No live bait ??? Tournament rules ? Since when did tournament fishing and trophy hunting have anything to do with each other ?
Do Bob Crupi's big catches mean anything to you ? Does it bother you that Mike Long and Bill Murphy and many other world renowned trophy hunters have used live bait extensively ???

Ya' know, once upon a time I was labeled as a "live bait" fisherman in some circles. That always bothered the S&%$ out me, because I considered the bait to be secondary. As long as my bait and method of catch was in accordance with the Ca DFG rules and regulations, that was all that mattered to me.

This year I have caught 11 double digit bass, 3 of which were over 13 lbs...... the last 8 in a row, were caught on artificial lures. In fact I am close to surpassing the number of double digit bass that I have caught on artificials, with the number that I have caught on live bait. Do I feel any more accomplished because of this ? Absolutely not ! A big fish is a big fish ! Let me tell you why I have used artificials so much lately....... because they have made it easier, under the circumstances I have been faced with ! I guess you could say, artificial lures have been "less" of a challenge !!! And yes, I am sure of this, as I have brought crawdads with me on several trips, only to prove to myself again, and again, that the fish in my favorite trophy bass lake as of late, do not respond well to them.

I have written an article that I would very much like you to read: http://www.trophybassonly.com/id103.htm

I'm really sorry to get so fired up here, but there is just too much ingnorance out there concerning livebait, and anything which bans the use of it only further contributes to this lack of knowledge.

Let me go get a drink of icewater.....

Fish Chris