Are Bash Fishing Tournament Pros Gamblers?

[danielkomen]

I went fishing and started talking to the guide about bass fishing tournaments. It sounded just like poker. A lot of skill involved but some luck. The prize pools are way top heavy (and most prize pools just come from entry fees). There even are guys who cheat and attempts to stop them even at low buy in events. (lie detector tests)

So, I started wondering why is bass fishing treated differently than poker in terms of taxes and the law?

[Vern]

Because whether the bass hits your lure is based in large part on skill. What lure, where do you place it, what time of day, what time of year, how do you crank it. Yes, I know it is all very analogous to Poker, but in the instant, Poker relies in chance on the instant turn of a card. Tournament players might be able to claim there is less chance involved since the large number of potential chances allows skill to have more of an affect on the results than any single hand. The government looks at poker not as one long session, but as individual hands. Individual hands are extremely dependant on luck. Long-term a player's skill will define the win or loss slope of best-fit solution to all the wins and losses they experience in each hand. The government does not look any farther than an individual hand. Again, poker tournaments might make the argument, but no bass tourney participant can get a big hit on his first cast(AA) and have his tournament ended when he fails to land it. They always have the ability to fish for the full length of the tournament so skill always has the opportunity to affect the results. In a poker tournament, chance still plays a larger role.

[grapabo]

There's also the maxim that a page of history tells more than a volume of logic. Poker and gambling have a rich tradition of being rigged, so the laws we have now regulating it reflect a reaction to what was/is a real public nuisance (cheating, I mean), with little regard for whether it's like or unlike something else.

[Easy E]

Because bass fishing is a sport and poker isn't.

[Push_Fold]

As someone that use to fish tournaments, walleye not bass. I can say with 100% certainty that there is less variance in poker then fishing.

At the highest level of fishing tournaments 90% of the anglers have the same amount of skill. Don't think I have or every will sit at a poker table/tournament where 90% have the same skill and knowledge.

[bigscore]

I have never seen a Bash Fishing Tournament.

[smoore]

I say they are professional gamblers, just as pool tournament pros.

However, fishing is wholesome and very Norman Rockwell. Poker is seedy and dirty.

Might as well rehash the old argument about why booze is legal and weed isn't... yawn.

[Push_Fold]

[ QUOTE ]
I say they are professional gamblers, just as pool tournament pros.

However, fishing is wholesome and very Norman Rockwell. Poker is seedy and dirty.

Might as well rehash the old argument about why booze is legal and weed isn't... yawn.

[/ QUOTE ]

hahah....Tournament fishing is just as if not more seedy and dirty as poker. Guys cheat a lie there way to victory just like ZeeJustin and JJprodigy /images/graemlins/blush.gif.

And most recreational anglers dispise tournaments as many tourney guys invade their little "honey hole" with reckless abandon.

[Bob Ciaffone]

Bass fishing is gambling if certain fish are tagged as "prize fish" and released, otherwise not.