I have always wanted to fish a tournament since begining to fish, trying to talk my brother into it with his stratos bass boat. He was always busy working and couldnt find the time. Well I just got back from overseas and got ahold of a small 14' jonboat with a 10 horse and bought a trolling motor to go with it. Now I know it's considered the ''easy'' season, but I've been tearing the bass up!

Anyhow there's a local tourney where you pay a 100$ to enter and it's from 9 to 4 with a 2000$ 1st prize.

Would I get shooed away with my boat or?.... Don't really mind getting a little ribbing or laughed at just curious.

Want to have some fun.

Check the rules. You may be required to have a working livewell that will keep a limit of fish alive and in good shape. If your boat will pass the tournament specs and is safe for the body of water you will be fishing on you have every right to fish.

Don't worry about any talk about the boat. Just be safe, take good care of your catch, and if everything else will pass muster, go enjoy yourself.

Good luck,

Jack

***Be aware, as soon as you put your money up, your fish will disappear. *** LOL.

Fish'll disapear.lol Man I kinda got excited, didn't think about a livewell, shoot. Time to make one. thank ya.

Fish'll disapear.lol Man I kinda got excited, didn't think about a livewell, shoot. Time to make one. thank ya.

Check the rules. Will probably need to be aerated and have a divider to keep your partner's fish seperate from your own. I bet it states you can not comingle fish even if they are properly marked.

Used to fish tournaments from a jon boat with 1957 johson motor. Yes, you should have a livewell of sort (bought, or homegrown). Tournaments should all be catch and release to help promote and maintain the sport.

ha My first tournaments that I fished were out of a jonboat. I'd tighten the trolling motor beside me and use my knee to steer it while I fished. It took me forever to get good and it but man when I got that down I could catch em. The big boats can't get into places that you can in a jonboat. Some will even worry about what you have up your sleeve. Every boat has its advantages. You just have to learn yours and work with it. Get that livewell and go after it.

Mottfia

fish tournaments out of my 14' aluminum boat all the time.  i think everyone starts out in an aluminum boat, so dont be discouraged as I seriously doubt that people will make too many comments.  and for those who do, who cares!!

As to the livewell issue, it isn't too difficult at all.  go to a marina or something and they should have a either a pump which you can run from the back of your boat.  as for the livewell itself, get yourself an old cooler and run the pump line, a drain, and an overflow from the cooler. you will run into a number of alternatives-- i.e. timers, draining alternatives, etc. but this will get you started so you start fishing tournys.

As for the disappearing problem, I couldn't have said it better myself.

You gotta start somewhere. Ive seen a guy on tv before who got where he is today by winning tournaments in a belly boat

What's in your head for fishing talent is the key.  Good equipment helps alot but doesn't make the fisherman.  Fish with what you can and don't worry about other's opinions.  A livewell should be looked into unless you already have one.

I fished a tournament a while ago in Minnesota.  My partner and I had a 12' boat, 1960 something 3 hrs Johnson motor and no trolling motor.  64 boats.  We placed 2nd.  THE ENTIRE TIME of the start of the contest, we sat there and took all kinds of "dogging" from just about every boat out there--they got a real good laugh from it.  Needless to say, at the weigh-in, there was no more laughter.  Even after receiving our prize money-gotta love a 60 dollar investment for a 600 dollar return-we were dogged.  As I collected the money and went to sit back down, one of the fishermen out there said out loud "why don't you get yourself a real boat with your winnings".  I stopped and IMMEDIATELY replied "apparently your not understanding the concept of fishing sir...it doesn't matter what kind of toys you have, what matters is whats in here-as I pointed to my head.  Further, If you would like, we can go back out on the water for a few hours and I'll put my winnings against yours"...no response, the place erupted in laughter. 

Too bad you couldn't get him to fish with you-nice equipment helps the cause for sure.  However, just fish your tournaments and EXPECT to be belittled and dogged by others.  Just realize that those who dog you have deep seated issues in life and they don't know any better--let it roll of your back and out-fish them.  When you do, the look on their face with be priceless.  Fish on.  John.

Appreciate the responses. Yeah I missed that one due to I had to build a livewell. Now I'm just waiting for another one to enter now that I'm set.

Still been fishing almost every day and love it! Still want to see how it is to compete doing it though, seems like it would bring a new type of excitement.

You see a fella in a painted white 14 ft john, with a 9.5 sportwin on the back say hey, thats me ;D

Check also about tiller steering. Some fishing organizations prohibit them-not exactly sure why but hate to see you get all pumped up and have that happen. That post about the guy with a belly boat I think refers to  Edwin Evers and he proved himself pretty good over time. And don't worry about not being able to cover water and distance-everyone here will tell you some of their best tournaments came from a short distance from the ramp. Most of the older guys here  did their first fishing in an aluminum boat with a 10 and we thought we were living large. Have fun and whip 'em