Any help would be great! I was thinking about starting a small club for some of the active duty guys in my local area. A lot of us are new to the area and would like to fish among each other before joining some of the guys who have grown up on some of the local lakes. I pretty much have the rules and regulations laid out but I was wondering if there is anything legally I need do? Suggestions for scales? They don't have to be fancy just not the hand held ones I suppose.

We got a new fancy scale and have an older working one we would sell.
Where are you?

Dyess afb area,How much you letting the older ones go? Do you have any advice on the legal question?

If you have 2 anglers in the boat you could skip the live weigh in, for the benefit of the bass, measure and release and use the formula we use to determine the weights. And then there is no mess to deal with either.

And if you happen to fish on a slot lake now and then you can count those fish too.

Thanks bruce, I think Id rather keep it original. Im needing info on question like Do I need a permit, taxes, or any other fees?

Here is a link to the BASS application, not required, but it could lead you to the information you need.

http://www.bassmaster.com/sites/default/files/club_packet_2015.pdf

"For your state affiliation requirements, please contact your respective State B.A.S.S.
Nation president. All presidents� contact information can be found at
www.bassmaster.com on the �Nation� page. If there is anything we can do to assist you
in setting up your club, just give us a call at 1-877-BASSUSA."

Hey thanks, ill check it out

Most lakes may require a permit to hold a tourney on no matter of size, unless it's not a club just small tournament. May need to look at this. Here at Amistad I request in advance one year of tourney days (2 per month). Once approved by the NPS they schedule the use of the facility. This does require a small fee over here. You can also try to generate funds offering plate sales, etc. This will help bring everything/everyone together. These funds can also assist purchasing a tournament scale, you can start off with hand scales and if you grow you could find a better tournament scale (used) reasonable. There's also a lot of good people and experience on this site willing to assist at any time.

1.) Get a really solid liability waiver filled out by each angler
2.) Require liability insurance for each boater
3.) Have non-boater share expenses (gas, oil, maintenance)
4.) Register your club as a 501 org
5.) Insurance policy for the club
6.) Have anglers pay dues to cover club expenses
7.) in addition to tournament rules, have club by-laws in place for how you will be organized/choose lakes

As to permits, the fed will want a cut of anything you do on a corps lake. This is not advice, but "don't ask/don't tell" may or may not work for your club!

copy, thanks for the info guys

Will you be fishing Pine Creek or Broken Bow?

BBC has some equalizers for sale right now if you were interested in scales. http://www.bbcboards.net/showthread.php?t=740623