Chuck7

Ok,
I'll be honest..I personally think your prizes are too cheap.UNLESS this is a charity fund raiser..than I can understand the low payoff.

Otherwide If you have 12 boaters and 12 non boaters there is 480.00 for prize money....where does the change go to?


I don't like the measurement rule. Two fellows could be buddies in the boat ..lie..and split the money. I was in a tourny once like that as a kid{a community pond}in a small tournament. We had to go to a table and have each fish weighed in.

If i were you,I would have fish put in a live well. For those who do not have a live well a fish basket easily holds 5 bass. Last weekend I had 43 large bluegills in a basket ..The baskets cost about9.00
When money is involved you need to cover all basis...For prize money..I need to see the fish that beat me.

Just being honest,
C7

AJ52

I appreciate all the feedback.I'm soaking it in []

I guess the big issue is - This is Not a charity event.Non Profit - Yes
We are looking at a gross of $480.We have prize money,food,measuring sticks and misc to take out of gross.

This is a VFW event (Veterens of Foreign Wars).The "change" goes into the VFW/Mens Auxiliary fund to cover expenses or donations to other veterans organizations or community events thru the year. Everybody is always looking for donations!

I made a sincere attempt to determine attractive cash prizes by speaking to various club fisherman who fish small tourneys such as this one,10-12 boats in small lake or pond.BIG money around here is won mostly on large rivers with 25-50 boats! Prize money in these small events/clubs is not Big other than maybe a side pot for heavy fish.

This VFW is located on a small state lake (about 95 surface acres) with a nice boat launch.This is the very 1st VFW event utilizing the lake and its launch.Things could change next year including mabe the prize money.I might need to tweak things a bit before or day of event to make it all work.Also - We will Only have 1 Bass Tourney a Year.Next year will probably add a Crappie tourney.

The catch and release factor is here to stay.It Cuts down on mortality,
pulling fish from spawning beds(this time of year),expenses in scales etc...It also allows boaters who do not or will not invest in any form of live well system.I'd like to see ANY boater from a Canoe up to a 30K bass boat attend and compete.

The cheat factor is a concern.I'll deal with it If and When it occurs.Things around here have a habit of getting around via word of mouth much sooner than later.A lying cheat only cheats himself in the end!

m.t.hands

i noticed you mentioned it was a "draw" format, that will generally take care of cheating, buddy tournaments are where most of the cheating goes on. another option on prizes is have local stores donate some door prizes, coolers, tackle boxes, a rod, a reel, and such. if your trying to raise money you could also raffle some donated items, our club used to sell raffle tickets a buck a piece or 6 for 5 bucks, most folks would buy the 6 tickets.

another thing you mentioned was measureing fish to the closest 1/2, most measuring boards will measure down to eights of an inch, i would also make sure everyone uses the same brand/type of measureing device. when i lived in texas, we fished a few lakes with "slot" limits in a club i was in, we used a chart compilled by Texas parks and wildlife that converted inches to a weight, ie: a 20 1/8" bass would be weighed as 4.83 pounds, a 20 1/2" bass would be recorded as 5.14 pounds. we used this when we would fish the slot lakes and we could "keep" our best five fish, we called these our "paper tournaments" they were acutally a lot of fun, but the bad thing is depending on what kind of fish you catch (a bullet or a football) the weight can vary drastically, i have caught 20" fish that weighed around 6 pounds, but i have also caught some 20" fish that would be tough to get four pounds of weight out of[&o], but in this case you go stricly by what the conversion says (a 20 1/8" bass weighs 4.83 pounds) no more, no less


sound like you got a pretty good grip on this, i will agree with chuck that the pot could be a little sweeter, either by adding more boats (but no more than 20 total) or making it a winner take all, JMHO


BTW, a side pot for big fish would be a great idea

Chuck7

This is a VFW event (Veterens of Foreign Wars).The "change" goes into the VFW/Mens Auxiliary fund to cover expenses or donations to other veterans organizations or community events thru the year. Everybody is always looking for donations!
AJ52

OK partner..sounds good. I hope my reply was not offensive.
Also, overall I've learned most folks are honest. God bless you my friend on this outdoor event.
c7

AJ52

Chuck - Offensive not at all.I posted the Rules and Regs for input.I want all the input I can get - good - bad or otherwise

I've never fished a tournament and never will so this is all new to me and hopefully will be a fun deal for everyone.

Today I upped the prize money to $85 - $40 and $20.Might take the $20 and have a big fish pot.The fisherman can sweetin it up as they see fit if everybody agrees before send off.This is 1st tourney so it could be only 1/2 of what we are expecting.We'll get feedback,suggestions,make changes and make it happen next year.

I'm seriously looking forward to putting on a Crappie Tourney next year/spring.These Bass tourney fisheman can be a pain in the butt at times.Crappie fisherman are alot more fun,friendly to be around and tend to share alot more info.My experiance anyway.

AJ52

m.t. - I'm not going to invest in Bump sticks this year.I'm going to buy some decent/good measuring sticks (24") and make a bump stick.Hek of alot cheaper than buying alum bump sticks for every boat!

Yea - I agree a bullet or football Bass can make a huge differance in weight.

I've got a couple of tackle shops in mind for next year that might kick in some tackle or gift cert.