They might as well rename Lake Fork to Lake Patrick Walters

I'm not watching live, but Basstrakk has Walters with an 8-14 and two 7s.  Good lord.

Holy crap!!!!

Walters has it going on today for sure!! A lot of 25lb. plus bags too!

time for him to do some lessons on forward facing sonar, would love to know what he does compared to everybody else. 

Tacu Ito cracks me up . He said he doesnt like 8 lbers , they fight to hard , he likes little bass better ,  .

Question: It appears like they are weighing and releasing some fish MLF style, assuming it’s becAuse of the slot on lake fork. If they can make that work like that here, why not do that at every tourney for every fish?

23 minutes ago, ajschn06 said:

Question: It appears like they are weighing and releasing some fish MLF style, assuming it’s becAuse of the slot on lake fork. If they can make that work like that here, why not do that at every tourney for every fish?

Because they would rather have a regular 5 fish weigh in . Imagine how many times all of us would watch and re watch the footage of someone dropping a 40 lb bag on the scales 

3 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Because they would rather have a regular 5 fish weigh in . Imagine how many times all of us would watch and re watch the footage of someone dropping a 40 lb bag on the scales 

That’s a pretty crappy reason for  keeping that many fish in a live well all day when there are better alternatives 

3 minutes ago, ajschn06 said:

That’s a pretty crappy reason for  keeping that many fish in a live well all day when there are better alternatives 

MLF is an alternative if you are opposed to a weigh in 

 

then again MLF has super tournaments with 200 boats and weigh ins also 

39 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

MLF is an alternative if you are opposed to a weigh in 

 

then again MLF has super tournaments with 200 boats and weigh ins also 

Not necessarily opposed, but if they can make it work today why not every day 

1 hour ago, ajschn06 said:

Question: It appears like they are weighing and releasing some fish MLF style, assuming it’s becAuse of the slot on lake fork. If they can make that work like that here, why not do that at every tourney for every fish?

They have a hard time finding enough marshals for most tournaments .

Card got a big trebel in his index finger. Looks like he enlisted the Keystone Cops to braid trick it out ? He decided to push the barb out and cut the hook point off...and he doesn't have cutters in the boat...He found Herron and got him to cut it...

That was touch to watch. He should have found Herron from the start. That man doesn’t fool around 

On 4/24/2021 at 5:10 AM, ajschn06 said:

Question: It appears like they are weighing and releasing some fish MLF style, assuming it’s becAuse of the slot on lake fork. If they can make that work like that here, why not do that at every tourney for every fish?

 

I was one of the judges back in 2018 when Texas Fest was held on Lake Travis & I have been a marshal for a few different "regular" tournaments.  The process between the two is very different.

 

The call for judges goes out 6 months in advance and is done by an organization outside of B.A.S.S. (Texas Wildlife I believe).  Texas uses this tournament to promote their fisheries, so they are partners and are responsible for helping make the tournament work.  All of the judges are volunteers and it is a very strict selection process because you can't have a dozen of them not show up in the morning.  Texas Wildlife has refined this process over the years and has a great system in place to pull off 1 tournament a year using this method.

 

To marshal, you pay for the right to have a front row seat for 2 or 3 days.  You don't have any responsibilities, if you just want to sit there, eat Bon-Bons and say 'git-R-done" everytime your angler hooks up, you can.  You are a spectator, not a judge.  Now, as a spectator, you can play cameraman and have your photos or footage from your phone end up on TV or on Bassmasters site.  It was fun for me to see footage I shot of Brandon Lester & Chad Pipkens be played on ESPN.  The marshal program is run by B.A.S.S.

 

So the short answer is I don't believe there are any other states that have organizations in place to secure judges like Texas does.  If you went to paid judges, the costs would skyrocket and would need to be covered by additional TV contracts even beyond what MLF does (their judges are volunteers who get a small stipend).

I have been doing yard work all day so I didn't see any of the action. 

 

WOW! 42 lbs on the last day is one way to do it. Holy cow!

No doubt. My best 5 over the last 30 yrs don’t equal that. 

 

I'd like to congratulate my nephew, Quentin Cappo, for his third place finish. That's his best finish so far on the Elite Series.

13 minutes ago, riverat said:

I'd like to congratulate my nephew, Quentin Cappo, for his third place finish. That's his best finish so far on the Elite Series.

Congrats!!!!

44 minutes ago, riverat said:

I'd like to congratulate my nephew, Quentin Cappo, for his third place finish. That's his best finish so far on the Elite Series.

Congrats!  When are you going to get him to join the forums?!? ?

On 4/22/2021 at 3:33 PM, jtharris3 said:

Walters has it going on today for sure!! A lot of 25lb. plus bags too!

Beautiful dog!

1 hour ago, riverat said:

I'd like to congratulate my nephew, Quentin Cappo, for his third place finish. That's his best finish so far on the Elite Series.

Hopefully a Fighting Tiger fisherman.

 

He did sensational!

 

Geaux Quentin! Got to start following him.

4 hours ago, Sam said:

Beautiful dog!

Hopefully a Fighting Tiger fisherman.

 

He did sensational!

 

Geaux Quentin! Got to start following him.

Thanks!

 

Congrats to your nephew!

On 4/24/2021 at 7:39 AM, TnRiver46 said:

MLF is an alternative if you are opposed to a weigh in

That’s actually one of the reasons I don’t care for MLF.

 

B.A.S.S. goes to great lengths to try and make sure that fish taken to the scales and weigh-in survive. They load them back into aerated tanks and onto a pontoon style boat that brings them back out to deeper water for release. This is beneficial in the heat of summer when surface temps in shallow areas are very high.

10 hours ago, gimruis said:

B.A.S.S. goes to great lengths to try and make sure that fish taken to the scales and weigh-in survive. They load them back into aerated tanks and onto a pontoon style boat that brings them back out to deeper water for release. This is beneficial in the heat of summer when surface temps in shallow areas are very high.

While the death rate for fish caught and immediately released by sport anglers is between 1 and 2 percent, biologists say the  death rate in tournaments -- in which fish are caught, held for hours in live wells and handled before release -- is 26 to 28 percent in the following days. Not to mention the disruption of spawning cycles where bedding fish are removed from nesting only to abort the eggs or leave a nest abandoned. For these reasons I prefer the MLF format, However I still fish some local tournaments.

 

 

 

Back in the day, a buddy and I won a Florida bass tournament with a 20 fish limit that weighed 64 pounds.  Since then, Florida has cut the daily bag limit to 5 fish per angler.  Most buddy tournaments are 5 fish per boat.  We have size limits as well.  The problem is the State freely gives out "exemption" certificates to anyone running a tournament.   I have long been a proponent of reduced bag limits and stricter tournament exemptions.  Carrying a load of bass around in a live well all day kills fish, especially in the summer months.  Cutting the angler limit to three fish would save a lot of bass.  In my opinion, it would also improve the sport as pro anglers would develop better big fish techniques.

 

I am encouraged by the new trend of catch, photo and release.  Unfortunately, spectators want to see fish.  I don't think showing them three fish instead of five would be a problem for anyone.  Here's how it was done when tournaments first started.