Its cash that the high schools trails give out, well checks but it's not scholarships

SETX does that every tournament. It's usually 5 winners per tournament for the conservation prize

If you want to run a second scale you do not need a complete second set of everything involved to work with the scale. You can simply have people in one line with two scale stations side by side. When a scale is empty the person at the front of the line goes to the empty scale. Theoretically. you would be able to process the line about twice as quick with the addition of one scale.

The line that causes a delay is the line to get weigh bags. You can only have as many weigh bags out as you have tanks to place the bags in while waiting to go to the scales. They can go across the scales fairly quickly. To really speed up the process you have to be able to have more weigh bags available which means more tanks. If you put out more weigh bags without more tanks than you will have tons of dead fish as the fish cannot live that long in a regular weigh bag that does not allow water to flow through it or have an oxygen source. So theoretically, just adding a second set of scales would not speed up the process very much.

The point to be made by WAWI was why can a pro trail like BASS or MLF, who gives out $100k first prize along with thousands more $, use 80 different scales to determine a winner, but a high-school trail can't pick up another one to hopefully help move long lines across quicker to help preserve our resource? Who cares in what manner they are awarding the winners. The fact is, if it is good enough for the highest level in the sport, it should be good enough for the lowest. Let's not get hung up on semantics. Overthinking can lead to failure.

A "cut line" would be useful, figure a fair amount of weight for said lake and that is the "cut line". If you do not have over the "cut line" in weight, you do not weigh your fish. All below the "cut line" receive an arbitrary preset amount of AOY points.

If you chose to weigh in anyways and it's not with in 1 pound or so of the "cut line", the captain and team is banned from the next tourney. Rules without consequences are rarely followed.


It's "fair", keeps the lines manageable and likely will cut down on mortality.

Better yet….if you don’t have a limit, you don’t weigh in. Without a limit, they ain’t winning anyways. Figure out a points system to make it reasonable.

So if they have 1 fish and it is 10# they don’t weigh in? Just asking. We have had it, also a kid had 1 fish for 11.50 at Ray Robert’s.

Yes some trails do pay checks out at every event. However ours does not. We pay upon graduation and a letter or receipt from the school of further learning they are attending.

I know you have been around long enough to have seen plenty of tournaments that were won with just 4 fish.

If they have an 11 pounder and that’s it….nope. Takes the luck out of it too. They should concentrate on a limit, then a kicker. 11 pounds ain’t gonna win a 250+ boat tournament.

Sorry that won’t happen. Good thought though.

Never have I been in a tournament of 250-ish boats where 4 fish have even been paid. I have won a Media solo event with 4 GOOD fish, but it wasn’t even 50 boats.

The idea is to slim down the numbers going to weigh in. If they had 100 boats, there wouldn’t be an issue. It’s 250+ and mom, dad, aunt, uncle, grandparents, x2 slowing down parking as well.

You can also make big bass a separate weigh in, so the lucky kid has his chance too. Must be a 6+ to weigh in. Easy. Y’all are making this too hard.

You are correct the number of spectators are way different than any other trail. Like mentioned we will be looking at ideas to bring the numbers down.