To me it really doesn,t matter cause everyone can only weigh in the same amount. What do you think?
To me it really doesn,t matter cause everyone can only weigh in the same amount. What do you think?
Thomas ... I helped run a Crappie.com tourney series for about 5yrs. We set the limit at 10/boat ... and we cleaned & cooked those & any "leftover" fish at the fish fry on the following day. You were allowed to catch & bring in up to a limit per individual team member, but only allowed to "weigh in" your best 10. The "leftover" fish, those that were caught but couldn't be weighed in, were thrown in with the weighed fish, afterwards, at the discretion of the team members. They could keep them, or release them, of course ... but, everyone elected to add them to the weighed in fish, for the fish fry. In the twice a year tournaments (Spring/Fall) over the 5yr span ... never was there a lack of fish to feed the participants & guests, regardless of whether there were only 5 teams or 20 teams participating. And, actually, we always had fish left uneaten ... which were usually divided up & given out to anyone that wanted them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Thomas Armstrong
IMHO .... 10 fish per 2 angler team is a good "max". It might also depend on what's to be done with the fish, after the weigh in. If they are to be released, then the number could be lowered, as this would allow a better opportunity for survival of those fish, if they're not crowded & stressed over the course of the day. With most tournament rules stating that you cannot weigh in dead fish, and many anglers not having the best containment facilities in their boats, the lower number of allowable fish would help insure a better survival rate. And, like you say, "everyone can only weigh in the same amount" ... so, whatever number is suitable to the situation, would be appropriate. That might depend on what lake the tournament was held on, or what was to be done with the fish afterwards.
I certainly see no need to allow a full limit per angler, or even per team, even if that limit is as low as 15 fish/person/day ... as is the case at some lakes. The idea of the tournament is to catch the heaviest weight per allowable numbers of fish, in order to win whatever "prize" is being offered. The lower numbers of weighable fish still accomplish that feat, while not putting any undo stress on the population of the given body of water being fished.
... cp :cool:
Does'nt really matter to me but hate to see Spiderrigging and live bait in a tournament. If it was more like Bass Tournament rules it would be more sporting. That is just my opinion. Nothing worse than seeing spider riggers using minnows leave'n a trail of gut hooked fish. In my younger days most guys here spider rigged with minnows. I did along with the rest and we killed lots of fish too. Even with jigs , single poleing some will be killed swallowing jig too deep. But noth like the numbers with 8 poles baited with minnows. Sorry if I stepped on some toes but I'm on our local lake almost daily. I know it is a real productive method on suspended fish but I chose to change several years ago.
:popcornTime, something that changes all of us. What was good in our youth changes
in our adulthood. Toes, something that learns to move back a step when we hear
something that time has not yet changed. Life, something that goes in a big circle
if we stop or slow down long enough to realize. I may share this with that "Crappie Ninja". LOL
The Middle Tennessee Crappie Club went from a 10 fish weigh in to a 7 fish weigh in.....No one in the club has won twice this year....the total weights have not change that much from a 10 fish weigh in to a 7 fish weigh in? (Figure that one out) Competition seems to be better at the 7 fish weigh in than the 10. Just going by our results.
10, easier for me to calculate the average in my head
7 so that I have a chance to catch the limit. LOL
I think it would work just fine weighing in only 5 fish, but most of the groups in my area have a 7 fish weigh in.
I like weighing one... One big one...LOLQuote:
Originally Posted by "G"
Member, Tri State Crappie Anglers
7 is a pretty good # for me.
I've never fished a crappie tournament in my life and probably never will, but I'd vote for ten, too, for the exact same reason: the math is easy. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by jusanothajoe
Math may be tough, but 7 is really working well since implemented by most of the trails. Lots of healthy released fish, despite what some may have seen from spiderriggers or live baiters. Dead fish happen, no matter how they are caught. 7 shows you know how to get it done without having to really hammer a spot or two.
I think 7 keeps it more competitive. The more fish you're going to weigh the more spread out the results will be.
Good point filletfetish.
We always weigh 5 fish per boat at our crappiefests. It works for us.:)
I like this too. Why was 7 adopted? Without knowing anything about why, I would think to make the stringer comparable with bass weights or to ensure 10+ pounds.Quote:
Originally Posted by gabowman
Mississinewa Results - Indiana Slab Masters
Check out these weights. We were weighing 7 fish and look how close together these weights are. Take that number down to 5 and I could only imagine how much closer they would be. If we had weighed 10 fish, there should've been a little more seperation.
The crappie doesn't have the life span of a LMB or walleye. So, I think that's why we end up catching so many of the same size class of fish.
Now that looked like a competitive tourney.Quote:
Originally Posted by filletfetish
the early years of bass tourneys the limit was 10 then 7 and now 5. i think seven good crappie are nice to wiegh in, the less you wiegh in the more that one kicker fish means.
oh and on the spiderigging, about 98% of the guys that fish tournaments around here, (the carolinas) spiderig. i have never seen a "trail of dead fish" behind anyones boat. i think the individual has more to do with that than the style.
we do 4 for our 3 hour tourneys 7 for the 8 hour ones
x2Quote:
Originally Posted by gobbler
I take it that this discussion is about the number of fish allowed to be brought to the scales for a local tournament. As long as it is not a National Tournament and we are not a bunch of Pros, I don't see that it matters. I can work with 5, 7 or 10. I'm not releasing any as I would be there to catch some fish and make some friends. If it is a weekend ordeal, I would be glad to donate to the cause of feeding participants.
I'll even go a step further and it does not bother me if someone brings dead fish to the scales. Not everyone has a livewell.
Agree 110%Quote:
Originally Posted by gobbler
Most tourneys require live fish for weigh-in, so as to insure the fish were caught during tourney hours. (pre-launch livewell checks are a general rule) The bigger the "award" for winning/placing in any tournament, the more chance someone may cheat. That was the one major factor in why I ran a "no $$ involved, prizes only" tournament trail ... and packaged the prizes so that every participating team would get "something", regardless of whether they weighed in a fish, or not. Even under those conditions, there was a incident where a team was disqualified, even though they had a livewell full of fish ... since the fish were all dead, and there was the potential for those fish to have been caught prior to the tourney. The team members stated that the livewell (pump?) had quit on them, causing the fish to die ... but were understanding & supportive of the disqualification, per the stated rule.Quote:
Originally Posted by arkcrappie
... cp :cool:
CP, I understand the why's of the live fish rule, but I didn't finish my own statement very well. If it is in a local club, it wouldn't bother me. A major national tournament is something different. I know what it is like to fish from a 12 or 14 foot flatbottom boat and have nothing more than a cooler or a 5 gallon bucket to put fish in. There are some mighty fine crappie fishermen out there that are set up with no livewell and if they wanted to join in the fun of a local tournament, I would not be against it. Most likely I'd be a little spooked of that fella that skulls his boat and drops those slabs in the cooler!
I have fished 20,10,7 and 5 fish weigh-ins and i prefer 5 if ya hit the right spot with 5 minutes to go you can win.
Let me start out by saying I don't fish tournaments that much. I would like to see a 10 fish limit brought to the scales. The reasoning is it truely sets the winners apart from the rest of the field. The Limit should be hard to obtain. Catching 10 quality fish is harder than 7. This would also eliminate one big fish skewing the results.
If it is a FJ/small local tournament, then why not weigh the legal limit per person? These fish are most likely going to go home in and get put in the freezer anyway. This would be a true measure of who was the best on the water that day, not just who was lucky and caught 2 big fish and 5 average fish to finish out the tournament limit.