Bob Smith
bob@bassinbobs.com
Pensacola
Blue
Angels
Bass Page
hook.
com
"BOBS LOCAL RIVER REPORTS"
Local Reports and Fishing Articles
Running A Bass Tournament
Behind The Scenes
Every Saturday across the country, and around the world for that matter, there is a bass tournament being conducted somewhere, by someone.
As tournament competitors we seek these events out for our enjoyment, and occasionally financial advancement.
Everything has to be just right. All our hooks need to be sharp, the boat and tackle in top working condition, and we must maintain the proper frame of mind if we are to be competitive.
We all criticize the tournaments we feel are not run well, and praise the ones that leave lasting memories - regardless of how we finished. How many of us, while we are critiquing the tournament we just fished, stop to think about what is involved in producing, promoting, and conducting a bass tournament?
Long before any angler fills out an entry form or calls for more
information, the wheels are turning. Often these wheels encounter rough terrain while moving towards tournament morning. A short list of absolute musts would include site selection and coordination, equipment, advertising, gathering a tournament crew, and the actual running of the tournament.
First there is the all important matter of site selection and
coordination. One of the hardest things to do (often impossible) is to determine a tournament date that does not conflict with another tournament either on the same body of water or on one nearby. Nothing will kill your chances for a good field like having two or three other events running at the same time as yours.
Equipment needs to be purchased. Quality scales are an absolute must and cost several hundred dollars or more
(and a backup scale is strongly suggested). Add a remote display, PA system, weigh-in bags, batteries,
miscellaneous odds and ends like paper, pencils, baskets, etc.. And the cost can skyrocket rapidly.
A financial backbone is needed to conduct all but the simplest small tournaments. Advertising can absorb several hundred dollars per tournament. Design, layout and printing of entry forms and flyers is not cheap, nor is radio, magazine, newspaper or televison advertising.
Occasionally the people who conduct tournaments must endure travel and lodging expenses, which are often outrageous.
You need to be the first ones there, and are typically the last to head home. If an angler thinks fishing for ten hours is a long day he needs to try starting a few hours earlier and staying a few hours later
(not including travel time to and from thetournament site).
Additionally, most people do not work for free so you need to plan on paying your "employees" something for their efforts. Sometimes club members or friends will do volunteer work for you, but plan on shelling out at least some cash.
Many manhours are spent in the organizing aspect of a tournament. Every little thing that could go wrong has to be planned for, from bad weather cancellations, to ties, to potential law suits. All this can really get a brain into overdrive.
The actual tournament conduct has to be planned and ehearsed if you intend to run a quality, organized, and efficient event.
In the case of an annual or trail type of event this is paramount. All bass tournaments are the same, club, regional, or professional, once you leave the launch site. It is the weigh-in program that makes a tournament good or bad.
After the fish have been weighed the tournament staff needs to do all the required paperwork, cut checks, clean up the site, retrieve and dispose of any (hopefully there are none) dead fish around the weigh-in site, break everything down and load up for the trip home.
Even a small scale tournament required the conductors to be
knowledgeable of the sport, present a professional image (figuratively and literally), and act in the capacity of a public relations person. What it all boils down to is that running a tournament is fun, but at the same time it is an awful lot of work. To elaborate on all the aspects of setting up, promoting, and conducting bass tournaments would take an entire book.
So the next time you find things about a tournament that you may not necessarilly like, or comment about how badly organized or run an event was, think for just a moment about everything that had to go into today.
Maybe instead of cursing the people regardless of how it was run, you may just feel a little bit of respect for what they undertaken for your enjoyment.
Good Fishing!!
Bob
