I am thinking about volunteering as a captain this year for Montgomery ISD and am currently finishing up the safety training stuff. I was wondering, for those who have done this, if you guys have any big pointers? Do you let the kids use your tackle, rods, etc? Do most of the kids bring their own rods, tackle, life jackets, etc. or is it really team/kid dependant? I am assuming skill levels will range from never fished before to probably better than me and as a volunteer, will I get the same team every tournament or just get plugged in where they need me? I'd assume having the same team would be preferential. I see that captains can participate in a side pot during regular season tournaments, do most do that? It'd help pass the time on cold or hot days and help keep the kids interest level up If you show them it can be done I suppose but I'd feel real bad if I stuck a big one that they might have been able to catch and count towards their bag. Thanks for any help.

I will try to answer these the best I can. You will get many answers I am sure.

Montgomery has a pretty big team and some are pretty talented anglers.

As far as equipment , the kids should have at least a few rod and reels of their own and some tackle(depends on skill levels as well). So to answer this. If you don’t mind them using the equipment and they are respectful of it then I wouldn’t mind let them borrow it. As far as tackle, we always just shared whatever they needed from the boat. Most the time it wasn’t very much. Terminal tackle and such.

Life jackets, if they don’t fit a life jacket I had then , yes make them bring one. Least they can do right?

As far as the same team, if you sign up for the whole season, I would ask for the same kids. Usually that is the best for everyone involved.

The side pot. I would say about 50% sign up for the side pot. Yea, it would be bad to catch a good fish in front of the kids, but you never know who will catch it. If you have kids that can run the trolling motor and fish well. Than fish from the back of the boat. It does happen and sometimes the captain side pot is won with a 3-4# fish.


Hope that answers some of the questions.

Good luck this season if you decide to captain.

Ken Starling
THSBA VP

I don't know you, bell0347, so I'm just going to throw this out there. If you are not an experienced bass fisherman, or more importantly, a tournament fisherman, PLEASE try to learn the basics about tournament etiquette BEFORE you go out. Probably 100% of the time, there will be other tournaments on the lakes you are fishing, so PLEASE be aware of your surroundings. GOOD LUCK

Harold is correct. All captains and kids, new or not please be respectful of other peoples space just like you would want to be. There are always other events on these lakes.