Why in the h*ll would that make you quit fishing it.

I thought that too! I think it’s kind of like demarcates, they don’t just take a second to think it through! He saw the name Rick Loomis and assumed he was a stick, when in actuality, it was probably the guy that Loomis was fishing with that was the better one! Think about it he’s not going to just go waste his time and fish with some average Joe who doesn’t know what’s going on!!! The guy probably was a good fisherman and convinced him he was on fish and that’s why he fished the tournament with him! It’s not for everybody though.

for real. It’d make me look for a different partner. Lol

Or the skeeter owner paid for a full day's guide fee for his "partner" and said let's fish out of my skeeter to make it look official.

Do you always avoid competitions where there is a chance that someone could be better than you?

I had some parents offer me $1k to captain their "team" on a lake I used to be decent on.

I countered with $5K they walked

Its already happening. As of now there are no rules in place to stop it..

It is against the rules to "hire" someone to captain your kids in a THSBA event. Captains can accept reimbursement for fuel, etc., but cannot be paid to captain. Secondly, guides can be eligible to be a boat captain, but it cannot be on a lake in which they have ran a guide trip, for bass, in the last 30 days. Like a lot of rules, i'm sure this one gets broken from time to time. The THSBA does a very good job maintaining the integrity of bass fishing at the High School level. Rules that are broken do not come with no consequence. A violation like this could cost your whole fishing team eligibility in future THSBA events.

Parents who offered Douglas J $1000 I’m a player at $1500! Pm me!! I’ll give u my resume! 😂

Happens often.... You got a good friend that's a local stick on said lake? Perfect boat captain. Just start looking at results and captains on certain lakes.

Where in the rules does it say you cant hire someone to Captain your team?

I don’t think that it does say that. And if it did would it be hiring or expense reimbursement? But doesn’t look like rules are against that either way.

My alternate partner KVD was busy that weekend. I'm sure nobody would gripe if he won a local tournament. I'm just saying that it wouldn't surprise me if people offered to pay a partner or boat captain.

Yes, someone can hire and pay whatever they want to a boat captain unless they are a guide on that particular lake they are fishing. There’s no limit as to what they can pay either, at least on one of the largest local organizations. The tournament organizers can say it’s unethical, blah, blah, blah. But, they’ve never changed the rule and they haven’t changed it for a reason.

I captained for my son every single tournament except one and started and oversaw the club. I tore out the lower unit pre fishing and the Torquemaster II was on backorder. I couldn’t find one anywhere and offered to pay a guy to take my son out. I didn’t know the guy and certainly didn’t expect him to do it for free. Long story short, another dad who liked to do nothing but cause trouble in our club called the THSBA and said I was cheating. This dad had never taken his son to a single tournament and he and his partners dad sought after one of the top guys around to be his sons boat captain. I got a call regarding it and I asked why he was calling me as it was 100% legal. I was told it was legal but not ethical. The amount didn’t matter because there is no limitation plus what he had been told was 100% not true. I told him if it was such an issue why didn’t he change the rules. Another year, nothing has changed so it’s obviously not a priority. Too many kids wouldn’t have a boat captain if they changed the rules.

I know guys that have been offered well over a thousand for one tournament. Plenty of guys getting paid what guides get paid and there have been guides being boat captains on lakes they don’t guide on, all perfectly legal. I miss fishing with my son as often as we got to do it but don’t miss all the other BS at all. Lots of great kids and parents, lots of kids that can flat out fish. But, there’s lots of parents paying their kids way to the top.

Exactly right, happens every tournament. A lot of these kids couldn’t find their way out of the marina but somehow get a top ten or 1st place finish.