Some people are going to read this post and get what I'm saying. For some I am going to be unable to communicate my thoughts in writing like I want to. Just hope you take a minute to read the whole thing.

To me the root issue behind running is bass care. As someone who, like many of you, has caught a lot of bass, I consider myself to be very good at fish care and fish handling. But, I do not feel that I can take good enough care of the bass when driving them around in my truck. I speak from experience, having "ran" at two prior State Classics. I brought back live fish and released them both times, with none dead, but I did not feel right about it.

I didn't feel right about it because of the way the fish looked at the end of the day. They were over-stressed, and over-handled. I did not like how other people's fish looked either. Many fish came in with scratched eyes and red fins/tails. At the tournaments I fished, many of the bass were dead.

When I fish tournaments, I like to do it in good conscience. But when I put those fish in a cooler in my truck at those tournaments, my conscience told me I was doing something wrong. It told me that I was putting a measly couple hundred bucks ahead of the fish that I am so passionate about.

Therefore, I did not want to run any more. And by extension, I did not want to fish "running" tournaments any more because I had no interest in handicapping myself. Mitch does this about every year at the State Classic, fishing in state park and not running. Power to you Mitch, but damn man - that would eat at me.

Gil, if I'm missing the mark here as to why this bothers you, let me know. It has been a hot button issue for me for probably 10 years.

This is not intended to be a slam on the people who run the club and fish SCBBBC events. We are all fishermen sharing the love of bass fishing and man-powered boats.

But myself and the SCBBBC club have a disagreement when it comes to this notion that to have a good tournament, you have to allow guys to drive around the lake in their trucks and move fish from livewell to truck to weigh in. You guys wouldn't have gone through all the trouble of obtaining permits if you did not think it was a necessary component to having a good time.

My view is that you don't have to allow running to have a good club tournament. We're fishing for what amounts to "no money" here. A good club tournament to me is measured by stiff competition, good camaraderie, and the shared experience both on and off the water. It's about learning new stuff, BSing, and fishing hard. It's not measured by how many or how big the bass are. That's just a bonus if it happens.

When I think back on the best times I had with the B-n-T I think about the horrible Naci tournament where Dave and Clint were making Margaritas, and the rainy Berryessa where people's tents were blowing away in the wind, and all the times Lake came in behind me and caught one, and watching Darce work senkos like topwaters in Middle, and giving away that float tube to a young angler at the Open raffle, and seeing a Delta money reap for the first time, and losing to Castro by a few ounces at Pinto, and winning at Naci with 6lbs over 2 days, and the casting contests - damn those casting contests. Ha.

And when I consider all those things, it becomes clear that you don't have to drive fish around in trucks to get great memories like those. All the best memories could be had right out in front of the State Park if you're focused on what's important.

Respectfully

-Rob Belloni