Mcdonald County Smallmouth Tournament

[bfishn]

It's either a bid for, or the fault of, that reality show from OK, Mudcats or somethin'. Locals fan out and hit their honey holes for a winning fish. Townsfolk and others gather at the weigh-in. Lots of good-natured ribbing and a couple not-so-good-natured pranks. Winners bully the bars for the following year, drinking all the good booze and getting the prettiest gals. Celebrity finally takes its' toll on the not-ready-for-prime-time-players.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

[ollie]

I wish I could find a smallmouth sign from the MSA so I could hang one up down there when they have their "weigh in". I am going down there in a little while to see what is going on. Taking pics as well, will report back later in the day.

[ollie]

Ok, here is the scoop on this tournament: There were 11 entries from what I could tell and not all of them showed back up for the weight in. I went down there at 11:00 because that was suppose to be the start of the weight in, but no one had shown up at that time with any fish. Met the guy who organized the event and he seemed nice. I won't give out his name. Each contestant shelled out $25 bucks and the payout was $100. They even had a big ol trophy for bragging rights. They also gave out a plaque for the smallest fish. They strictly went by weight and not by measure. I ended up leaving and coming back later in the day when they set the deadline for 2:00 in the afternoon for the final weight in. I got back there about 1:45 and 4 other people had come in and weighed by then. One guy came in just after I showed up and he had one in the minnow bucket. I found the fish to be subject to being legal, but maybe it was pushing 12". It weighed in at only 14 oz. They did release it right away though after weighing it. So two rolls around and a total of only 5 people made the weight in. The fish that won was 1 pound 14 oz. I didn't get to see that one, but supposedly according to the guy running it it went 16-17". I kind of laughed at that. Probably more like 13-14". There wasn't any hogs killed today that's for sure. he told me they plan on making this an annual event. I told him I would help him next year if he considered making it a C&R tournament only. He didn't totally shut me down on the proposal, but he was hesitant and I could tell he wasn't that kind of guy. He also told me he ran the whole idea by the county conservation agent and he was ok with the idea. I wonder about that, but I don't know. I didn't see any dead fish and some of the other contestants came in without any fish. Two guys told me they didn't catch any legal ones to bring in. I still don't like the way this was set up, but maybe next year I can convince the guy otherwise.

[Buzz]

If they can adopt a few ideas that have been tossed around on this forum I would gladly jump into that tourney.

[Guest]

The RiverBassin Trail was set up pretty good. There was a meeting the night before where everyone was given an official measuring board and a "secret" item that must be visible in the picture. Ours was a sticker. A valid fish had to be photographed on the ruler, with that sticker, as well as our boat number visible in the pic. Check in was at 1600 and at that point you turned your SIM card in to the tournament director. They downloaded your photos and returned your card.

My wife and I finished 3rd. It was a well designed tournament to keep fish alive.

However, they wanted to turn it over to the locals to run and none of us had time.

I would fish it again, if it was still around.

I liked the CPR idea.

[Mitch f]

and surprise paintball dodging from "landowners" ?

couldn't stop laughing!