[oldschool]

Jay Yelas won a Classic on Lay lake a few tears ago in the same location where Swindle was DQ'd. A weekend fisherman buzzed Yelas and Jay simply made a cast into the wake and caught the biggest bass of the tournament.
Swindle pumped up and in the zone buzzed Randy Howell and a group of followers watching Randy fish the opposite bank below the dam that Yelas fished. The difference is Swindle is a pro who knows better. He may have been caught up in the moment and that is when accidents happen.
I'm not surprised by a bass tournament fisherman buzzing a boat, unfortunately it happens all the time. Todays boaters are not unlike the drivers on the road. Everyone thinks they own the water or the road and drive too fast under conditions where they should slow down. Swindle knows he should have backed down off the pad and slowed down to 5 MPH and then continued up the lake, however he was in a hurry. Now he has a lot time to think about slowing down and so should everyone when conditions warrent it.
Tom

 

[Jared]

Well, I know Swindle must be ticked, but I am guessing he is more ticked at himself than anyone else. Of all tourneys to get a DQ on too.

 

[fish4funinfl]

He knows the rules or should know them.

Safety first !

 

[Texas Bass Pro]

Very true.....Safety first. Swindle does this for a living and knows better. Caught up in the moment or not he should always think of the safety of the other anglers as well as for himself. Rules are set up for a reason.

 

[OTTER]

I hate to see G-man get the DQ but I hope it will make an impression on some other folks. I would guess all of us at some point have been buzzed and ended up doing some boat surfing while fishing and if you are like me, the blood pressure rises :cussin: Unfortunately, just like on the highways, consideration for others tends to go out the window at times. When I saw that on the tube, there was no doubt, G-man was gonna get nailed. I hate it for him but maybe some good will come of it.

 

[imonembad]

I think it was a good call also. G has been pushing the envelope for a while. At the 05 classic him and Zell got into a cussing fit over ownership of a bridge. I felt that that was unsportsman like. I can relate to Ikes melt down because it is the biggest tournament of the year and all his catch was dead. I guess I'd have thrown a fit also. I thought it was sensationalized by the media (ESPN). No one said a word about the fish being lost forever. I am glad to see Ike make it through the classic w/o being DQed. He fished well also.

 

[oldschool]

I have known a few bass por's that have blown a career up their nose, hope this isn't the case with Swindle.
Tom

 

[hi steel basser]

WOW! I thought it was a bad call by BASS. He got waved through by Howell, drove it like there was a half a mil on the line, and got shot down for it. I might be alone, but I think I wolda got DQ'ed the same way.

 

[joe]

HSB- I think had there been no spectators nothing would have happened, but just like any athlete in any sport, they set the bar. There may have been a future pro on one of those boats who could have gotten the wrong idea. Like it or not, they are role models for their sport. Howell waved him on, but at the same time, you heard him tell the spectators G-man shouldn't have done that. It wasn't about blowing by him, which I personally thought was wrong no matter what, (unless it was life or death emergency, it was the fact that all the spectators were there and BASS doesn't want to promote unsafe driving. I felt bad for him, but it had to be done. He was doing so well too. I hated it for him.
-Joe

 

[imonembad]

I agree, What if one of the spectators got scared and moved their boat into the path of Gs boat. You know boat movement is an exact science. If he had blown by me like that I would have hunted his butt down to talk about things. There is no fish worth a human limb or life! I'm sure now that he has had a chance to see the footage and think it over, He would probably agree with us. I doubt if he'll ever admit it.

 

[Shannon]

I agree it was too close for a fly-by but he was revving the motor coming up the river and waving for the camera boats to move over because they were sitting in the channel, which apparently none of them bothered to give a little space and Howell did wave him thru, which him making that statement after waving him thru is BS as well. This whole deal has bad points, unsafe points, and ignorance on many counts from all those in the film. Those camera boats and spectators know these guys are up against the clock, with that much money on the line should remain out of the main channels, and shouldn't be sitting right on top the pro's either.
Just my opinion since everybody has one.
Maybe now we won't have to watch Ike's antics any more from the last classic, I'm bout sick of seeing that deal too, and ESPN will exploit G-man until someone else does something stupid that they can boost their ratings with.

 

[joe]

You are right about the Howell deal. I also think it was BS that he waved him through then told the spectators he should not have come through like that. You are right about the camera boats and spectator boats. Why were they on top of Howell like that in a channel? Anyone with boat experience knows not to block a narrow pasage like that. I believe Howell gave him the wave. It was a professional courtesy on both parts. If he didn't want G-man to blow through he could have waved him off and I believe he would have idled through. I totally agree with the Ike deal. It's been a year, move on ESPN, pay more attention to the steriod using, gun toting, drug running athletes that are in the other sports. Eventually they will take the purity out of fishing like they have everything else.
-Joe

 

[oldschool]

ESPN could care less how about boat accidents when they promoted boat racing/handling contest following tournaments the first year of ESPN ownership of BASS. Swindle center punching Howell would have been great air time for ESPN. Swindle was caught in the emotions of the moment and hot rods through a group of boats, forgetting the tournament rules and common sense.
BASS had no choice but to enforce their rules, regardless if Howell waved Swindle by. Don't blame Howell he was only doing what is apparently a common practice in tight confined area's on lakes like Lay, acknowledging that he sees the boat coming and it's OK to pass. It is up to the boat driver to know when to slow down and Swindle knew he made a big mistake.
Tom
Ps; please don't tell me how good of drivers the bass pro's are because no one can predict what may happen at any given moment. A good friend of mine, Bill Miller was killed by another bass boat hitting his stationary boat, it happens. I raced top fuel drag boats and cars for over 10 years and know from experience how fast things can go wrong.