ORGANIZING FISHING TOURNAMENTS THE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

Organizing fishing tournaments can be as simple as a few local fisherman getting together once a week, during the good fishing months putting in 25.00 dollars, agree on a set time and fish limit, using simple scales to weigh fish. The one with the most weight takes all the money. As long as there is less than 10 to 50 boats in the tournament according to what State you are in, you wouldn't have to have a permit.

The rules and regulations vary in every state and on every body of water. Since my home state is Alabama I will use the information from the Regulation book for 2009-2010 for Alabama.

Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for your State is the first place you need to go you can get all the information you need to start planing your tournament. There is a web site for every state.

You will need to print the pages pertaining to fishing for "Alabama" theses pages are 50 to 79 no need to print the whole thing. Next find the The Reservoirs and public fishing lakes there are 42 to choose from in Alabama, you can get there locations, boat ramps, the size of the lakes, reports, and even directions on how to get there.

All this information will help you in organizing fishing tournaments.

Being a fisherman you may know some of the most popular places to hold tournaments this could give you more locations in different parts of the State. Especially if you are starting a trail and have to pick different places to fish.

Now we can start with the basic guide lines to organizing fishing tournaments.

1. Choose the name, and type of tournament such as team, Individual, for profit, or a fund raiser for a certain charity. You will need to decide if it is a one time event, a yearly event, or a monthly trail.
2. Now choose a location, date, and starting and ending time, keeping in mind that you want to choose a place that has plenty of parking, a large area to set up weigh-in station and food and drinks.

   Most successful tournaments provide a simple meal and drinks for anglers at the end of the day. It gives the anglers something to do while waiting for the results, and it lets them know you are concerned with their well being.

   I would choose 3 locations and dates to start with, because the first one may not be available, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources will only allow so many tournaments per month on any one body of water.




3. Set your entry fees and develop regulations for your event, using your state regulations and calculate your payout's using a standard 250 entries. with a 70% pay back and a optional big fish side pot. Entry fees should be high enough to pay for the expenses involved with the tournament, but low enough that you can obtain a large turnout.

   When organizing fishing tournaments it is very important to document in writing the rules you are setting for your tournament including such information as minimum inches of the fish and the number of fish which may be submitted for prizes. The penalties for being late, weighing in a short or dead fish, unsportsmanlike conduct. insurance requirements. You can click here to view a standard set of rules for a Big Bass tournament





4. Open a checking account in your organization name to write prize checks, and to deposit fees in. You will need it to pay for tournament permits, equipment, and other costs. The expenses become tax write off's if you pay for it in the organizations names.
5. Now secure your location and date with the DCNR and apply for your premit, If you choose to have several tournaments within the same year, it is best to call with all your dates at the same time, so that the office will be able to combine all the tournaments on to one premit.
6. When organizing fishing tournaments you are going to need some help so form a committee and assign different tasks to them.

   That morning you will need two or three checking live-wells, three to four signing people in and giving them there take-off numbers with the weigh-in slips and bags.

   At the end you will need 3 or 4 working the weigh-in station one takes slips and recording weights, someone doing the drawings for prizes, a couple to handle the food and drinks. Appoint a coordinator to oversee the efforts of all of the other people assigned to tasks and announce winners.





7. When you are organizing fishing tournaments for the first time you are going to need to purchase equipment, a good weigh-in system, weigh-in bags, colored tape to mark the live well was checked, paper for weigh-in slips and numbers a note book to record results for your records a board to post the total weights and the big fish weight. And you will need to decide if you are going to have trophies or just give out checks
8. Promote your tournament by making fliers and puting them in local Tackle Shops, stores, and fishing equipment manufacturers to see if they are interesting in being sponsors and donating prizes to give a way. Run adds on the radio and in new papers.

   List on web sites that let you post Open tournaments, share with facebook, twitter, fishing forums there all free advertizing.

9. Require a preregistration, so you will know how large of a crowd to expect. Obtain each angler's address, telephone number, and emergency contact number. You may also want to get an email address so that if you repeat your event the following year you can send an announcement to former participants. Keep an accurate record of your entries, choose a cut-off date, and a maximum number of entrants.
10. Have a good time organizing fishing tournaments.

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