Kayak/canoe Fishing Tourney Trail

[Stoneroller]

Looking into who would be interested in fishing a kayak/canoe "club trail" this winter, mostly in the power plant lakes over in Illinois. Coffeen, Baldwin, Lake of Egypt, Newton, Sangchris. very informal club series environment. just something casual for us to do over the winter to stay out on the water. the power plant lakes seem to be the best bet for avoiding dragging jig and pigs for the next 3 months.

I'm still debating on going with black bass/temperate bass or black bass/temperate bass/catfish CPR style. Run each lake twice between say dec something through the end of feburary. $20 per person per event, pay out 100%, payout would be 1 place for every 3 anglers. so 3 anglers only pays 1st place, 6 would pay 1st and 2nd, 9 would pay 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, etc. Ante could be anything we want, depends on interest I guess along with economic situation, i'm not trying to break anyone's bank or make anyone rich, just something to make a win worthwhile.

check in if you would be interested in something like this. I'd like to do something similar in the spring/summer and again summer/fall (some date in july would be the start/end of the 2nd mini season, but more on missouri lakes and rivers.

If there is interest we could certainly include plenty of Illinois lakes in the season. There are a ton of HP restricted lakes that would be perfect for a kayak tourney.

[fishinwrench]

I'm not sure how the laws are in Illinois, but here in MO. you have to be bonded, have a regatta permit, insurance waivers, and all that bull to put on any event with a payback.

Keep it "friendly", don't advertise via flyers, newspapers, or on places like this here, score on paper, and by all means leave the money out of it.... and big brother just might keep his snotty encrusted nose out of it. But of course THEN you will have little or no participation.

[RSBreth]

Now, with that done, I would love to see that type of event over closer to my place (SW MO) but that seems unlikely.

Oh, yeah, IF you would allow us poor heretic solo canoe folk to compete against the 'Yak folk.

[Stoneroller]

Most of the rules concerning actual payout tourneys are strictly applied to boats with motors and are typically only applied to tourneys with over a certain amount of participation. i.e. Patoka Lake in Indiana, you dont need a 'permit' until you have 15 or more boats. this allows clubs to hold their own events without going broke. I'm flexible and resourceful enough to stay out of trouble with any laws or rules.

I'm really amazed there isn't more interest, not withstanding it being Illinois waters (which frankly for a kayak/canoe series offers FAR better opportunities than Missouri lakes do). It's really just a casual thing with a little sauce ($) on the side to make it interesting. hell if people are interested and want, we could do it for free or $1 each, the money isn't the point. getting out and fishing with some competion and becoming a better angler is.

If we can get some participation and there is continued interest, I'm all for doing something in Missouri. I'd like to see a series set up which would include lakes and rivers here.

[fishinwrench]

If it takes off and you come to MO. I'll fish the events in my area.

I'm really amazed there isn't more interest, not withstanding it being Illinois waters (which frankly for a kayak/canoe series offers FAR better opportunities than Missouri lakes do).

How's that ? Missouri is loaded with lakes under 200 acres in size

[Stoneroller]

Illinois doesn't have as much clear flowing water as Missouri, so most all of the creeks and rivers are dammed up in multiple spots. Also because of the lack of springs and the depth of the water table, there are far more municiple water supply lakes over there. I'm not saying Missouri doesn't have lots of small lakes, I like the accessibility and HP restrictions on most of the illinois lakes under 2000 acres. Plus the powerplant lakes have me dreaming of hooking up on 10lb largemouth and 30inch plus stripers surrounded by steaming water and lightly falling snow...

If you know of some good lakes between LoZ and St. Louis, let me know, I'll meet you there and we can give em a whirl. I've fishing Little Dixie Lake and really like it, although it's pretty small and after 6 hrs you've pretty much fished the whole thing.

[ollie]

I have thought of this before, but didn't have a clue what to do. Sounds cool to me and I would be interested in something here in SWMO as well. Let us know what happens.

[Trout Commander]

The owner of Water Hikers in Ozark is, or was, wanting to put together a paddlers tournament. Water Hikers joined the forum but I don't know how often they read the threads. Someone that would want to spear head anything in this area might give them a call.

[Stoneroller]

spring and summer I will run at least some kind of informal club type tourney in Missouri for anyone who is interested. Anyone who would like to help or has any resources they might want to help out with would be more than welcome. It'll be more of a bragging rights/excuse to fish type deal than some big money thing with tons of awesome prizes, just so everyone knows what to expect.

the things i'm seeing that other tourneys do is 1. have some kind of 'token' or sticker that must be in the picture with the fish and 2. usually provide the measuring board upon which you are expected to measure and photograph your fish. The only issue I see with that is you end up with 20 fish measuring sticks at the end of the season, all plastic and not biodegradable, which seems like a big waste to me. So I'm thinking a sticker of some kind or maybe a dog tag or something like that.

i'm also really wanting to include some rivers in the tourney trail but i'm not real sure how that would work out. if it were less than 10 kayaks/canoes it probably wouldn't be a huge deal but more than that might be difficult to start as we'd all be piled up and fishing on top of one another for a while. something else i'm going to have to think about. suggestions or insight?

[Al Agnew]

Since it's a paper tourney anyway and you don't need to weigh fish in at the end of it and transport them around (something that you couldn't do in canoe or kayak anyway without killing them), just have a central site where everybody gets together and counts up the points at the end of the day. Then everybody can fish the section of river they wish.

Or do what the Smallmouth Alliance does with their spotted bass round-up. Fish the Meramec river system, where there's no length limit on spots and a 12 fish limit, count only spotted bass, and have everybody bring in all the spots they catch and have a fish fry at the end of the day after they're weighed in and cleaned.