Tournament thoughts and suggestions

[Noluk]

I posted in another thread that some new ideas about how tournaments are setup are probably due for some fresh thoughts. So post what you like or dislike about a tournament. Teams or pro-ams. Offer new thoughts to preserve our fisheries and hold larger tournaments. Hopefully someone will read some of the ideas and see a trend they can run with.

Personally speaking:
Dislikes- long meetings, too many tournaments in a team circuit (ie 7 on one lake) no incentives to keep fishing if you don't do well early, one lake circuits, traveling to a pro-am with related expenses and the fishing is bad ( hard to fix that one with how little skill I have)

Likes- quick weigh-ins, no off-limits, an "exotic" fish-off at the end that is worth making the trip for on a great lake, reasonable base entry (around 150) and some scaling options (all in at 500 is not an option for folks looking for their first check), I think tiered competition would be great but hard to regulate... they have them in the north but not the south, BBQ are nice but not critical, friendly folks running and fishing the circuit are the most important thing

New ideas- rookie awards to bring in new folks, maybe an option that is only for folks who have NOT gotten a top 5 this year so far in that circuit, dual events with two circuits at one lake with a unified weigh in that lets your 5 fish count in both circuits if you entered both.. more money, more fishermen, less travel and less tournaments, lady angler of the year and youth angler of the year awards, less plagues or trophies and more things worth getting (gotta think more about this one.. maybe engraved coffee cups or t-shirts etc listing the win)


Please add your thoughts as well. I am real interested in reading them.

[Spookin'Em43]

One thing that I personally would like to bring up to the FLW College Series is I do not like the fact that you cant cull your partners fish. I dont know how that works in other circuits but the College Series is a TEAM tournament and I feel like you should be able to cull your partners fish, especially if you already have 3 (each person weighs 3 fish) big fish in yours. Is that something that is common, or do you guys feel like partners on a team should be able to cull each others fish if needed

[Mike Phua]

What happened to the good ole days of a 100+ boats at a team event?

I know what happened..............too many org's placing too many events.

I think there should be something put in place where if your organization is not meeting a certain average of participants (say like 30) per event they should not be able to draw permits for the following year for a full schedule (meaning cannot have 7 tournaments on one lake). They would only be able to draw for special events like 2 day events (limit 1) and night tournaments (limit 3). But as far as a full schedule I think 2 org's per month one at the beginning and one at the middle of the month.

Of course if your particular Organization doesn't meet this requirement you'd be completely against it, but there are Org's who are meeting this: NBW and WON for the DVL region. Different lakes have different results as well so it would be different per lake.

I believe this would increase participation, create more buzz, increase payouts etc......

Would also help anglers who want to be at all tournaments but cant financially.

Probably far fetched............stepping over the line law wise. Everyone is entitled to make a living, so I don't know how it would happen. Just an idea. 10-13 years ago you didn't go to an event that had less then 80 boats. My brother and I won an event at Lake Castaic back in 1997 that had a 186 boats in it. lol Could you imagine that now? Today we're fortunate to have 40 boats. MP

[Kevin]

Stay off my ish Phua.

[toddmc]

Sounds good Mike. I'm tired of fishing Diamond Valley every weekend with a tournament both days. There are too many tournament organizations. Hopefully we will have a decrease in the near future. Give me the summer heat and no tournaments or crowds.

[Mike Phua]

Kev I'm staying way off your junk.............I don't want you to use the corner against me when I order my next Mercury...........LOL. I'll race you and Jim there next week it's Friggin hot right now
MP

[hippie]

word MP

[2ndsuks]

What happened to the good ole days of a 100+ boats at a team event?

I know what happened..............too many org's placing too many events.

I think there should be something put in place where if your organization is not meeting a certain average of participants (say like 30) per event they should not be able to draw permits for the following year for a full schedule (meaning cannot have 7 tournaments on one lake). They would only be able to draw for special events like 2 day events (limit 1) and night tournaments (limit 3). But as far as a full schedule I think 2 org's per month one at the beginning and one at the middle of the month.

MP

I'm with you Mike.

But fortunately, the state of California cannot and will not restrict free trade.

There are a couple of tournament organizations that in my opinion are just a burden and should go away.

The only other way would be to organize the anglers, then we could essentially dictate who, what, and where we fish, but we all know that would be a tall order.

[jwick22]

Stay off my ish Phua.

Kevin

What's a ish? Forget it.....You can have that spot.

I'll tell you a couple more of MP's spots, actually my spots!

I don't have a Mercury deal..........................................YET!

How many times have you guys seen MP on the lake during the week?

[Mike Phua]

John Wick wrote:

I'll tell you a couple more of MP's spots, actually my spots!

I don't have a Mercury deal..........................................YET!

How many times have you guys seen MP on the lake during the week?

John I think everyone knows who the fishfinder and the fishcatcher is on this team. Ummm yup and it ain't you. I wish I could say your atleast good at netting the donkies I catch but you miss those too lol Hitting our 5lbers upside the head with the net LOL! quote from MP to JDub while he's trying to net our fish "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Loosen up the HBC belt your hallucinating do to lack of oxygen to your head. Your lucky your my BFF

[Robert F]

Loosen up the HBC belt your hallucinating do to lack of oxygen to your head.

I heard he was mowing the lawn today with that thing on. Get over it John, Mike is the brawn on your team.

[Gary Dobyns]

Some good ideas. The orgs won't listen though!! We need to organize the fishermen and support the ones that work with us and do a great job. This ought to be fun

[Rick G]

John Wick wrote:

I'll tell you a couple more of MP's spots, actually my spots!

I don't have a Mercury deal..........................................YET!

How many times have you guys seen MP on the lake during the week?

John I think everyone knows who the fishfinder and the fishcatcher is on this team. Ummm yup and it ain't you. I wish I could say your atleast good at netting the donkies I catch but you miss those too lol Hitting our 5lbers upside the head with the net LOL! quote from MP to JDub while he's trying to net our fish "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Loosen up the HBC belt your hallucinating do to lack of oxygen to your head. Your lucky your my BFF

Neither one of you guys have a deal unless I sign off, so start spreadin the love! lol the ex sheriff. Rick G.

[Mike Phua]

Rick Wrote:

Neither one of you guys have a deal unless I sign off, so start spreadin the love! lol the ex sheriff. Rick G.

Dang...............the Godfather is flexing his muscle. Brother I got so much love coming your way it's ridiculous. You'll have so much spread you'll be buttering all our bread. Lol. MP

[some guy]

I prefer hot butter on my breakfast toast.

[SPIKE]

MY thoughts is pick the one who has the best pay outs ,the nicest people ,best sponsors with the best TOC. Then try!!!! To get every one to support it. This will mean letting some tournaments go by. This would be like a junky not getting his fix for a while. And eventually some will just have to go away. This would also make those that are left listen to the fisherman’s wants and needs. Problem is that not everyone will agree on anything they feel doesn’t effect them. Just like this statement some will think I am Wright and others will disagree with me. But united we have the power to change things divided were ----!

[some guy]

that just gave me a head ache.

[Brian Linehan]

All great ideas guys. Only issue I see is the economy. If things were better, we all would have better support. There are a ton of guys who used to regular the team circuits who don't play anymore. It's all about money.

[Rooger]

This may sound a little crazy, but hear me out. Here’s a suggestion for tournament organizations to consider. Have one or more “weigh-in/videoâ€