I'm going to try to provide as much interesting info throughout the tournament as I can. (One man band on much of this effort.)
The Toyota Texas Bass Classic tournament begins May 23. The event is held at Lake Fork again this year, where the event began 9 yrs. ago. It has become a showcase bass tournament where minimal fish handling and conservation values are stressed.
To make sure each judge weighs the bass equally and fairly, the judges went through a day's training on Friday, May 22. They learned fish care, tournament rules and safety. The judges will call in (via mobile phone) the weight of the bass caught to the scoring headquarters and a running scoreboard will be online and onsite at the venue.
The weighing process has been very successful previously to ensure the best care of the fish, which is critical when you consider the size of the bass that will be caught this weekend.
The "radio" transmission this year is being done through a push-to-talk mobile app called Zello (a Texas company). Also, each mobile phone has the photo app Flickr. Judges will take photos of the pros and interesting subjects throughout the event and the those photos upload in the background so I can retrieve them.
And, the phones have a "phone tracker" app, which allows the scoring crew to monitor where the anglers are fishing so 1) camera crews can find anglers who are doing well to get video, 2) in case on an emergency, the anglers can be found and 3) if anglers are out of cell range, the scoring crew will be aware.
Many of the boats will have GoPros too.
You can follow along live (as much as possible).
Toyota Texas Bass Classic live blog And via Twitter, Facebook, etc.
Besides the live blog, my Twitter feeds:
@TPWDbass and @Basseditor (different items will be posted)
or by TTBC personnel:
@TXBassClassic on Twitter and Instagram
TXBassClassic on You Tube
