JACK WOLLITZ Local tips for pros comes into question

An interesting Internet dialogue has been percolating recently on the topic of whether it is fair for professional fishermen to receive help from local anglers in preparation for a big tournament.
Common practice: Soliciting and obtaining tips about good fishing holes and productive tactics has been common practice in bass and walleye tourneys. Thanks to a bit of reporting by the editor of the Internet site BassFan.com, however, the practice is being debated in articles and on electronic message boards.
There is a local angle to the national debate, as an active schedule of cast-for-cash events is staged throughout northeastern Ohio.
Local purses don't come close to the payouts at major national events, but bass and walleye competitors in this region fish with the same kind of intensity as the pros. And that means they look for advantages.
In tournament fishing's major league rules, seeking and getting advice from locals prior to events is a practice that is not forbidden.
The issue is that some anglers, because they are high-profile figures in the sport, reap benefits that no-name anglers fail to gain. Some pro anglers, because of their fame, actually are besieged by local people who want to be heroes and share their hot spots.
The easy way out of the issue is to simply ban anglers from asking for or taking advice from anybody other than a fellow competitor entered in the same event. The problem with that is there can be a huge gray area. Do you draw the line at actually getting in a boat with a local angler, or do you extend it out to telephone calls, sharing marked maps and obtaining GPS coordinates? Looking at the issue from a historical perspective, it is easy to recognize the precedent. Before there were any bass or walleye tournaments, many anglers were soliciting advice on waters with which they were not familiar.
Since the dawn of angling, fishers have asked for advice on hot spots and productive lures. They interrogated bait shop and marina workers and other anglers they encountered at the boat ramps. They also employed a tactic known today as "big-eyeing" - that is, scanning the lake for evidence that somebody's catching fish and scooting over to see what's happening.
Local knowledge: So obtaining "local" knowledge is nothing new. It's just a matter of whether it should be permitted in tournament angling.
My view is it boils down to a matter of personal choice. If an angler can be proud to accept a trophy for winning a tournament based on information he wouldn't have possessed had he not asked, then so be it. If, on the other hand, the competitor would rather rely on his own fish-finding skills and instincts, then that's OK, too.
Perhaps there is a precedent in America's culture that provides a clue about how this issue might be worked out.
Remember 40 years ago when television's married couples slept in different beds? Producers simply were not prepared to rock the boat when it came to their characters‚ bedroom behavior. Today, shows on those same networks don' t think twice about portraying what people are doing in no uncertain terms.
I suspect that eventually the fishing-for-info issue will shake itself out, that the ethics will be determined by what becomes "acceptable" to the population of competitive anglers.
Cold work: Think your job is tough? Think again.
Friday, as you and I worked indoors out of the bitter wind, a crew of Ohio fisheries employees labored out on Mosquito. As the whitecaps tossed their boat and the frigid wind howled across the lake, they pulled the walleye nets and milked females and males to provide the foundation for the next generation of stocked fish.
Thanks, guys. I tip my hat to you.
Mowhawk open set: Entry forms are available for the area's longest-running bass tournament, Mohawk Valley Bass Club's Berlin Open, which will be held May 18 out of the Bonner Road ramp at Berlin Reservoir.
This year's event is the 21st annual Mohawk Open. For information and entry forms, phone Jason Abbott, Warren, (330) 501-1190.
jwollitz@shermanassoc.com