CUSA tournaments

[adamr]

i've never fished a tournament of any kind and just have a few questions that will probably sound stupid to most of you. I know you check in when you get there, but how do the boats launch and take off fishing. Is there a specific order? Also how about docking and weighing in, could someone please describe the process. i don't want to look like a complete idiot when i finally decide to enter a tourney. thanks in advance.

[Moose1am]

I have only fished one or two tournaments and all were the low key friendly type tournaments. One was the Purdue University Bass Club tournament at Patoka Lake last Oct. There we all put the boats in at the ramp and then milled around the area until the tournament director said it was clear enough to leave. We got there at 5 am and didn't leave the docks until well after 7:00 am. The fog was so thick you could not see very far. Cold air and warm water in the early morning makes for hazardous conditions. So the time of year will dictate how you take off and when. We had about 20 boats fishing this small tournament and I volunteered to be a boat driver and took on of the Purdue Students with me in my boat as he was from Arizona and on a low budget as a student. The Purdue Bass Fishing Club was started by one of my Fraternity Brothers from Alpha Gamma Rho. So I wanted to help them out and offered my boat to them for that tournament. It was my first bass fishing tournament and it was fun. We all gathered in the parking lot between 5 am and 7 am and everyone put thier boats in the water and either tied up to the dock or pull the boat onto the shoreline near the dock. We had a good time socializing before we started.

At the Teezur Crappie fishing tournament last year we were all able to launch from any place that we wanted and I saw people getting up at 5 am. I got up at 4 AM my self and went down and got my boat and put it on the boat trailer so that I could drive to another lauch ramp. This was on KY lake and in NOV as there was a high wind that day. I didn't want to run down the main lake to the bay that I wanted to fish so I drove instead. That bay had a new boat ramp that was just completed and one of the local crappie guides (Richard Williams) was organizing the tournament and he took me in his truck to show me how to get to that boat ramp from the marina/resort that we were staying at. So that morning everyone launched from the marina and at the other boat ramp near daylight.

It all depend on the time of year and the tournament director and what they fishermen want to do.

I stay away from the money tournaments and prefer the friendly kind of tournaments or get togethers instead.

i've never fished a tournament of any kind and just have a few questions that will probably sound stupid to most of you. I know you check in when you get there, but how do the boats launch and take off fishing. Is there a specific order? Also how about docking and weighing in, could someone please describe the process. i don't want to look like a complete idiot when i finally decide to enter a tourney. thanks in advance.

[Roberta]

If you go to CUSA's website
http://www.crappieusa.com
you can read the entire set of regs, plus any info pertinent to the tournament you're entering. There's a seminar the evening before and a start time for the next morning. No pre-fishing is allowed the night before.
We went to a weigh in at GLSM in Celina, OH to watch the proceedings a couple of years ago. All teams must be in line for the weigh-in by a certain time. - Roberta