I've been working with the city about starting up some sort of program for fishing since they didn't have anything. They finally decided which way they wanted to go. Here's the info as posted on their website.

Fishing League Info Go to page 20.

Cost: $25 per person
Age: 12+
Dates: 9/22 - 10-20
Time: 5:00PM-7:30PM

Allen's first fishing league. 5 weeks with 5 mini tournaments.
More info can be found at Joe Farmer Rec Center.
Pick up your Angler Packet before 9/22

Awesome man! Congrats on helping this come to fruition. Do have one question though. Do you have to be an Allen resident?

I'm not sure about that. I'll have to ask.

Just confirmed with the Parks and Rec, you do NOT have to be a resident to participate. Any one is allowed as long as they pay and are 12 and over.

Sounds good. I'll talk to the boss and see if it's ok.

Kris, I picked up a packet today and have a question. I am guessing that this is the same live weigh format that they use for the youth event. If I catch a fish at 5:01, is it my responsibility to keep it alive until 6:45 when weighing starts, or will it be weighed and released right away?

Dan, I was wondering the same thing myself. I also picked up the packet today and read over it. It reads both way. The way I see it that we will have to keep the fish alive on a stringer until weigh in time. I was going to call my contact at the parks and rec this coming week. Any questions that come up post them here and I'll be sure to ask them.

Kris, I like the concept, and love the idea of fishing at home. Can a stringer damage the gills of the fish, I don't know, and have never used one. Who do I talk to at the rec center if I want to learn more.

Instead of weight they should go by length. That way you
Take a pic with your user tag on a fishing ruler

http://www.riverbassintrail.com/?page_id=64

If you go to the URL link and scroll down to scoring


This way you can catch and release

It's very cool that Allen is doing this fishing league. I'd love to participate, but I wouldn't be able to make it by 5pm on Mondays. I may try to make it out some of the evenings just to see how it all works out at weigh in. Good luck and tight lines to all that sign up.

I don't think a stringer would damage the gills as long as they had enough room to move around a little and weren't thrashing around.
I've sent my contact an email asking about all this. I also told him that the times are making it difficult for some people to attend.

They are going by weight this year so it eliminates people from cheating (more) lol. The city will have a person that is going to run the weigh in so there is no estimating that needs to be done when it comes to the weight. I personally like this option. As soon as I can make sure my work is ok with me leaving early for the next 5 weeks, I'll be signed up.

Is this normal for bank fishing? Seems like you would have a lot of stress pulling them in and out of the water to move around, plus more potential gill damage. I guess my .02 cents would be, use the metal stringers that have the culling type hooks on them or maybe tournment bag. I'm a catch and release guy, so don't have any practical experience but saw Dan post so thought I would comment.

So what I found out is that they will have people there to weigh fish as they are caught, but there might be a few times to where the staff is limited and we will need to use the stringer. They also said the a ice chest or bucket with an aerator is acceptable.

FYI - You do not have to be at the start location at 5pm in order to compete. You can still show up at 6pm and compete in the tournament. They do not have and time requirements.

They started this program but aren't generating a lot of registered anglers. He did tell me that if they do not get enough people, they may have to cancel the tournament. Please join and do your best to make it. I personally have invested my time in convincing the city to start this. I don't want the 1st year to be a complete failure.

Kris, I will turn in my entry in the next couple days. Dan

I'm going to make the trek out to Allen tonight to pick up a packet. I think i can arrange to get out of work a little early on mondays. Are all the tournaments going to be at Bethany Lakes?