaly i reckon just because you find the fish on a particular day doesnt mean they will be there next. Fishing is a funny game 5% knowledge - 95% luck! I reckon the Prefish ban isn't really that great an idea. Allow prefishing i reckon, it cant do any harm imo. Seriously though theres gunna be people prefishing, i dont think everyone is honest and its not like the comp organisers are out patrolling is it? Anyway i hardly bream fish anymore as the novelty has worn off for me. I go in most of the Perth comps, which is when i bream fish as the comps add a bit more fun to plane old bream fishing for me, 1st or last doesnt bother me! I wouldnt pre fish even if it was allowed, saying that how many people would actually prefish if it was allowed? i think it wouldnt be that many compared to how many are in the comp.

[Minnows]

Squidgee Man is right. If anyone asks, we're not prefishing, we're just having a completely unrelated fish you can't really tell someone not to fish? can you?

[ttpman]

i think prefishs are a brilliant idea it makes the comp more faire, because of the locals in the competition that have fished the area heaps and for the visiters they may have never fished the spot before.

[ttpman]

Originally Posted by Squidgee_Man

Personaly i reckon just because you find the fish on a particular day doesnt mean they will be there next. Fishing is a funny game 5% knowledge - 95% luck! I reckon the Prefish ban isn't really that great an idea. Allow prefishing i reckon, it cant do any harm imo. Seriously though theres gunna be people prefishing, i dont think everyone is honest and its not like the comp organisers are out patrolling is it? Anyway i hardly bream fish anymore as the novelty has worn off for me. I go in most of the Perth comps, which is when i bream fish as the comps add a bit more fun to plane old bream fishing for me, 1st or last doesnt bother me! I wouldnt pre fish even if it was allowed, saying that how many people would actually prefish if it was allowed? i think it wouldnt be that many compared to how many are in the comp.

50%/50% i recon

[Emo]

Keep it the way it is, but if anything restrict the Friday prefish time to about 3 hours on the Friday.

[walloper]

Originally Posted by Squidgee_Man

Personaly i reckon just because you find the fish on a particular day doesnt mean they will be there next. Fishing is a funny game 5% knowledge - 95% luck! I reckon the Prefish ban isn't really that great an idea. Allow prefishing i reckon, it cant do any harm imo. Seriously though theres gunna be people prefishing, i dont think everyone is honest and its not like the comp organisers are out patrolling is it? Anyway i hardly bream fish anymore as the novelty has worn off for me. I go in most of the Perth comps, which is when i bream fish as the comps add a bit more fun to plane old bream fishing for me, 1st or last doesnt bother me! I wouldnt pre fish even if it was allowed, saying that how many people would actually prefish if it was allowed? i think it wouldnt be that many compared to how many are in the comp.

fish have tails they move around... your first sentence rings true. you lost me at the end of your reply though Squidgee_Man, can you explane.