Is Power bait fishing "cheating"

[geedavell]

I went tubing this past weekend and there was another guy in a tube also near by. He had a good size trout and a couple pan size tied to the side of his tube .While fishing for a few hours you could hear him yelling to everyone on the lake that he had another fish on. When it was time for me to leave, I ask him what he was using. He said he caught them on PB. I'm not trying to sound like a whiner but I consider fishing with PB....just getting lucky. There is no skill involved. I fished with spinners, trout tubes or power worms and got a few pan size fish but I feel like I worked for those fish. Anyone else out there feel the same about PB or is just me being a whiner?

[flyhigh123]

yes, you are a whiner.

Are you saying PB is a magicial bait? that these fish are just jumping on the hook? If not then, PB is just another method of fishing.

If he was using PB and caught nothing, and you caught 5 fish, and he posted: Is using spinners and trout tubes fishing "cheating"? Doesn't make sense the other way around right?

[Trial and Error]

Is he cheating? Lol
you both have different goals. He doesn't need spinners or trout worms to show off his supposed "skill".

[seal]

I don't worry about the use of power bait to catch and keep trout for dinner, I simply HATE those that think that power bait is a valid method to use for C&R, the idiots that cannot understand the reasoning for not using power bait when C&R fishing are the ones I am most concerned with.

[TroutOnly]

fishing is just fishing,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,baits or lures,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,T/O,,,,,,,,

[Cartman]

The whole scene is so contrived it's hard for me to see any part of it as cheating. The truck puts the fish in, and we take the fish out.

[etucker1959]

I went tubing this past weekend and there was another guy in a tube also near by. He had a good size trout and a couple pan size tied to the side of his tube .While fishing for a few hours you could hear him yelling to everyone on the lake that he had another fish on. When it was time for me to leave, I ask him what he was using. He said he caught them on PB. I'm not trying to sound like a whiner but I consider fishing with PB....just getting lucky. There is no skill involved. I fished with spinners, trout tubes or power worms and got a few pan size fish but I feel like I worked for those fish. Anyone else out there feel the same about PB or is just me being a whiner?

That's funny you asked that question about Powerbait. The question you asked, is the same question I've heard for 40 years in different forms. Let me give you some other examples of the same question. Is catching a big female bass on her bed a real catch? Is catching a bass on any kind of natural bait a real catch? Is fly fishing with an indicator really fly fishing? In catching your limit on Albacore, how many were caught on the troll? In catching Calico or Sand Bass, did you use live bait or did you catch them on the rubber? Trolling in any lake, that's not really fishing right? Catching a native trout is a real catch, not some planted fish right? Catching a fish off the road by a stream is not a real catch right? You have to hike miles upstream for it to be a real catch right? Catching a Steelhead in a river must be a native fish not a hatchery fish to be counted as a real catch right? Catching a cow tuna must be caught on a casted bait and not on the kite right? Catching a Marlin in Cabo isn't a real catch, if the Mexican deckhands hooks the fish for you. Going on a Partyboat and catching a boatload of fish is not real fishing right. Why, because you paid a Captain to find the fish for you. Hiring any guide is not real fishing, because you didn't find the fish for your self. What was that question again? Oh yea, is Powerbait cheating? Let see, you were probably fishing in a pay lake, so Yea the whole thing was a setup anyway, so by the purists definition of fishing, all of you were cheating, so it was a NO CATCH!!!!!!! lol

[fishincouple]

That's funny you asked that question about Powerbait. The question you asked, is the same question I've heard for 40 years in different forms. Let me give you some other examples of the same question. Is catching a big female bass on her bed a real catch? Is catching a bass on any kind of natural bait a real catch? Is fly fishing with an indicator really fly fishing? In catching your limit on Albacore, how many were caught on the troll? In catching Calico or Sand Bass, did you use live bait or did you catch them on the rubber? Trolling in any lake, that's not really fishing right? Catching a native trout is a real catch, not some planted fish right? Catching a fish off the road by a stream is not a real catch right? You have to hike miles upstream for it to be a real catch right? Catching a Steelhead in a river must be a native fish not a hatchery fish to be counted as a real catch right? Catching a cow tuna must be caught on a casted bait and not on the kite right? Catching a Marlin in Cabo isn't a real catch, if the Mexican deckhands hooks the fish for you. Going on a Partyboat and catching a boatload of fish is not real fishing right. Why, because you paid a Captain to find the fish for you. Hiring any guide is not real fishing, because you didn't find the fish for your self. What was that question again? Oh yea, is Powerbait cheating? Let see, you were probably fishing in a pay lake, so Yea the whole thing was a setup anyway, so by the purists definition of fishing, all of you were cheating, so it was a NO CATCH!!!!!!! lol

Can't agree more! Thanks for putting that out there!

[reservoir dog]

To each his own. It is a matter of preference just as it is yours. So you must think using a nightcrawler would be considered cheating as well...right? Whatever works just as long as it's legal and within our system. Don't be a hater...be a master "baiter"...LOL!!! Chillax, it's all good.

[JAG107]

It's only cheating if you cover your PB in some ground up hatchery pellets, it says so on the jar!