Go cats go, if you don't wanna fish cooper then don't. If you can't accept the reasons that were given for the move, then don't fish cooper. A decision was made, and whether you agree with it or not, the fact is that the lake was changed for good reasons. I don't run from jet skiers, or bass fisherman, but that doesn't mean I want to spend my whole tournament day putting up with them. Trust me we'll have a good time regardless.

No one is trying to be rude. The lake was changed in the best intrest of the members. We put alot of time and effort into these tournaments, and alot of the funds comes out of mine and Brents pockets. We do all of this so that everyone will have a friendly yet competative tournament trail to follow.. I am sorry if anyones feelings are hurt, but the lake has been changed, and we would like for all the teams to come out and enjoy themselves just like they would have at Fork. In the future maybe we can look into a vote, but due to lack of time between tournaments, and permits to be arranged, we made an executive decision to change the lake in the hopes that the members would understand, and stand behind NTTC in this decision. This lake shoud be just as fun, and be just as productive as Fork. I would like to thank everyone that follows the trail, and helps Brent and I to make these come together. No that being said the tournament is on Lake Cooper, on April 19th. Hope to see you all there.

Seeing that this is a new lake that alot of the catfishermen don't know every honey hole in it, might be good time for me to finally enter the tournament. Would fill like I had an even chance then. Maybe i can find me a partner by then.
Knowing that there would be 600 boats to put up with at any ramp I know I would never ever try and fish a catfish tournament with this many boats.

I wish
I could fish it .....but have to keep my commitment......
You guys have a great time .....and if we did vote I would have voted for the change......hope everyone has a fun....

CatfishMike,
you need to fish the tourney.....it is a blast and the guys are great to be around ......plus get one under your belt so next year you will know what to look for.....you wont be disapointed....

Lawdy Lawdy Miss Claudey, all that wuz done wuz to change a lake. Same time, same date, same set of rules, better facilities, less boat traffic and its a Lake that virtually no one on the NTTC trail has fished. That makes this catfish tourney one of the most level fishing events to date. If you wuz ever waiting for a golden opportunity to jump into your first catfishin tournament, this certainly be the right time!!!

And ya ain't gonna have to put up with 600 other boats of whatever kind of fishermen! Do seem to me to be nuthin but very positive changes in this deal. See ya'll in a few weeks.

Now did anyone say where that gathering might be?

I can sure understand what you are saying there BigDave. I was at the weight in Sat. and everyone seemed pretty cool.
But here is just a thought i would like to get to the NTTC. If you had an area set aside or a list for people who would like to go to a tournament but didn't have a partner. One that had boaters and non boaters that was interested. This might help in getting more involved.
I have catfished all my life but have only lived here in Texas for 2 years now. So i don't really know very many people let along someone who loves to catfish. And I sure don't know the lakes. And yes, i do own a boat. But this was just a thought.

CatfishMike, alot of the guys who fish the series are also on www.[censored] Alot of the same discusions take place there but there is also a "Looking for a ride" section to help out people as you just described. There is also a NTTC section as well to keep everyone up to date on the tournaments.

Now thats weird, its censored in the post but in the quote it shows up. Wonder if it will show when I post this? Guess Not. I didn't realize the names of other forums were censored.

If a large bass tournament had been scheduled during Tawakoni's Tournament, would it have been moved to another lake? (Honestly)

tawakoni i checked them all and even changed the date during planning to avoid bass champs to answer your question if this tourney was at twok it would have been moved. i checked all tourney dates just to make sure we didnt conflict like last year when bass champs showed up at CC and all the ramps were full and guys got buzed all day. Jered and I made the decision with the anglers best interest in mind. We did ask several of the regular guys and they agreed with the decision. we wouldnt make a change like this without testing the waters and especially this late in the game if we didnt think it was a concern for the anglers. sorry if you dont agree with the decision. we have learned that you cant make everybody happy, but you can make most happy most of the time. I think Jered has picked a good lake that will even the game for all anglers. all anglers we asked about the change had not fished or even heard of cooper.

Brent
I'm just upset because this could have been anyone tournament (very few blues) mostly Channel cats. Are you going to add Fork to the trail next year?

Well slewft that is what is so good about Cooper! Virtually no one has any TOW (time on the water) for this Lake. Now you turn a bunch of folks loose on a good lake that hasn't seen as much fishing pressure and combine that with the possibility of catchin some big fish.....now that be what is exciting to me!

Heck I ain't won no tourney in three years but the most fun I ever had at one of these tourneys we come in 9th place! But, I caught a 50 and a 40 pounder. Well, the 40 pounder was prematurely & unexpectingly released at boatside....minor net problem! But hey, we learned and didn't make the mistake on that 50 pounder!

I don't care where NTTC has a tourney because the catfishin bretheren are all a great bunch of folks and you will learn more about catfishin at a tourney than wastin a year pounding the waves hoping to stumble across some fish!

Heck I learned a lot from just looking at all the rigs. Didn't have to ask a question to see whut I was doing wrong. Learned bait tricks, uses for different types of hooks, placement of floats, how to change up leaders and on an on.....

And at the gatherings, got to meet a lot of different folks in a relaxed setting instead of a competitive mind set on tourney day! If ya want to learn about catfishin these tourneys will cut that learning curve way down. Heck, don't take my word for it, all you got to do is search the archives of the tourneys 3-4 years ago and see what the weigh-in stringers were. Even the mighty TWOK had piddlin weights turned in compared to the last two years.

Yep, me thinks Cooper is gonna be a great tourney for those that show up!

seems like you have more deeply rooted issues than just this

I just went to the NTTC web site and yes, they do have an information on the tournaments but they don't have nothing where a person can sign up to find a catfishing partner. They seem to rely on people to know who all catfishes. But like I said. That was just my little thought going throuh my mind on a way to find a catfishing partner for people that didn't already have one partner and was thinking about entering a tournament sometime.

there is a section "Looking for a Ride" use it to post about needing a partner for a tourny

This is hilarious. I dont see what the big problem is here. Have any of you been on the lake when one of these tourneys are going on? I was on Lewisville trying to fish when Bassmasters was there 2 years ago. Between the pros and the onlookers it was insane. Now on fork multiply that times 5. I think they made the right decision and kept the same date and time for those that scheduled vacation time. Bottom line is your not going to make everyone happy. Your always going to have 1 or 3 who think they are getting the short end of the stick and want to wine about it.

Slewft, yes we will try and have it on the schedule next year.

Catfish Mike go to L a k e l a v o n f i s h i n g . c o m. That is where you can find your help.

I would like to thank everyone for there support. This is going to be a great tournament. Big cat, I don't think that I have heard of a gathering site yet, watch the other site under the NTTC section

Just a little FYI here. The NTTC website does not have a forum. They use L a k e l a v o n f i s h i n g . c o m for their forum. A link is on the NTTC website.

If you need a partner to fish a tournament or just for a day, you can post on L a k e l a v o n f i s h i n g . c o m under Partner Finder or make a post in the NTTC section or on one of the current threads that are applicable to the current NTTC tournament, or make a post in the catfish section or you can PM brent or jered with your request.

Lots of ways to get individuals connected. Some want to fish and don't have boats. Other have boats but no partner. Just let it be known over there and folks will do their best to find ya a partner. Can even make posts on TFF but not too many from the other forum look here.

There are several teams that have fished tourneys in the past that were formed this way!

Well I did sign up at the other forum place also using the same screen name as here. I did do some checking up on the partner find there and it looked actually like only one person was wanting a fishing partner who had a boat. And that was several months ago. But I might put a request on it in the very near furture. But also seeing all the catfishing boats at the last tournament my boat will seem out of place compared to all the boats i seen there.

Catfishmike,
I don't know if it's still true but at one time BIGMICK's son, Daniel was bank fishing the tourneys and placeing. Seems like he had a partner at Tawakoni but I don't know if it was for only that tourney or a regular thing. The kid knows his poop about catfishing and would be one heck of a asset if you could get him. He was with us Christmas eve day when we booked a trip with Mickey and his knowledge at his age just blew me away. I don't know if he's on the forum but you could P.M. BIGMICK and see if he's available and interested. Just a thought. If not P.M. me, I know of a couple of guys here on the forum that might be interested. I can't speak for them but they seem to follow the NTTC results.

catfish mike you have a pm on the "other" forum.

Ken

Just a little info...we're fishin out of an 18' Chapparel SKI BOAT and won Rookies of the Year with it in '07 and took 2nd on Lewisville last weekend (missed 1st by 3 lbs). No livewells, no trolling motor, cheap graph. If your boat runs you'll be fine. We jumped in as newbies last year and fishing these tourneys has taught us more than 5 years of fishing by ourselves could have. If anyone is even thinkin about jumping in just get out there and do it. We got skunked in our first tourney ever (last year) on Ray Roberts. After that and talkin it over with all the other guys on the trail we managed 9th on Tawakoni, 4th on RC, 2nd on CC, 5th on Lavon. You learn so much at each event you owe it to yourself to get out there. Make a post on the Lavon site and I bet you'll find a good partner.

Give it a rest! I've never seen so much bickering over a minor detail, and I mean minor. It's not like dates and weekends got changed. A lake got changed, and the replacement lake isn't that far from the original. The pres, and vice pres had the best interest of it's competitors in mind, and the input like brent said of several teams before making the decision. If you wanna fish fork so bad, then go out there that weekend and fish it and report back to us how you fared, and how the boat traffic was with over 600+ bass boats zipping by you and fishing on top of you. Enquiring minds would like to know.

you guys are to passionate about catfishing and are having withdrawels. go fish to release some stress..LOL...see ya'll at cooper. sleft to answer just a little more in detail. you can bet fork will be on it next year its a great channel cat lake that will put most anglers out of their element. you might even see it after our classic. we are going to have a few tournaments for fun w/ seminars and low entry fee's so familys can get out and learn and guys can get the confidence they need to compete and see how easy it is.