Did They changed boat ramps the morning of the event????

The boat captains need to be educated. At Ray Hubbard at take off, there were so many high boat numbers blocking the dock when your number was called. One day when someone bumps another boat it won't be good.

I'm interested in seeing how 150 plus boats go out of westbay Sat.on eagle.

This was PK also... To many high boat number blocking the path so they could do live well check. I was fishing way back in a creek at PK with my high school team and another boat came all the way back. They could not get around us because the creek was not wide and we were back at the end of it. I yelled out 25 yard rule and he just laughed. I took a pic of his boat and TX number and told him next time I will turn it into the TD. He left. I do believe that many do not know the rules of tournament fishing..

You and me both... They need to trailer..

[quote=Doug R.]I think one of the issues is high school fishing has grown very fast. They may need to limit their fields or possibly split the tournaments into 2 days to give everyone a little more room.

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I'm a boat captain from Winnsboro and not trying to speak for THSBA.
To limit the field would defeat the purpose, the idea is to get both types of kids onto the water, the ones who have grown up fishing as well as the ones who haven't.
THSBA has done a great job to this point, they added a new division this year to help with the growth.

All our captains are volunteers, most are educated in the ways of tournaments and we try to teach the ones who are just starting out the rights & wrongs of tournament fishing.
Just as in any larger tournament there will be a couple bad apples, Tim does a great job in addressing the concerns that are brought to his attention.

What I have noticed is that some of the boat captains and anglers are new to tournament fishing, and simply do not know any better. Most are good guys that have an understanding of the rules and the etiquette that is expected while fishing. The ones that don't know better will learn.

That kinda thing happened to me too. We were at Palestine and about a short cast away from our spot and then this pontoon came flying in right on top of our spot. After watching him pull about 10 fish out(all keepers) he told us that we had the whole bank in the other derection to fish and to leave him alone. We were about 40 feet away. It made me mad but we just sort of sat there and fished while we waited for him to leave. 15 minutes later he started up his big motor, did two loops directly on the spotted were waiting on and then sped off.

These kinds of actions have nothing to do with an anglers tournament experience or lack there of. I've had plenty of "tournament" anglers & non tournament anglers crowd me off a spot before. To me these kinds of actions are the result of a lack of respect for our fellow anglers & a lack of good sportsmanship. Heck, just watch an Elite tournament & you will see these pros doing the same things to each other.

They need to have a boat captain's class before the start of the season and go over all the rules for the season. Most of the boat captains know the rules, but there is always a few that don't. Teach the kids the right way to treat someone on the water.

So how many boats are going to be on Eagle Mountain this weekend?

there were over 140 boats on pk so it should be around that number

Old Man Skeeter, we can't even get 1/4 of the team advisors to attend a meeting, I don't know how we could get all the boat captains together. That should be on the boat captain and the team advisors. The rules are online for everyone to see.

I wish it was a simple as some are saying, fish some a Saturday then some on Sunday. How decides who fishes which day. It's bad enough when we draw random numbers on the computer, people get upset they didn't get the number they wanted. Imagine, if they had to fish beat up water on Sunday.

When the schedule was set, we went off last years number. Most we had in the West division was around 85, that's why the West division teams voted on their lakes. The board does not pick lakes. We let the team advisors that are present at the meeting pick the lakes. Then we (THSBA Board) picks dates.

Not very one has to launch at the same ramp, you can launch elsewhere and come to take off. Once again, we done this to cut down on the races at take off. With a controlled take off , you don't have Billybob with the faster holeshot trying to outrun everyone to the best spot.

But to answer the OP's question . There are unfortunately boat captains that are not teaching these kids the proper etiquette on the water and that is unfortunate . They will grow up to be what some tournament anglers face on a weekly bases out there on the water.

The THSBA did split into 4 divisions this year to help cut down on the field sizes and we will again next year if needed to be. We had discussed 2 years ago about limiting the size of the fields , but that takes away from the kids that are wanting to fish.

You all have very good concerns and comments. We thank you all for the kind words. In the end , it is about getting kids on the water and experiencing what we all have grown to love.

I hope no one takes this the wrong way as I am not trying to start a debate or argument . We the THSBA are watching and taking notes. It is a very fast growing sport and association. We will have our growing pains. We are looking at the lakes after the split also.

Thanks

Ken Starling

I'm not a big fan of changing the format too much from what it is now. It just needs (and will always need) some tweaking as it grows.
Ken, you and the others are doing a thankless job that is always going to draw second guessing from those of us in the peanut gallery. I've been there and done that with a youth program.
So, thank you.
Ya'll keep doing what your doing and we'll do our best to keep kids in the boat and involved with the program.

Thank you sir, I know there is always second guessing , we do it ourselves . It has been and continues to be a experience and a learning process.