I second Andy's sentiments. My guess is that less than 5% of the people who see an article like that, buy a kayak, give it a try, find it a lot of work, and don't catch a YT right away decide to stick with it. I fished about 200 days last year, and on many of those I was out there alone or with a handful of other regulars. Sammon's site does far more to advertise La Jolla than some article (his comes up among the top if you google kayak fishing), and has been there for years. Heck, that's how I learned about it. And the word is spreading among the PB community whether we post or not. The day after that hot YT bite in Dec, when we all agreed to keep it quiet and no one posted, I went to both Noah's tackle and Squidco and both the customers and the people working there were fully aware of the action. As PAL said, NW corner is no hidden secret. If every yak board shut down there would still be 50-100 boats piled up there every nice Sat morning in the summer.
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Sometimes I think kayak fishermen get too caught up in trying to get their personal talents and abilities noticed and approved of. Maybe they forget a little about the Art of Fishing or the future of fishing or the fish stocks or the fishing environment.
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I think that is insulting to everyone that has ever posted a catch, let alone those of us that post reports on the bad days as well. One of the best aspects of yak fishing around here is the community, and that community is largely built around these forums. I admit to having an ulterior motive for posting on BD, mainly that having friends with boats is not a bad thing, particularly for safety. I feel much better knowing that if I jump on the VHF in trouble, there's a decent chance someone I know from the boards will be listening and will help out.
Finally, I think it is perfectly reasonable for Andy to promote this tournament in any way he wants, and as a serious participant I think that any addition attention is only a good thing. This is SoCal, right, and shameless self-promotion is the name of the game. :lol: . I think Andy has always done a very humble job of advertising both this site, the affiliated tournaments, and his own considerable abilities. I know he would have been equally happy with the article had his name not appeared at all, as would I, and Arne has more than earned whatever small accollade this article provides.
As PAL alludes, I've notice that Will is a bit of a bomb thrower on other sites, so I don't think we should take this too seriously. But I think it is pretty tasteless to personally attack Andy for being proud of the attention and results of the tournament he and Corey assembled. Bravo gentlemen, and thanks to PAL for an excellent write-up.