Should I stay? Or should I go? Not exactly the age old question, but it is a very interesting and pertinent one to me this week. Or should I say, last weekend. I know, you are probably wondering what I am carrying on about this time. Well, I'll tell you.

Last June, specifically, June 17 and 18, 2000. I was a competitor in my 11th, Little Bay de Noc, Masters Walleye Tournament. I have never missed one of the Little Bay de Noc M.W.C. tournaments. I love fishing the area and have enjoyed every trip since I started fishing there. Not only just in the tournaments, I have fished on both Big and Little Bays de Noc fairly often. Every journey to the bays has been a memorable one and I have had some fantastic catches there, for many types of fish.

This last visit, was for a walleye tournament. However, if you are not a tournament fisherman, the decision to stay or go, is one you face every time you fish. I believe, if we as anglers would get this decision right every time we fished, having to tell the part about what a great time you had despite the fishing would be a thing of the past.

Now, that being said, there are two ways that the question posed before us here can be read. Stay or go. It could mean to stay in a spot and try to make the fish you know are there bite, or go to another spot and try those fish out. Or it could mean, staying in close, in order to maximize your fishing time, or make the run to a distant location and burn valuable fishing time.

As is the case every time I fish, I face both ends of this stick. When fishing for fun, it is an important decision, and can make the difference between a limit, or catching none. This is amplified 50 fold in a tournament.

As I said, Saturday and Sunday, June 17 and 18, I and my friend, Rick Smith of Cornell MI, fished the M.W.C. event on the Bay. Only this year there were no boundaries, and we had all of Lake Michigan at our disposal. If the boat could float, we could go there. Provided, of course, we could run there, fish and get back, all in the allotted time.

We had found active fish in a few different locations in Little Bay de Noc. But we both know what the areas south of Little Bay are capable of offering for those who venture there. We also know what Big Bay de Noc is capable of delivering for those who make the run. It is a long run to be sure. However, when it gets windy and rough, it is a looong trip!

Well, Rick and I spent some time on Big Bay, and found some very active, very nice fish. Stocky, heavy walleyes that were willing to play. We decided, that even with the wind and wave forecast, getting there and returning would not be a problem. What did end up being the problem was the time constraints of the tournament.

Therein lies the first part of the dilemma. Saturday was a long day, by tournament standards, we would lose about 2 hours to running there and back, so we thought. We actually lost about 2 1/2 hours, but managed to catch 4 walleyes that weighed in at 17lbs. 10 oz. We were one fish short of a limit. We had to leave fish that became active late in the day. This was in order to make it back in enough time to weigh in and not shake up the fish, or us for that matter.

Sunday. Well, as predicted, and as it always happens, the wind came up and so did the waves. Sunday being worse than Saturday an both counts as the wind was due south and there is no where to hide out on either bay when the wind and waves hop up. Part 2 of the dilemma reared it's ugly head.

By our calculations, after the running was subtracted we would have only about 4 1/2 hours to fish. So we were faced with making the run and losing the fishing time, or staying in Little Bay, and maximize the fishing time, even though the fish we were on in Little Bay were smaller. We decided to go, despite the fact that we figured we would loose at least 3 hours of an already shorter fishing day. We actually lost more than 3 1/2 hours to the run as it got rougher as the day went on and we needed over 2 hours to get back to the weigh in site.

Upon arrival, we soon discovered that our fish were still there. But, not in the numbers of the day before and, they didn't want to bite. So, do we then run around looking for active fish and use up even more time, or stay right where we were and try and make our fish bite. We stayed, and never caught a legal walleye. We ended up in 56th place after being in 13th the first day.

As it turns out, if we had stayed in Little Bay, we would have been able to fish, at least, an additional 2 hours. We don't know if our spots in Little Bay would have produced, but we would have had a lot more time to find out. Actually, one spot we had fished paid off for some friends of ours who were having a tough time catching fish. We told them about a spot we knew and they pulled a limit of smaller fish from it. The 11 pounds they caught would have kept us high in the standings.

But do we know for sure that we would have caught fish if we stayed back? No. But we would have had that extra time. And no one fished our number 1 or 2 spots in Little Bay. Those fish were left untouched.

Obviously, there are no definitive answers here, we have all seen that in our own fishing experiences. If you make the run and you do not catch fish, or you don't make the run and don't catch fish, well, you feel like a bum. However, if you do make the run, or don't make the run, and catch fish, you feel like a hero.

I took a slight departure this month to express a though that I have been milling over, the whole ride home and the whole next day. I know a lot of my thoughts are dealing with knowledge, gained in hindsight, where we could have caught fish. It doesn't help knowing how much more time there could have been, if we stayed instead of going. Of course, had we found out what it took to make the fish bite, I don't believe I'd be thinking about it as much. I guess that's fishing. What do you think?