We have a little summer place on a small lake in PA that has 11 or so other families on it. This year all of us fisherman thought it'd be fun to do a fishing tournament. I was hoping someone out there has done this before and had some tips on how to set it up.

Our lake is about 50 acres, and everybody would be using canoes or kayaks. Our thought was to divide the lake up into areas and then each fisherman could draw 2 or 3 areas out of a hat. Each fisherman would get maybe 20 - 30 minutes at each spot and then everyone would switch to their next spot. The lake has bass and pickerel in it. Since the pickerel are a lot easier to catch we thought we would include those as part of the tournament.

My biggest concern is how to keep all the fish alive during the tournament, I did see a post about a styrafoam cooler and an aerator, we were hoping we wouldn't have to spend very much ...

Anyway thoughts/opinions/etc are greatly appreciated.

mark

Paper tournament: catch, measure and immediately release.

As a quick example: Best five fish total length, no minimum.

Another suggestion, just to keep it simple: Fish wherever you like.

8-)

Cool good idea on the paper.

Regarding your thought on where to fish ... How would you deal with a situation where two or more fisherman are trying to fish the same spot?

It's just a friendly, neighborhood event...everyone should be cordial

and work things out for themselves.

8-)

Yeah, just keep it simple. Too many rules and too much thought might turn some people off.

With the lack of livewells the paper thing sounds like the best plan providing everyone trusts each other.

First man to a spot gets it.

Everybody throw in 10 bucks and meet back in ? hours.

The paper tourney idea is a good one.

Just a note, I think if your lake is  open to the public and your going to have more than 10 participants, the PAFBC requires a permit. You may want to contact your Regional office just to make sure.

Thanks for the thought on permits, hadn't thought of it. Our lake is private, so I don't think we'll have to worry, plus it's probably only 4 or 5 participants.

Im from Pa myself, what part are you from. also, if youre going to have a paper tournament, you better make sure you have an official in each spot as an observer. No, i know this isnt the Classic, but you should allow cheating.

My friend has a big tournament on Lake Gaston each year and you catch your fish, measure them in inches, and throw them back.

If you want, you can always bring in your largest fish to the weigh-in to show it off. That is, if you have a live well on your boat.

All fish count.

We have first, second and third prizes for....

Largemouth Bass

All Other Fish, like catfish, gar, pike, bream, white perch, stripers, etc.

We use a sheet where we write down the species and inches.

We then total all bass and then all other fish.

Lots of fun and so far no problems.  

If you wanted to, to make sure theres no cheating, make sure everyone has a digital camera on board and have them take a photo of the measurement of each fish.  Visual evidence after the tally, just view them back on the LCD screen if there are any questions about length.   Just a thought.

If you wanted to, to make sure theres no cheating, make sure everyone has a digital camera on board and have them take a photo of the measurement of each fish. Visual evidence after the tally, just view them back on the LCD screen if there are any questions about length. Just a thought.

This is the way to do it.

I was a BASS club tournament director for a number of years.  A paper tournament sounds best with canoes and kayaks.  If you want my Pennsylvania estimated weight conversion (based on the Pennsylvania Angler Publication) Tournament Sheet, based on length, just PM me.  The idea of splitting the lake into holes is good.  But consider having each member pick a hole out of a hat, and they start there and move to the next numbered hole after each 30 minutes.

My friends and I have been doing foot tournaments at this 40 acre lake since last year. We usually have 5-7 people with an entry fee of $10.

Since we all know each other, it's fairly honest.

But to avoid any conflicts of interest (family, best friend, collusion, etc.), we use a validation method that required the bass to be called in and acknowledged by all parties involved in the tournament. The bass is put on a stringer temporarily and then released after confirmation.

Usually a person who is not related is all it takes to satisfy all parties.

We haven't had to put one on a stringer yet. We all know who's word is good so it's a quick catch, weight, phone photo, and release.

Our standardized weighting system is a Berkley $20 digital scale which everyone carries.