#1 The ANCHORED BOAT RULE needs to take into consideration the use
of POWER POLES & TALONS as well as thee SPOT LOCK feature available
on the newer trolling motors.

#2 From recent reports of TD's DQing fish for not being LEGAL SIZE that
TP&W subsequently said were legal, a process is needed to allow
contestants to CHALLENGE the ruling of the TD at the TIME OF THE RULING.

What would you suggest for wording to correct these items.

Agree

#1: I would assume that the anchored boat rule already covered the power poles and talons. They are called shallow water anchors after all. But, agreed, if they are somehow not covered by the rules, then they should be. The spot lock will be hard to do. How am I supposed to know you have a motor with spot lock, much less know that it is deployed? Take your word for it? That one should probably be left out.

#2: Who is going to be the authority on the challenge if a game warden is not around?

#2: The tournament director is passing out the prize money. That means he "IS" the final say so on whatever rule or judgment is applied.

I agree that the Tournament director has the final say.
However if you feel an error was made In Measuring a fish
there still needs a process for a contestant to appeal that measurement
BEFORE a final decision is made.
If a Game Warden is present he would be the ideal arbiter.
If not then the contestant should be shown why the fish does not
meet the standard.

Bump

I know when a fish is close or marginal. THAT is my responsibility. If the director says it's a no-go then I accept it and move on. It's part of wearing big-boy pants.
2 things not in fishing - instant replay and crying. Seems we should make a rule about one of these........

How can an angler tell whether or not the PP or Talons are down? If there is any depth the PP will disappear under the water and the Talon never moves anyway. It will be challenging to change.

From someone who has never fished a competitive tournament, what is the rationale behind not being able to anchor anyway? a. everyone can do it and b. if someone wants to fish somewhere all day, why not?

As a TD, if a fish comes up short on my board I will flip it and stroke it to relax the fish in order to get it to reach legal limit (in front of the angler). But, the TD ruling should be final say or there is no need for a TD. Just my .02

No problems with anchoring. You can do that all day. The rule is not to prevent anchoring, but to keep other boats a certain distance away from an anchored boat. Most rule sets state xx yards away from another boat and yy yards away from an anchored boat.

Good point on the Talons, but you can tell if the Power Poles are down. Most rule sets will state "anchored with trolling motor in stowed position." So I still think the existing anchoring rules would cover the poles in that case.

No one has addressed the use of "Spot Lock" on the newer TM''s

How about just be courteous and quit being little babies don�t get close to another boat without first getting the OK! And don�t be a jerk and put your boat on anchor poles or spot lock in a spot that�s right up in the way. It all goes back to the golden rule Jesus gave us himself: LOVE GOD and LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR wow just to think if everyone would do that we wouldn�t have any arguments.

I don�t think we need more rules we just need to get rid of the jerks

A few thoughts:
1. That fish or spot you found on your graph or during practice is not �yours� don�t be upset if someone else catches it.
2. That spot of fish you found in practice is not the only spot or fish in the lake and its probably not the biggest either!

Come on folks put some fun back in fishing!!!

if you don't like the rules that are put forth see about changing them beforehand once they are set the rules are the rules administered by the td if you cant abide by them don't fish the trail or start your own trail with your own rules. more tournament trails have lost more folks over not going by a strict set of rules or changing them in midstream than most other causes. having to make more rules to enforce over spot lock tm an poles would come under common courtesy on the water which is becoming less likely all the time. when a guy pulls up to you that both parties know is too close an ask if you are fishing the tournament an they use that basis to decide whether to put the trolling motor in an fish that tends to take the fun out of fishing an is the main reason most folks do it.