The Perfect Contest/Tournament?

[DARK30]

Lets hear some ideas on what would be the best way to run a Catfishing contest. Theres been alot of talk about the negative things that come from such a contest. People are starting to care a little more about the wellbeing of the fish involved...Naturally we Rats want to keep catching quality fish right? So how would you do it? What are some things you liked about a certain contest or maybe the things not to do too.

WET NETS!

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[Guest]

How about the HOOTERS free style noodling team matched up against the Hawaiian Tropic galls?

I will sacrifice my valuable time and volunteer to be Da Towel boy.

Always willing to help Eh!

[Fisher Dave]

I think the largest complaint has been the weigh-in at various contest. An accurate scale that would be available at anytime for immediate weigh in should be available. From there the fish should be released(if preferred). This would minimize stress to the fish .. sure would be a heck of alot better than throwing it in an ice cold tank.

A contest based on a combined weight (multiple fish) would be complicated due to the fish needing to be weighed at one time. There are few livewells or coolers out there that could fit more than 1 repectable flathead in it.

Oh yeah .. a contest that I come away with more money than I started with would be ideal.

[Jim W]

Dark,'

How about trying what you guys do for your cat league?

Catch photo and release. Sort of an honor system. Heck, most aren't into tournaments or contests to make a living? So why not send the earnings out after the catch has been deemed certified(however that might be?)? If money was a part.

Maybe require a digital camera so replays of catches can be verified?

What happened to the old Polaroids??? Then you could have a photo of a fish next to a measure verifying length etc.

I trust until the trust has been broken. Granted not all will play nice. So a waiver could be signed if need be etc.

Obviously just throwing out ideas.

SOunds like fun Kev. Good luck figuring it out!

Looking forward to some Fall fishing!!!

Jim W

[korn_fish]

1. there has to be a way to insure the people fishing the tourney are willing and able to handle the fish correctly.

-- make it a boat only contest and inspect the boats for capacity to humanely transport a large fish at the launches. If not, they are disqualified from the tourney, with no refund available.
-- Only allow individuals in the boat that entered the contest.
-- have only designated landings that they may launch at. Inspect and weigh catch at each landing when the fish are brought in. this would require multiple scales that would have to be certified and actuall weights would need to be corrected for deviations between scales. This would make it difficult for people to weigh fish that they caught days prior and were holding in a stock tank somewhere (hey it happens).
-- Release fish right after weigh in at the landing. People could go to these landings to watch, or there could be closed circuit TV.
-- tourney should be a Saturday noon to Sunday noon or have multiple weigh in times. Maybe a two night tourney, weigh in Saturday Morning, and again Sunday Morning having a big fish prize and a combined weight prize (limit of only one fish per person per night)
-- NO PRIZE FOR THE 100TH BIGGEST FISH dump!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-- Higher entrance fees, - pay for extra help to run the tourney correctly and efficiently.
-- Get DNR involved!!!!!!!!!!! Heck they checked me on the river every year when I was fishing tourneys anyway so I know they are already involved somewhat.
-- Have a series of these tournies...kinda like the BP cat league. Different stretches of river, different sponsers at different stretches. Bobber Shop at the kato stretch, 169 sports at the belle plain stretch etc....I would even bet you might be able to get Miller or Budweiser to help sponser one of these if there is enough interest in them. Then you could have like a MN river cat angler of the year prize as well or just a MN cat angler of the year if it would go other rivers. ( I would suggest keeping it one river at first and expand if it works )

All the different tourneis I have been in were ran like the Belle Plain tourney so the above are just thoughts. I would like to hear what people liked about the way other tournies are ran. I remember Doug Stange writing something about this once but can't recall if it was in the catfish insider or regular in-fish mag. I know he had hoped to see cat tournies reach the status of PWT or bass tournies, I bet he has some good ideas.

How is the cats incredible ran?

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http://www.angelfire.com/mn/flatheadpride/index.html

[Dennis Steele]

I think the best way would to have officials in boat running the stretch of river.When the officials come up they weigh the fish you have in your well that must be capable of holding a large fish.Then they may be released.You would need a fair amount of officials to cover a larger portion of river.
Another way to do it would be to have an official measure board that you get with your entry fee.A picture taken against this board is then brought in instead of the fish.All entrants would be given exact instruction on how to measure their fish so there is no excuse for error.
None of these kind of contest are spectator freindly but an after contest party is always in order!

[Wiskers]

Well one of the main questions is how many contestants are you going to allow? How big of a span of river are you going to allow?

If you keep the numbers down to a reasonable number and the area is not too big you can have a judge boat that can be called when you get a big enough cat and the judge boat comes to you for measurement and weight. Kinda like Lockport.

Live wells must be big enough or Decoy bags on an anchor at your boat. I have not used this decoy bag as of yet but have heard it works very well for LARGE kitties.

All I know is no matter what you decide some one will always disagree and protest. It is a ton of work and major head ache.

Im with Ed, They will be needing more than one towel holder and one with a nice luke warm bucket of water for washing.

Good luck, hope it works.

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Wiskers Guiding Service
Red River & Minnesota RIver Channel Cats, Flatheads & Walleyes
Crookston, MN
[email protected]

218-280-0442

[Guest]

Na..seriously Dark30 that is a good idea. Don't take my goofing around wrong, OK.

I will think on this it, but a C&R format is by far my preference on any cat event.

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Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

Backwater Guiding "ED on the RED"
701-281-2300
[email protected]

[Rainman]

How about you have to take one of those lie detecter tests in order to win the tournament! That should help make it fair for everyone!

[This message has been edited by Rainman (edited 08-10-2003).]

[DARK30]

I suppose there is no such thing as a perfect contest and yes, there will always be people who know how to do things better.

I would agree with the following rules for a Catfish contest:

No dead or dying fish may be entered.
Payouts for top 5 fish only.
A large capacity tank with adequat aeration must be used to hold fish.
At least one witness to the fish being caught.

It would be best to keep things simple but when you offer the big bucks for the largest fish, I guess you will invite the un-sportsman-like things along with it.

I think the DNR being involved with the weighins would be a plus too. I still think the contest at Franklin is a great way to do things. They will loose a fish here and there too but that will happen....Its just a matter of doing everything you can not to.

WET NETS!

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[This message has been edited by DARK30 (edited 08-10-2003).]