It's the organization wanting to borrow me and my boat so I dont know that I need to fix anything. Secondly there are too many boats because there is no screening, qualifying, etc. Find a captain and jump in, the meeting are a joke, you have women (moms) who have never fished a tourney, seen a take off, been in windy conditions etc running these clubs, the faculty advisor is probably in the same position. And you just hit the nail on the head about what's wrong, its ultimately the captains as you say from providing life jackets, insurance, boats, etc. The organization makes a habit of being able to point the finger at captain. As sure as something happens they will jump up and down screaming it's not us it's the captains. They will run for cover and some poor widow will be defending the estate of her husband who lost a couple kids and himself. I dont fault the cause, I dont fault the enthusiasm of the organization but when I have kids shoe up to fish that cant cast, never been in a tourney, a big boat, etc I question that they need to be in the competition. Hell I dont know if they can even swim.

Hope nobody was hurt.

Couldn't each school do some casting practice and basic familiarization of fishing at neighborhood ponds and such? Progress up from there before they are in a boat in an event. I cannot understand why they could not also limit the entries of the regional events to a ratio reflective of number of members on the team. Something like 1 team per 10 members. Have the schools conduct smaller qualifying tournaments within the club and those that finish at the top go to the regional events to represent the team overall?
Just seems like it can work but I am just a sideliner. I choose other ways to support some of the teams and not trying to bash anyone here.

Me and my partner were there fishing the event. We ended up talking to the guys whose boat it was at the ramp. They were waiting to put boat on trailer near ramp wall when they were flooded by the wake coming in. They said water started coming aboard faster than they could get any out and boat just started going under.

I agree with everything you've said WAWI.

And dont just think in terms of doomsday accidents, kid gets hook in eye, mommy doesnt have medical, who pays, kid slips and falls unloading, who pays, literally kids that cant operate a reel. You would like to think that nothing will happen but sooner or later it will. It can really be like herding cats with a couple kids that are new in the best of weather conditions. The life jacket deal always gave me pause, I'm required to provide one for them. So I guess it's on me if the jacket I provide fails. Why are the kids responsible for providing their own? That would be a start, you gotta be committed enough go buy a life jacket.... and there are kids fishing with captains that the kids parents have never even met. Can you imagine that?

I can easily see that, captain getting the truck waiting in line, kid cant run big motor and keep nose pointed the right way and evidently the tm either which could be hard for anyone in tough conditions, boat gets sideways or backwards and there you go.

I�m surprised aledo parents haven�t hired a bass elite guy to give lessons starting at the age of 5

Give it time

From personal experience with fishing out of a smaller, older boat it is much harder to maneuver around and keep control in that kind of wake on RH that day. I know for us we were barely able to make even small runs on the water, and putting back on trailer we were having to hold on to concrete wall waiting for the loading line. It is dangerous and you have to be very careful in a smaller boat due to conditions. With that being said, all anglers in the same situation as us and them; does not mean we can give up on the water and not fish, all points matter in these tournaments. Boat captains are also quite difficult for a lot of people to find, because of some of the risks involved, meaning more inexperienced people on the water.

Well said WAWI!

Need to limit the number of entries.

Tell the kids they can't fish or do you have a better option to limit the entries? THSBA is an awesome organization that helps younger kids get their first start in tournament fishing, so reducing the amount of entries would be a very bad idea for the future of tournament fishing imo.

This is a sport that is almost completely reliant on the generosity of someone donating their time, money, expertise, boat, equipment and is willing to accept the responsibility and liability that goes along with it in the incredibly litigious society that we now live in. I'm all for young people learning to fish but learning to fish and fishing tournaments are two completely different things. The time to learn is not during a tournament. I'm sure some have learned to fish and have some capabilities but they are still reliant on someone else to pony up what is needed and we're not talking about a set of pads and a helmet, we're talking about a very expensive boat and all the maintenance that goes along with it. I have been asked several times to be a boat captain and have declined due to the above reasons. On top of the all the reasons I stated above there is the wear and tear on my boat and chances of something being damaged that I'm willing to bet no one would offer to help you with the expense of fixing. I wish I could provide some suggestions but the hard fact of life is it's a very expensive hobby and not all can do it.

Crazy! I was a captain in the Tourney and never heard anything about this either until now

Not saying it didn't happen just saying I wish there was a better Broadcasting/Communication going during these tournaments

More for safety purposes...Like a radio station similar to what they got going during the Sealy Big Bass Splash

It could announce an emergency like weather or an accident...if someone need help the closest boat could run and assist...

So the "LAST" 2 boats weighted in with 20 min to go- NO MORE BOATS WEIGHED IN! (THERE WERE 6 UNACCOUNTED FOR)

So my question was -HOW DO WE KNOW THE 6 "UNACCOUNTED" BOATS/TEAMS MADE IT BACK TO THE RAMP/TRAILER SAFELY (Just a question)

Maybe they Zeroed and used a different ramp than the weighin and just went home??? But how are we sure everyone made it back safe?

I was just curious since I have only captained 3 tournaments and new to the tournament scene as a whole...

Anyway- My Buddy (Jason Quon)...His Son "JJ" and Partner "TY" actually took 1st place-Way to go guys!

The wind was tough but everyone I saw was being very safe and professional