8th Annual Mp Church Tournament Catch and Release and New Rule
We limited the number of fish in your live well to 10 at anytime during the tournament. This allowed you 7 to weigh in and 3 in case a fish or two would die. At the scales all fish including the 3 extras were to be released. There were 147 tournament fish weighed in and only 18 did not swim away. So 129 tournament fish were released to be caught another day and to get even bigger. This is an 88% success rate. We think this was great for our first try. We would like to challenge all tournament trails to practice "catch and release" at their events. Catching big fish is the goal of all tournament fishermen. Lets all do our part to keep the big fish in the lakes.
NEW RULE - It was brought to our attention that one of our entries got out of their boat and fished several docks by walking on the dock during the tournament. We did not have a specific rule about not leaving your boat but it was always assumed. The rule now is: NO ONE MAY LEAVE THEIR BOAT AT ANYTIME FOR THE PURPOSE TO CATCH, NET, OR RETRIEVE A FISH. DURING TOURNAMENT LEGAL FISHING HOURS 7AM-2PM YOU MAY LEAVE YOUR BOAT TO TRAILER YOUR BOAT OR IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY (fire, mechanical issues, or you just got to "hit the woods". NO EXCEPTIONS!