Digital camera tournament ideas

[smallie_hawgin]

A couple of us in the Miss River forum have been talking about doing a digi cam tournament. Why? You could avoid the whole weigh -in, which means you could also fish any specially regulated water... even C&R waters. Digital cameras are available for $19.99 now. The price could be covered in a reasonable entry. Obviously there are ground rules. Such as having a unique identifier on the measuring board used to measure the fish. The end result would be better for the resource and fun for the contestants. The "Weigh-in" could take place at a lions, gym, park shelter or where ever. Do a power point slide presentation of sorts. Have the five best lengths per team (or some variation) win the tourney.

I think the door is wide open for this type of thing if we as anglers are willing to open our minds to avoid the traditional style weigh-in.

What do you think? Have any ideas for me? Good, bad, ugly? I am interested to see what the bassing community in MN has to say.

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Love as if it is your last day, eat and sleep for the energy to tackle tomorrow, BOWHUNT, FISH and play HOCKEY for the love of the game!!!

[Dan Wood]

This is the direction I predict things will go with tournament fishing. Everyone loves to see the fish at the weigh-in, which I think is the main reason it hasn't gone this direction yet. For larger events, where the weigh-in is an attraction, you could have a big screen t.v. at the weigh-in playing video of fish caught. For most smaller tournaments the actual weigh-in isn't a big deal and could be done away with in my opinion.

If I were running a tournament like this, I'd have slots for each fish to avoid measuring conflicts. It is difficult from a picture on a measuring stick to know if the fish is 16" or 17", etc. If you have slots, 14-15" = 1 pt., 15-16" = 2 pt., etc. You would need solid tie-breaker rules in place as you would likely have tie-breakers in this format (most keeper fish, biggest, etc.).

[beeflover]

good idea! our bass club has been simply measuring fish with a partner as a witness.

we have a simple length to weight conversion table

I like releasing the fish right away in the area where they are caught

no worry about keeping fish in the live well all day either I only have one live well in my boat and two limits are too much to worry about all day (not that this is a common problem, more like 2 fish)

this is fine at the club or league level as long as your drawing new partners each event

my 2 cents, beefie

[stmichael]

In my opinion, having the actual weigh-in, is "keeping honest people, honest." I hate to say that there are people out there that would cheat. There are the what ifs. How would you deal with dead fish penalty? Who is going to be taking that picture? when it comes down to it. bottom line is the money.

I hate to be the one bringing up this point of view.

[EBass]

Obvisouly everyone would have the same ruler, like one with a lip to butt the bass against it then take a pic of the whole fish with the nose against the butt. Wait that didn't come out right, but you get my drift- LOL

So what if two teams come in with the same exact length? Share the glory or go by applause?

Then we have the cost of said rulers. Then we have to have someone with a laptop and powerpoint along with the knowledge to run that sucka. Down load the photos along with the team name. Also, if the screen size of the laptop is too small you'll need a screen and a projector or whatever they are called now along with power to run this stuff.

[Lost]

The other forum I go to has an annual photo contest for those that are members of the forum. It seems to work well.

Each person needs to be identifiable in the photo along with the fish in an identifiable position (this is a 16-species contest). The measuring tool needs to be large enough for the judges to be able to tell how long the fish is, in general.

I'm sure with a contest like what you're considering, you'll probably need a more precise way of measuring.

[smallie_hawgin]

Keep the ideas coming!!! I think the potential is there for this to work. I figured, If I get all of us/you to think about all the issues up front, it may save some hassles later.

I like the idea of measuring slots, that would simplify things.
Along those lines I had an adea for a fool proof measure board, Half of a 6" dia pvc pipe, 26" inches long, Have a plexi end (to but the nose up against as Ebass so elequently said) And a plexi cover over the cut half for only say 14 inches. Does this make any sense what so ever??? I guess picture half a tube with a see through plexi cover. That way rhe fish will hopefully be forced into the bottom end mouth shut etc.

On the projector and stuff...... That's where I hope to find some sponsors or at least some folks who have the stuff we could borrow. I have done quite a bit of this type of thing (power point presentations and set up), it is not really that hard. Anyway keep the ideas flowin!! Thanks for all the input so far.

[Mark Christianson]

STM
There is no way you could tell a live fish from a dead fish in a picture, since the picture would be taken immediately after you boat it. There would be no signs the fish is dead, since it wouldn't be pale, pink gills, etc.... Unless of course there is blood draining out of it like a stuck pig.
So the dead fish penalty in a sense would be a non-issue for a photo tourney. There is far more mortality in a weigh in tourney than there ever will be with a photo tourney. Even fish that are stressed in a photo tourney, stand a chance of living if immediately released. A stressed fish in a livewell, is a kiss of death. Last weekend, we had a fish die in our well in a tourney.
It was not fowl hooked in the least, but by the end of the day, sitting in a live well for nearly 8 hours took its toll unfortuneately. And it was an 18+ inch smallie. A VERY big shame to lose a fish of that size. An immediate release would have most likely gave that fish a chance to live.

I do agree, that if money is on the line, the weigh is the solid answer, but a weigh cannot be used on certain bodies of water, where C&R is mandatory either. A digi weigh in, opens some new waters.

Definitely an idea that has a few holes, but nothing we can't come up with some fairly solid solutions/ideas.

[HawgTide]

Smallie, i like the PVC idea, although I think the one end, for the nose of the fish, will need to be tapered somehow. Otherwise, the small fish will be tilted somewhat.

[BigMike]

I really like the idea of a digi-cam tourney. I do think that the bigger the $$ and the bigger the field the more likely you will have to do a weigh in (for $$ reasons and because of dishonest people). I think that a digi-cam event might work REALLY well in a club format!

The pvc thing is nice, but you can also buy a slip ruler/trough shape thing just like that for cheap (under $15) at gander/cabelas,etc... It might save on time/$$/hassle and could be tacked on as a 1 time tourney entry fee (whoever doesn't have one pays for one and can use it at all the events - plus they are just great to have for personal use) - again great for club format events.

The same could go for the digi-cams: a one time fee for those who don't have one & people can also bring their own if they have them. And I would suggest a pre-tourney/event check of all memory cards (maybe even a color pen mark on the memory card checked) to prevent any temptation to cheat.

I like the slot idea too! Great idea Dan!

I too agree that the angler should be in the picture, but the only problem/caution with that is that when you take a picture, it gives up your location - especially on smaller lakes and on the river. Some spots are $$ holes for many tourney anglers year after year and I know I wouldn't want people seeing my spots if I was in the $$. Maybe have a tag/angler/team number card that can be placed next to the fish for identification by angler. Assign cards the day of the event (this might also prevent the need for checking the memory cards before each event). Then the angler can take personal pics and get the fish back in the H2O.

Don't forget logistics like back up batteries for the cameras for each team, etc...

I'm just thinking out loud. Good topic Smallie Hawgin'!

[stmichael]

BLB,

[stmichael]

BLB,
I understand where you are coming from, was just kinda thinking out loud. I know that there are more kills at weigh in and it is a sad sight.

There is a lot of potential on digital cameras...

Sorry about the previous post. I accidentally hit tab tab enter. before I realized what I done.

[Lost]

If there's room, why not have volunteers to ride as a third passenger in the boats sort like a judge to make sure they're measuring correctly?

May not work for all entrants. Nevermind.

Or you could take a book out of the Muskie Anglers contests. When a 'ski is caught, they radio in and a "judges boat" races out to the people that radio'd in. The judges measure, then the 'ski is let go.

[honker23]

The idea is good, but what do you do when you have three pics of 19 inchers that look alike, or 14 inchers for that matter, tough to prove in individual pics.

[HawgTide]

Good point Honker. That's why I think it is better for this format to be individual with an opponent as a partner. It keeps it honest.

[Dan Wood]

Yea if you go individual with a boater and non-boater together, it keeps everyone honest. That is one way to do it that would work. Team events are fun though in my opinion, I like fishing with a partner as a team.

[Lost]

If you're worried about who it is that caught the fish, make sure the guy who caught it is also in the picture.