Tournament Networking

I am not a money tournament fisherman but do hear about “Networking”. I assume that is when a close bunch of guys get together and prefish a body of water, then shares their spots/presentations/etc with each other before the actual tournament starts.

Some questions as to how networking works:

– Is this considered ethical?

– How does one become a member of a network?

– Are their published guidelines for setting up a network and rules to govern the network members?

– Are the names of network members published, or is it a tightly held secret?

– What are the sizes of the typical networks?

– Is a bigger network usually better?

– Do networks that fish major circuits invite local fishermen into their group?

– Is splitting up winning among network members against tournament rules? If so, that could easily are circumvented.

– Can a person belong to more that one network in the same circuit?

– What if one of the guys in a network doesn’t share all his information with the others, gives misleading information, or tells non-network guys about the information shared in a network? Is he ejected from that network and put on a black ball list to be banned from all futures networks?

– How does an individual fisherman compete against a network of guys sharing every detail?

I share fishing information with various friends, but would not call it a network as we usually fish for fun or just a hunk of wood. But it would be interesting to get a perspective on tournament networking.

Dave Gulczinski

Let me take stab at this. Keep in mind everything is based on my perspective and my interpretations.

Quote:

---

– Is this considered ethical?

---

I believe if this wasn’t considered ethical, you’d see steps being taken to avoid networking. I have no idea what those steps would be. As far as I’m concerned, luck favors the prepared. If that means 3 guys get togther, put an outstanding game plan on the table, execute it without flaw, then more power to them. The one thing people forget, is those fish don’t know they have 8 hrs to bite. They(the fish) aren’t on a schedule. Seasoned fishermen know how to catch fish, and more importantly they know how to get fish to bite. In many ways a network can develop a plan to put fish in the boat.

Quote:

---

– How does one become a member of a network?

---

Find people you can trust and people who trust you. Networking isn’t about one guy. Everyone in the network is part of a team. If you cash a check, everyone gets a part of the pie.

Quote:

---

– Are their published guidelines for setting up a network and rules to govern the network members?

---

Not that I’ve seen.

Quote:

---

– Are the names of network members published, or is it a tightly held secret?

---

To some extent by fishing the circuits you get to see who’s with whom. Bird’s of a feather flock together.

Quote:

---

– What are the sizes of the typical networks?

---

That’s hard to measure. It’s safe to say anywhere from 3-5 guys. If I were to build a network of fishermen to fish tournament circuits, I’d stick with 3. The pot splits better in the end.

Quote:

---

– Is a bigger network usually better?

---

See the above answer. Especially the part about splitting the pot.

Quote:

---

– Do networks that fish major circuits invite local fishermen into their group?

---

I’d say no. I think they utilize local fishermen, but not include them.

Quote:

---

– Is splitting up winning among network members against tournament rules? If so, that could easily are circumvented.

---

It’s your money. Once the check is cashed, there’s no telling a person what to do with it. If I get a great tip and win a tourney, how is anyone going to know if I passed a could hundred on to the guy who helped me?

Quote:

---

– Can a person belong to more that one network in the same circuit?

---

I wouldn’t allow it. I see that as a conflict of interest.

Quote:

---

– What if one of the guys in a network doesn’t share all his information with the others, gives misleading information, or tells non-network guys about the information shared in a network? Is he ejected from that network and put on a black ball list to be banned from all futures networks?

---

I think you answered your own question there. Trust takes a lifetime to build and 1 second to lose.

Quote:

---

– How does an individual fisherman compete against a network of guys sharing every detail?

---

Again, luck favors the prepared. Do everything you can(legally) to put yourself into a position to win. Be the first one on the water and the last one off. Take notes. Pay close attention to the little things, they make the biggest difference.

I know at the tour level bass fishing professionals do it all the time. There are little clicks of anglers who room together and share information amongst themselves. This is typically done more with the guys just starting out. A rule I follow is that you don’t name your spot. Because I may have found something pre-fishing on my own and if you tell me you have something there it becomes a place I can’t fish. Basically, you share patterns, baits and such, but not the actual spot. Also if you see your buddy fishing an area and he is on something you don’t fish it. If you are on a pattern lake try to duplicate it somewhere else. If during your pre-fishing time you fish with another boater be sure to talk about whose spots they are if you find them together. The rule in bass tournaments is that you can’t gather information that isn’t public knowledge the 30 days prior to the tournament. That means no talking to locals. The only people who can share information are the tournament competitors. Sometimes money sharing is also done. I know when Marty Stone and Gerald Swindel got started they shared everything from rooms, expenses, tournament info and the winnings. They formed a partnership for the first few years until they were established. This way they could support themselves and pull each other along. Now they are well known established anglers. I don’t think networking is bad. You see it more in the bigger tournaments. I’d keep it small. You can share whatever you want with whoever you want. The fewer the better. If it is something you want to do you should first discuss it with the other people you want to share with. It can really help out. I find that after the tournament when you guys get together you learn a lot more and you just store that stuff away and in the future when you have a similar situation you have other ideas you can try out that you may not have come up with on your own.

Jason

I have seen the Sponsor Teams (networks) having their rpe-tournament strategy meetings at larger events. They tend to work tosgether sharing patterns and sections of larger bodies of water. They usually include the fishermen that share common sponsorships, ie: boat or motor mfg’s or some other common sponsor or element that would cause them to want to share info.
If you are not on a team you have to work harder to compete with the combined hours on the water that the group accumulates to eliminate sections of a body of water or specific patterns, colors, bait types etc.

Thanks to all who replied with your insight to tournament networks. From your input it appears networks can range anywhere from just a few friends sharing information to more organized groupings of fishermen. No set rules, but common sense and proper etiquette prevail among the members.

I think those who put on the big tournament may be missing an opportunity for a new venue of tournaments — have a few formal Network Team Tourneys each year. They could be something like 4 boats to a network team with the total weight of all 4 boats added together at the weigh-in.

Because network fishing is already being done behind the scenes, this would just formalize this kind of fishing. We could have formal network teams like Network Mercury vs Network E-TEC vs Network Lund vs Network Ranger vs Network Hawgcatchers vs Network WalleyeCentral vs Network IDA…

The pre-fishing and tournament fishing strategies could be very interesting and educational for us non-tourney guys.

Dave Gulczinski

bump

Quote:

---

Thanks to all who replied with your insight to tournament networks. From your input it appears networks can range anywhere from just a few friends sharing information to more organized groupings of fishermen. No set rules, but common sense and proper etiquette prevail among the members.

I think those who put on the big tournament may be missing an opportunity for a new venue of tournaments — have a few formal Network Team Tourneys each year. They could be something like 4 boats to a network team with the total weight of all 4 boats added together at the weigh-in.

Because network fishing is already being done behind the scenes, this would just formalize this kind of fishing. We could have formal network teams like Network Mercury vs Network E-TEC vs Network Lund vs Network Ranger vs Network Hawgcatchers vs Network WalleyeCentral vs Network IDA…

The pre-fishing and tournament fishing strategies could be very interesting and educational for us non-tourney guys.

Dave Gulczinski

---

That is an interesting idea Dave. It would add a whole new twist to tournaments.

because of the large amounts of prize money involved in the PWT, FLW and alike, there are signed contracts to keep the honest, honest………..tom fellegy

When you join a “team” just remember you are no longer “sport fishing” for fun.

You are now fishing for the almighty buck.

You are admitting that you can’t or don’t want to win on your own. Winning is now much more important then competing. You need your teammates to find the presentation, to find your bait and in some cases to find your spots.

You must keep your team a secret. What would your sponsor say if you told him you were an average angler but you had “great” teammates?

Lastly, just think of the pride in your voice when you tell your kid you just won a individual tournament with a great bunch of teammates.

IMHO if you want a team………..join a team event and do it right.

Thats my personal feelings on “teams”. Everybody has their own opinion which is what makes the country great.

This topic sure gets peoples hair up. I fish the FLW walleye tour and I have a “team”. I fish with 3 other guys and it is very hard to do it by yourself and this is why.

First, I only have to arrange the lodging for one event, my teamates each do the same. Second, if my boat or motor goes down prefishing, I can jump in with one of my teammates for the day until it is fixed. Third, I share a room with one of my teammates so we split the cost. Fourth, 12 hours a day on the water gets long unless you have someone to talk to about what you are trying to accomplish. Fifth, launching your boat by yourself is a pain and hard on the equipment. Sixth, it is nice to talk fishing with 3 other guys that have the same passion about the sport we all love.

There are many other reasons I have a “team” but those are the biggest. I have no problem talking about it. Teams have existed forever on the top circuits. Some people say I “travel with” or “work with” or whatever, it is still a team effort. Personally it takes nothing away from what I am trying to do on the water come T day. We are all trying to win, and yes I want to beat my teammates also and I sure hope they want to beat me.

Not too many years ago, when someone mentioned networking to me, it disgusted me. But, lately I have read and talked to people who do the networking thing, and realized that the benefits far outweigh the negative.
Scott mentioned many of the positive things already.
But, I still have some negativity about it. Years ago I was in a well known bass club in the area where a couple guys used what they call “networking”, but their networking was not really the best way to do it, IMO. These guys hardly ever spent time on the water themselves, but they had people fishing all the time “for” them. Sure, they won quite a few of the club tourneys because people told them exactly where to fish and what was working. To me, that is disgusting.

Now, you take a team that spends the time on the water together amd finds patterns on their own, and you have the basis of a great network. These guys don’t rely on someone else to do the job for them and then take all the credit for a win.

If I were fishing tourneys in the big leagues, getting the win and the money is a big part of why I would be fishing. I don’t see any shame in admitting I am fishing for the money. Fishing is still going to be fun, sometimes it is going to be frustrating, but winning makes up for the bad days.

Quote:

---

Years ago I was in a well known bass club in the area where a couple guys used what they call “networking”, but their networking was not really the best way to do it, IMO. These guys hardly ever spent time on the water themselves, but they had people fishing all the time “for” them.

---

Wats, for the guys who were doing all the fishing what was there incentive for giving all there info to the two guys who did not fish, why would anyone do that? give away info they earned on there own?

The networking thing is just a part of the tournament scene that each angler has to overcome or become a part of. I see it all the time in the FLW Walleye League. I’d much rather see 3 guys working together than the local good old boy who gets information from 100 different locals for every event (On the WI side all 3 events are about an hour apart).

I can’t fault those people for using the info their given, but it does make it pretty tough to compete on such big water. Even 3 or 4 guys can’t cover all the water on big water like Green Bay, Winnebago, Mille Lacs, Erie etc…

I have accepted that I will have to find a great pattern on big water to win these events. I think that placing well in these events means 100 times more to me than it does to the person who has 50 different tips from buddies.

I do work with one or two other boaters from time to time, but it’s not an all the time thing. I will be going to Erie by myself this spring for an event, and that can be intimidating. I’m really looking forward to it though.

If I can pull off a big finish there, I’ll be pretty pumped. The cost sharing is a huge part of it nowadays. I’d love to have someone to share the costs with more often.

Why? None of their groupies fished tournies, so it didn’t matter to them. Maybe they got a sense of accompolishment out of seeing their buddies win on their behalf?
Honestly, I don’t have the answer to why some people do the things they do

Team fishing has alot of benifits as well as alot of problems. The biggest problem is trying to get everyone to get along and get everyone to trust each other. Fishing as a team gets you to think out of the box and learn new idea’s from your other teamates. Let’s face it if you do not try to get ahead of the next guy you never will. My thing is to try to get on the water as much as possible to learn the system.
One benifit of fishing alone is that you do not have to share any info of spots. So if you find them you have them all to yourself. You can still be plenty effective fishing alone. I choose to fish with some friends to have some fun.

I think they should make two teams. Either north vs. south, or the east coast vs. west coast.

Why would I want to fish as a boater in the FLW, when I’m competing against a team of 5 guys?

I thought tournaments were all about the skill/luck of the angler on the water. Not the schmoozing and kissing abilities of the angler. When I state this, my point is that there are teams who “cover and eliminate” certain parts of the body of water. They are networking together on where to fish, how to protect the area they are fishing like spot sitting, etc.

Hey Scott!
I was wondering how aggravating a situation this would be: I pre-fished one day last spring with an FLW tour guy who also is a member of a team. It was a pretty cool experience for me and I didn’t think nothing less of the guy for being a part of a team. However, the guy I fished with had a fabulous year on the FLW. The members of his team might not have even cashed a check last year. Is that just they way it goes?

dd

Not all teams opperate the same. Some teams do things they should not do and others follow the rules well. So the guys who try to do things right get a bad rap at times. Some teams have been known for kicking guys off the team because of wrong doing’s. Nobody wants bad apples on their team. It hurts the reputation of the other angler’s. Their is not a sponsor out their that wants to be associated with someone that is bending the rules.

Its one thing to go out & fish as a team & share info.The part that I dont like that does happen,is when they hire a local guide to scout for them before they arrive.Not supposed to happen according to most tourney trail regs.Whats a couple hunderd bucks when some get $100,000+ in sponsership fees.They might even kick the guide more if they place high.Had a guy tell me he scouted for a couple high profile pros & I tore into him.Said he could use the extra $. He wants to go pro. Just makes it that much harder for the guys who actually have to learn a new lake on their own. Your odds of placing high against teams of this nature are slim.The feeling of winning or even placing top 10 on your own against teams priceless!