Rick and FM'rs Comments

[Guest]

Rick, I think I might have talked to you about this last year on URL for the I.C.E. event. Anyway I am going to throw this out and see where it goes.

I have fished in a few tournaments mainly for Walleye and Crappie and enjoy them very much. One of the small local tournaments I fish is in Nestor Falls and I think they have one of the best methods for running the tournament I have seen. As we all know, most tournaments are won by the "biggest", "most" or both. At the tournament in Nestor Falls, which is a multi-species tournament, they go by a certain measurement for each species. The night before the tournament begins they draw the specified length for each speices. The person bringing the fish in closest to that designated length wins. They give usually give prizes for the top three in each category. I really believe this method encourages more participation, reduces the amount of fish taken from a certain body of water because you don't need to catch a limit to win, dramatically reduces mortatility and the possibility of "cheating". I know there those who would argue that this is more luck than skill which is why some people like to enter tournaments. No problem, some tournaments should be for professionals and the skillful. Even with this method the most skillful may have an edge as the more fish they catch the better there odds are for catching the "winning" length. I really think a lot of tournaments are geared toward the enjoyment part of fishing and this method targets the enjoyment more than trying to catch the heaviest amount of a certain species. I know of many who just do not participate in tournaments because they are novices and don't feel they have a chance at winning. I have never run a tournament so there may be some issues that I am not aware of that make this type of tournament impractical but I am interested in the discussion. It might be worth a try!