Tournament Numbers are up and down?

[OUTLAW]

I have noticed that the turnout for tournaments has gone both ways this year. I have talked to a lot of guy's that have fish the smaller tournaments this year and they say for most of the divisions the numbers are down, I have not seen this first hand because well I won't get in to that.

But I have noticed that the larger tournament groups such as BBT are way up from last year. They have had 10 to 15 more boats at there first 3 tournaments of the year than they had last year.
I feel it is due to a couple of things 1- that guys relize with the cost of gas fishing a 15 boat tournament is not going to cover the cost of the fule and entry, 2- some of the changes that the other tournament have made, 3- BBT, and Shoreline are doing a great job, they are fair and honest about eveything they do.

This is my 2 cents from the west side of the state are things going the same way on the east side.

[ronhuntfish]

We don't run an actual circuit, just one open per year on Sanford Lake.  I expected numbers to be down this year, but the 54 boats beat our previous best of 43 boats.

[motocross269]

The Burt and Mullet BFL is well over 100 boats this year..Last year I think it was just over 90. 

[squid]

The Burt and Mullet BFL is well over 100 boats this year..Last year I think it was just over 90. 

I think last years weights brought more boats up this year.  Hard to say.

I would have to agree with Jason about the weeknights being lower.  I have noticed an increase on the weekend tournaments..less fishing bigger money deal. 

To give you an example...2 yrs ago we avg 27 boats...last yr - 17, this yr we are at 10.  I think they are saving their money for the gas and the higher entry fee's

[Durand Dan]

I think it's strickly a money thing. I was going to fish a weekday NBAA trail along with one of their weekend groups. But every tournament requires anywhere from a 50 to 100 mile or more round trip plus the entry fee. Now I'm cutting back to the weekend tournaments and the one on one. Eliminating the 50 to 100 miles I was traveling on Thursday with the boat will save some dollars.

[squid]

I don't think I would drive 50 miles one way for a weeknight tournament..unless I new there were more than 10 boats and I had a great chance of winning the whole thing.

[1javelin]

What they said; more money, less traveling, more boats, and more competition.  A chance to show my....

[OUTLAW]

I feel that there are some tournaments that are realy going to feel the hurt from the gas prices. Maybe this is a good thing, It may get more guy's fishing the bigger events that would not normaly fish them.

That means more money to win and it will be easyer to at least break even. or MAYBE make some money.

[squid]

OK, saw this on another site.  CATT pays 90%..which is great.  These/this guys/team said they did not fish one of the events that they would have liked to fish cause they did not know whether the lake was sprayed or not.  Well they went to the lake...did not pay to fish it, wish they did.  They said with entry fee's and membership fee's they would have lost money even though they would have won the tournament.  At 90% it only paid back $110 to $120 for 1st.
I know for a fact that CATT membership fees is $50 per and $40 for entry fee...That is $140 they would have spent.


This other guy writes about how his tournament paid back $123 for 1st(with 5 boats), and with membership fees and entry fees that team would have atleast won money.  So who's tournament is this one, to where with membership and entry fee's they would have won $$?  I am gonna look at our payouts for that low of boats.  I know we only charge $30 for membership fees and $42 for entry fees.  That is $102.  Hummmmmm?  Now I really need to look at my payout schedual.  I will be back on this one later.

So you can see...everyone has dropped in weeknight members...even the big payout tourneys are down in numbers.

[TCook]

It was CATT 11 on Paw Paw, they had 6 boats and the 7th left because the DNR was there(he forgot his license). $55 membership $40 entry, 2nd place was $55 and first was maybe $120. I could be wrong about first place amount I did not hear what it was clearly. But ya me and 1Jav did not want to pay $150 total to fish this one event, and the turnout was way to small to justify that when we didnt plan on fishing many CATTs at all. We would have won it but still would have lost $30, now thats rediculous. So we just fished the same hours and came to watch the weighin since we knew most of the guys well, I think CR Gooding and Brian Spears ended up winning it.

[OUTLAW]

Right now dollor for dollor you can't beat BBT $20.00 membership, $100.00 entry average 80 boats first place is over $1400.00.
The results are up almost before you get home and you get a copy in the mail by tuesday, They show what was paid out that is a big one.

My dad fished a week day tournament this week and they did not pay 100% of the BIG BASS pot. Man thats a side pot it should be 100%.

If you have not fished a BBT give it a try you will be happy, Russ and his staff do a great job. Next to the BFL they run the best BIG tournament around.

[JCOOPER]

My understanding of NBAA BB pots is that a dollar  (or something) comes out to go into the year end BB drawing.  Anyone who has attended the year end drawing has seen them give away tons of stuff.  Money, quads and even a 3 hook worm or 2.   I love weeknight tourneys.  I was just talking to RVD the other day and told him the thing I miss about Michigan the most was the ability to just hop on to any lake in the area on almost any given night with little or no notice.  Where I live now there is nothing like it.

[squid]

$55?  They must have raised it back up again.   How are they getting members at that price tag?

Now $20 sounds good to me.  Just wish I could fish BBT more often.  I know half the people that fish it.  Did 2 yrs ago...finished 2 out of the money...CRAP....lol

[OUTLAW]

I did not say wich tournament it was! don't make it out like I am calling any one out, there were no names mentioned in that post. It was a weekday tournament that is all i said. Don't turn my post into a bash tournament "X" post I have my aim set on all of them.

[squid]

I think he was just stating what NBAA does with the $1 from BB, not saying anything towards your comment.   Cause like you said...you did not mention any trail by name.

[1javelin]

catt 11 on paw paw and first place was 100 with 6 boats.  Spears and Gooding finished second but still lead in points.  Don't know the guys that won, but they may be posted on the CATT site.  I would definitely be willing to just show up and pay more fees, especially if it was some little weeknight dink off tourney, if the membership was a little lower.  There are several tourneys around that you can fish without paying ridiculous membership fees.  I can think of 3 right now off the top of my head that don't even require membership fees in my area!  Why would I want to pay big money when I don't have to, and would end up fishing against fewer boats, winning less money if I won, etc...  Doesn't make sense to me.  And now with me moving out of state, I am going to stick to 1 big series, and BBT has my number for now. 

[OUTLAW]

I think the BBT is going to keep growing, They may not have the membership of some of the big tournaments but they draw the most boats for a single "division" and you know what you are going to get when you fish.

I know one of my friends that fished one of the "100%" payback events and they were not real happy with the payback at all.

[BryanP]

The problem I see with all of the weeknight circuits is there is way too much overlap in the same geographic areas, and there are tournaments every night of the week.  Therefore people are spread out, and they're all drawing 15 boats or less, most 7-10 boats.  I know in the Jackson area where I fish, there are 2 Midwest Sportsman divisions (Tues and Wed), and 3 NBAA's (Mon, Tues, Wed).  CATT hasn't made it over here yet.  IMO, each organization should limit it to 1 division per area.  People would know "group x" fishes Tues nights, "group y" fishes Wed nights, etc...  Back when there were only 2 weeknight groups in this area, one drew 40 boats, and the other drew 30, EVERY WEEK!!!  If you add the 7 boats from the NBAA Tuesday night I fished last week, and the 10 boats from NBAA last night, and the 10-15 from the other Midwest events that were going on, you could easily have a good draw.

[joshimoto son]

BryanP,

I agree completely.
Another thing that could be a concern right now, are lake associations and perhaps local governments limiting the amount of tournaments being held.

If we're continually going "willy nilly" with our tournaments, non competitive locals may decide that thay've had it with the constant blast offs and heavy fishing pressure.

I'm sure that we've all seen examples where tournament anglers have been blamed for many a thing by local lake front owners. Typically, we are not the cause, but it can be the few locals that scream the loudest and go to township meeting after township meeting protesting our events out of pure ignorance.

Basically, to go along with your post, I think it is our duty to kind of "police" ourselves before someone else does. And I'll guaranty we won't like it if this happens.

joshimoto son