I have put it in front of the directors...here.

You are spot on Shallow; help them, but not with a rod and reel.

+1

Crickets???

I captain for my sons school and have volunteered to take kids I didn't know, twice to lakes I've never fished.
I usually fish about 20-30 min out of the 8 hr day, sometimes more, sometimes less.

What the guy whining about captains fishing is forgetting is.....without captains, you have no THSBA.
The regionals and state tournaments are the longest days I've ever had on the water because I couldn't fish, but those were the rules and we abided by them (my tackle storage got organized like it never had before LOL)
Most of y'all have it just as bad as I do and if I'm going to be on the water, I want to be fishing.
I don't think I could be a captain if we were not allowed to fish the regular events.

We just came off a lake that I suck on and my boys caught fish on. I also know some of my close friends that are sticks on that lake that zeroed with their teams, so it is what it is....you still have to catch fish

As far as cheating, there are sorry people in every thing we do...shame on any adult that teaches these kids anything but the right way to enjoy the sport of fishing
I also have taught my boys how to be courteous to others fishing by simple things like not cutting off folks working down a bank, not running up on folks on plane, how not to be "that clown" at the boat ramp that acts like he's never launched a boat, etc
To me, it's much more about talking and teaching boys about life than fishing, but none of this would be possible without captains volunteering their time, money and equipment for the kids

Why do you call it whining? I have my opinion, you have yours. We will agree to disagree.

"I don't think I could be a captain if we were not allowed to fish the regular events" - It's only a matter of time that boat captains will be allowed to fish during tournaments. We're going to miss you.

Pretty obvious the importance of boat captains.

Everyone has their opinion on how things should be run or handled, etc. and although I may not agree with someone�s opinion, I certainly respect them for havin one. In the five years since myself and 4 others created the THSBA and the countless hours volunteering my own personal time helping oversee the THSBA, we have tried looking at all angles, constantly having to be proactive instead of reactive. Things are not perfect, but they do run pretty smooth considering the sheer size and how quick we have grown.

As far as the boat captains being allowed to fish, let me just say we (the board of the THSBA) have had many conversations and debates regarding this topic. As someone said earlier, without captains, the whole high school fishing thing doesn�t happen. It is hard enough to find captains without not letting them fish. Heck, just look at all the posts each week from folks looking for captains. I captain for some kids (not my kids mind you) in the East Division. I rarely fish, but when I do it is because the kids are needing some help figuring things out.

In our opinion, giving captains the option to fish with their team allows them to be able to teach and educate the students on the water. Not everyone gets to go out and practice, so tournament days are sometimes the only time the teams and captains are together. I personally learned more in college during labs when it was hands on rather than sitting through a boring lecture. In my opinion this is the exact same thing. I�m not saying I am right, it is just my opinion.

Does it promote cheating?? I don�t think so. Cheaters are going to cheat no matter what rules or regulations a tournament organization has in place. Those folks are just scumbags, plain and simple. And somehow, we usually find out about it and those teams and captains are immediately kicked out for good. We certainly address those with stern and stout punishment when we can 100% prove that a Team has cheated.

Letting captains fish is not going to change. Some may not like it and that�s cool. Like I said, I respect everyone�s right to an opinion. And as long as I am able to serve on the board of the THSBA, my vote will always be to let the captains fish.

Huh......you're still here?
I'm assuming that you do not captain a team, as you didn't answer my previous question. If you look on the forum you will find that there are a couple of teams in need of a captain, why don't you be productive and volunteer at the captain's level and leave policy to those that know what they're doing. By the way, I am volunteering this Saturday for a team that is outside of my son's division for a couple of young men with limited large reservoir experience. Rest assured that I will enter the captain's pot, and teach them everything that I know during the tournament. I look forward to your comments to follow, it makes for good bathroom reading.

Ken,

It won't be this year, probably not next year, but it will happen. You know in your heart that what some boat captains are doing to assist their two high school students, is wrong. We all do. Take the rod and reel out of their hands on tournament days. It's the right thing to do.

Phsshhh.........guess where I'm sitting while reading this.

Despite being asked - repeatedly - you have still not come up with a single concrete answer as to how captain's fishing is giving someone an edge over others who have the exact same opportunity.
To be honest, you sound like a child that can't make the team and wants the rules changed and the bar lowered so that you can compete. I may be totally wrong....i hope I am.
I may get kicked for this but I believe the FLW HS circuit has the rules your looking for in place, perhaps that may be an avenue you should follow?

duc...no answers needed from my desk; boat captains that are providing inappropriate guiding during tournaments have verbalized those "answers" in this series of posts. People are shaking their heads in disbelief that these boat captains feel they are doing what's right by these kids.

The board is part of the good-ol-boy network of bass fishing. Not a good thing.

Parents, be sure and keep up with Get's posts; this is the kind of boat captain you want your teenagers spending time with. Not.

Again, I've been involved in competitive kids programs for a long time. I have yet to have ONE parent ever come up to me and tell me - " hey, if appreciate it of you'd keep all of your knowledge about ( insert activity here) to yourself because I want little Bobby to struggle, get down-hearted, have no success and just figure it out on his own". Not ONE parent.
You are the only one I've ever heard say that the kids should just figure it out themselves...
And if something happens and I can't get my two monkeys on the water - I'd have no problem with "the net" carrying them out.

I just don't see how taking the rods out of the captains hands keeps them from acting like a guide.

[quote=vtile]duc...no answers needed from my desk; boat captains that are providing inappropriate guiding during tournaments have verbalized those "answers" in this series of posts. People are shaking their heads in disbelief that these boat captains feel they are doing what's right by these kids.

The board is part of the good-ol-boy network of bass fishing. Not a good thing.

Parents, be sure and keep up with Get's posts; this is the kind of boat captain you want your teenagers spending time with. Not

All that know me would never question my character. I doubt that any that read this thread would question it. Now, there are still kids that are looking for a volunteer. Do you have the character to mentor a teenager, or will you continue to bad mouth those that do? This will be my last response to you as I have to get up at 2:45am to pick my anglers up and fish a tournament ran by great volunteers.
But before I leave, I'll give you one more chance to guess where I was when reading your post.

It�s a sport, like any sport and life in general, it isn�t always fair. It�s easy to get frustrated and my son and I are no different. We have parents with boats but they don�t take their own kids out fishing the tournament series because they find it much easier to find a very experienced boat captain to do all the work for them and make their kid look good. This is the part I hate but it�s just part of the �give me everything� and I don�t want to do any of the work generation. I�d rather take my son out to fish and spend time with him and we both learn than have better results with someone more experienced just for the sake of better results.

As far as boat captains fishing it�s like everything else, just a matter of opinion. While most of us, including myself, probably take it a little too serious it�s really about way more than just fishing in high school. For many they�ve never fished out of a boat and it�s their first tournament. It gets them involved in somethimg great and that�s really what it�s about. 99% of the boat captains are great people that step up and do great things for our youth. We had a kid that needed a boat captain last minute yesterday for today�s tournament and the fishing community stepped up and a total stranger volunteered.

Boat captains should NOT fish during a tourney. They can coach with there eyes, ears, and mouth. They may fish with the kids during practice fishing.

That's how I'd lie to see it.