Bass Tournament Contestant disqualified for reckless driving
 

Since we "Cigarette boat" types seem to always get bad PR,this shows it's not the type of boat,it's the driver. Sorry I am too computer challenged to post the link,but do a Google search for Gerald Swindle.Even has a video that got him disqualified from the tournament. I'm sure someone can post a direct link to the article and video.:eek:

I used to fish the VA state tournaments with my father as a teenager. Never saw someone do anything like that!
I will say these guys frequent areas that are 1-2 ft deep with stumps all over the entire flat. The only "deep" water would be an old 3-4 ft deep creek bed channel that zig-zags across the flat. IF and I say IF this was in one of those areas it he would have to pass through that old creek bed...however the traffic in the area does not make it safe to do so. The guys in the background looked to be fishing the stumps in one of those flats I described.

What a retard.

LOL. The one time I actually applauded a game warden for doing his job I was out with a boat full of family just a cruising down a huge main span of the lake and here come a bass boat going about 70. I had the right away and I new he saw me, but he never let up. I had to back down or else he would have hit me. Soon as he passed a game warden came from out of no where (funny how that happens) and pulled him over for reckless driving.

A lot of these guys are freakin crazy and reckless. But, if it weren't for some of the bass boaters we would probobly have a lot more speed lmiits.

LOOKS LIKE THE CAT KILLER HAS MOVED TO FISHING :evilb:
JUST A JOKE GUYS.
HE DESERVED WHAT HE GOT

Looked to me like that stunt called for more than a simple disqualifacation. Not surprised by his driving though, I avoid Don Pedro when those jackazzs have a tournament.

Larry

62 Bel-Air 409

260 Eagle XP HP500EFI

2002 Corvette M6 Coupe

I saw that clip on ESPN2 just a while ago. I agree that there should be more penalty than just the DQ for the day. Maybe he should be DQ'ed for the rest of the season. Can you imagine how much stink would have been raised if that had of been a performance boat busting through like that. My .02 worth....:D

now just curious Robert, is this on one of the lakes that has a "big boat ban" can you use this in your favor to show it's not the size of the boat its the operator?

It was one of the original 11 lakes the power co. wanted included before it was whittled down to 3. But you can bet our attorney will be aware of the incident.

What a bonehead!

They're all bass holes...............:fish:

I agree!!! The way they run around on our river on weekends is unbelievable. They come around the curve in the creek where i live so close to my pier sometimes that they get spray on it. The year before i moved in one of them didnt make the curve and hit my neighbors pier. I'm constantly removing plugs and worms with line attached from my pilings so my dog doesn't eat them. They act like morons sometimes.

We be bassin!

Swindle told the Bham News that the reason he went by at 60 mph was because the water was less than 1 foot deep :eek: www.al.com

azzhat

What a explanation:rolleyes:

As an avid bass tournament fisherman and former offshore powerboater, I really resent you lumping all of us into the "jackazz" category. You obviously don't have a clue about tournament fishing. MOST, meaning 99% of us are very good boaters... better than some offshore guys I've seen in my 35 years of boating. So before you lump us all into one stereotypical category maybe you should take a step back and re-think your statement.


I watched the Swindle incident live yesterday. Yes he was wrong... yes he should have been DQ'ed.... yes if there were a LEO nearby he probably would have gotten a ticket. He should have idled thru the boats. In an interview later in the day he admited he should not have done what he did, and that if given the moment over, he would not have sped thru the area. Call it a lesson learned. A very expensive lesson as he was doing very well in the tournament. $500,000 to first place, and good money to the nest 24 finishers. He would have been in 14th place after two days.

There's a few rotten ones in every "sect" of boating, as there are in life.
I agree they don't need to all be lumped together - it just hurts us all in the end.
If you use the logic that all boaters of a certain type boat the result is:
Bass boat = fast, unsafe.
Pontoon boat = party barge
Offshore = loud, obnoxious
Blowboat = rude, thinks he owns the lake.
Cruiser = minivan on the water, no knowledge of what he's doing.
In the above, none is true more than 5% of the time - but you do have cases of each, and you can mix/match the description between everyone of them.

He aut nadda dun dat :p

Where's the video that was posted here several months ago that showed the same thing, but by a 'go-fast' cat traveling at over 100mph? Story was something like a poker run or such and it was a well known practice that the boats travel at those speeds in a particular area, so the spectators anchored right there for the close up view. Many here then were against that practise, but then many said it was the way it is and had no problem with it. Can't pick on the fishy guys when we are not so perfext ourselves.

Agreed...Azzholes in every group. He was wrong, at least he admitted it.

Bass tournaments actually have rules so strict most of us couldn't/wouldn't be willing to participate. Most of us run just as reckless in a typical Poker Run without the rules below.

Bass Tournaments rules (some of them)
-Life jackets are MANDATORY if the engine is running...PERIOD
-Kill switches MUST be used at all times
-NO alcohcol permitted in the boat at ANY TIME

Lets see this bulk of this group follow those.....I don't.

exactly, my point was WE as power boater are being lumped in the problems with lakes , killing of manatees in fla, and hurting the ears of people on lake winni...I think this episode should be used as fuel on the alabama lake dispute as it shows that they can try to restrict the size of the boat, and thats all they would be doing. People are still going to find a way to be dangerous.

Yep!
And it doesn't matter what size/type boat they are in.

I find the biggest problem with the bassers is that the ones that are not really "boaters". They are fisherman, and the boat is just a way to get to where the fish are. I look at lots of these boats that show no maintenance, dings, scrapes, low fluids, etc. Before the advent of all the protective sensors I saw these thing cooked and run low on premix until they wouldn't crank anymore. That sae mentality means they act just like PWC people that know nothing of rules of the road and are downright dangerous.

Its more than 1% of them that act the way i described in my earlier post on this river. More of them act that way than don't around here. Big egos with some of them!

My statement was based upon personal experience at a stated location. Once had a bassboat come right up my wake, not turning until his was within 15 feet of my daughter on a ski, no excuse for that, wide open section of the lake. The partiscipants in our area seem to have the attitude that they own the lake during these tournaments, try to take over the launch ramp, save parking places, mill around adjacent to the launch ramp, and generally act like they are the only game in town. No consideration for other boaters. Thats why I avoid that lake when they are present. And like the fairy godmother said to Cindrella " If the shoe fits, get it on "

Larry

62 Bel-Air 409

260 Eagle Xp HP500EFI

2002 Corvette M6 Corvette

My statement was based upon personal experience at a stated location. Once had a bassboat come right up my wake, not turning until his was within 15 feet of my daughter on a ski, no excuse for that, wide open section of the lake. The participants in our area seem to have the attitude that they own the lake during these tournaments, try to take over the launch ramp, save parking places, mill around adjacent to the launch ramp, and generally act like they are the only game in town. No consideration for other boaters. That's why I avoid that lake when they are present. And like the fairy godmother said to Cindrella " If the shoe fits, get it on "

Larry

62 Bel-Air 409

260 Eagle XP HP500EFI

2002 Corvette M6 Corvette

I agree. My comment also is based on what we experience on the lake I boat on as well.

Last year, there were 356 bass tournaments on our lake. Just one of the Arkansas boating laws states that if you are within 100 feet of another boat, person in the water, boat dock, or the shoreline, you must not exceed 5 mph. This law is broken every time there is a tournament. The cut other boaters off, spray other boats with their roosts, and are just down right rude and half the time, unsafe.

I've seen boaters in need of assistance and no one in the tournament will stop and assist just because "they're in a tournament".

I agree that there are people that ruin things for others in everything that happens in this world, but until we witness a change in their boat habbits, my opinion remains the same.

all I thought of when I saw this thread was the tv commercial where the guy in the offshore boat just showers a fiherman.

Let's chill a minute,folks. I didn't start this thread to get into a contest of what groups of boaters cause the most problems. For every bass boat guy that makes me mad,there is a corresponding Poker Run guy,or personal watercraft guy that is just as frustrating. I was only trying to point out that it is not the type or size of boat that causes a problem,it is the operator of the boat,and that relates to the whole premise of our lawsuit against the Alabama Dept of Consevation over the boat ban bill. Our view is to punish the bad operator,not the type or size of boat,and this is a good example of why we are right. Swindle may not reflect the attitude of most bassboaters,but he sure did draw attention to what our side has been saying all along. The judge in our case is a fisherman,hopefully he will see all the media attention a "legal" boat is getting and realize it is NOT about the boat,it is about the operator.

Magicfloat - I agree.
That is why I posted what I did.
I hope that it wasn't taken the wrong way.
There's an azzhat in every crowd.

funny...
 

WOW,-inspect- thats funny all the dings and scratches....yea thats why there bad boaters..HAHAHAA...WASH YOUR BOATS OR ELSE......

A true classic.......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-dlAZ9L4d0

Nah, you missed my point. There are the serious guys-a tournament fisherman will keep his stuff on pristine shape and pre-flight it before every day of fishing to make sure it's perfect. But there are the bass chasers that simply use the boat like a golf cart to get them to the next "hole". Since they are more interested in drinkin' and fishin', they aren't so much interested in boatin'.:rolleyes: There are some offshore guys that act the same way, just seems to be fewer. And when I say dings I should have said "chunks" like from dock hits running up on the ramp.