About fishing Crappie USA tournaments

[OsoFishy]

If You want great group of guys and great pay outs fish Crappiemasters or C.A.S.T Iv fished them all and these guys know tournaments are supposed to be ran!!! Thats my cent and a half

[Kman]

I understand they kinda ticked off some guys this weekend at the Ross Barnett tourny. They "postponed" the tourney from it's scheduled date of Saturday to Sunday for weather reasons. They had a lot of out of town traveling fishermen, Capps was one of them, that had been there prefishing for a few days, hotels, time, the whole 9 yards only to have to leave without fishing because they could not stay another day. I wasn't there and dont pretend to know all the details, but I understand a lot of guys were . Cant say as I blame them. Many of them had to be at work Monday morning with a day's drive ahead of them and couldnt fish on Sunday.

Ironically, the weather was great Saturday!

[prchjerker]

I'll second Osofishy recommendation, Crappie Masters is ran by a great bunch of guys.Paul busts his butt off to put a great circuit that's second to none.They'll actually listen to their anglers and change as needed to make the circuit better.I started out fishing Crappiethon Usa is the 80's and we know how that ended.Then another came along, which was great until it got all about profit and screw the angler.Havent fished any of Tims CAST tourneys, but have know for along time and hes a good guy.PJ

[Minnerman]

I fished my first CUSA last year and finished 6th in the local, with my 12 year old son. We fished the regional and finished 26th and qualified for the classic but didn't go. This year my 9 year old is fishing the local with me over going to the beach with his momma and he already has plans to fish the regional at Grenada. We had a ball, didn't win any money, but didn't care if we did. The competition factor and fishing with my kids is where it's at. I work for my money and fishing a tourney with my kids AINT work. If I choose to spend it fishing a tourney, I consider it an investment in their future. Oh yea, they treated my 9 year old great at the pre-tourney banquet. He won a rod last year and has already said we were going to it cause he needed a new rod. I also won a 12 BnM trolling rod. So the way I look at it, you have to determine what the payout really is. Money or your kids? Course after saying all this, I probably would not fish their tourneys or any other National tourneys if it were not for my kids. I do fish our local crappie club tourneys, but thats just mainly for bragging rights. I can assure you it aint for the money. We placed 4th in our first tourney and won a grand total of 52 dollars. Spent $70 to fill the boat up and another 50 in the truck, but we had fun and me and my brother beat our dad and uncle. Can you say "Priceless"?

[lhumphre]

My thoughts exactly...My brother and I started last year and after competing in sports throughout our college careers there comes a point where another form of competitiion is needed...i wouldnt wanna spend my hard earned money on anything else!! of course we like to go out and have a nice lazy day of fishing but you cant beat the experience, knowledge, great people, new lakes and camraderie from fishing in a CUSA tourney..hope to see ya at Patoka!!

You compete cuz you like to compete. Very few guys make any real money fishing the crappie circuits.

Fishin' the CUSA tourneys gets me excited like I used to get before a football game or a wrestling match. As you get older, you lose that flavor.
I'm not good enough to win, but I'm getting better every year. If you have a chance to fish on of their local tournament, I say get in and have some fun.

I'll continue to support Darrell and his organization as long as they maintain the quality and good will given to the crappie community.

I almost forgot. My name is Greg Hunt. If you see me at a CUSA tournament, stop me so we can visit and talk about our love for this leisure.

G.

[Joey Briggs]

I fished my first CUSA last year and finished 6th in the local, with my 12 year old son. We fished the regional and finished 26th and qualified for the classic but didn't go. This year my 9 year old is fishing the local with me over going to the beach with his momma and he already has plans to fish the regional at Grenada. We had a ball, didn't win any money, but didn't care if we did. The competition factor and fishing with my kids is where it's at. I work for my money and fishing a tourney with my kids AINT work. If I choose to spend it fishing a tourney, I consider it an investment in their future. Oh yea, they treated my 9 year old great at the pre-tourney banquet. He won a rod last year and has already said we were going to it cause he needed a new rod. I also won a 12 BnM trolling rod. So the way I look at it, you have to determine what the payout really is. Money or your kids? Course after saying all this, I probably would not fish their tourneys or any other National tourneys if it were not for my kids. I do fish our local crappie club tourneys, but thats just mainly for bragging rights. I can assure you it aint for the money. We placed 4th in our first tourney and won a grand total of 52 dollars. Spent $70 to fill the boat up and another 50 in the truck, but we had fun and me and my brother beat our dad and uncle. Can you say "Priceless"?

Minnerman if he dont win won this time just let me know i will give him one,me and my son will be there team Briggs & Briggs.

[CrappieHound]

See that's what I'm talking about. Way to step up Joey B. That's the things I like to hear in regards to organizations that are affilated with fishing.

The Hound

[PapermouthLegend]

I started this thread in hopes the guys that enjoyed fishing CUSA tournaments would respond and I greatly appreciate it. My father and I can't do alot of things together that we could 15 years ago (baseball, softball, football, golf). He isn't as competitive at his age, but he still likes to fish. What's two fat guys to do, bowling? I'll take the CUSA tournaments and hope to meet you all there. Clark and Clark is the names come and say hello.

[CrappieLuck]

My wife and I are small town South Ga. people and we fish a small 18ft boat with just a few toys. We have never won a CUSA tournament but have placed in the top 10 several times. We"ve earned our way to regional several times and even to the classic one time. We have spent thousands of $$$ and only drew a check one time for $200. But the average joe can compete with these guys. My only grip is that some of these guys that win big and have to go pro the following year don"t succeed in the pro divison therefore, they are allowed to return to amateur the next year. So it seems the true amateru never gets to the top of the ladder because one of the "pros" are always stepping back down on the top step of the amateur divison. Thats why the pro divison never gets no bigger. Notice in most of these tournaments the same people win in amateur and pro (their all in the click). If i won my way to the pro divison, I couldn"t step back down to amateur. Its just not right. I guess thats my South Ga. morals. I would take my medicine from the pros like a big boy.
Todd, 6 Year CUSA Member

[PapermouthLegend]

Very good point CrappieLuck. I do like the way you stated the information as well. It wasn't a bash or critical of CUSA. But a good point on moving the tournaments in the right direction. I don't know that much about the CUSA tournaments. I do know they have always treated me nice therefore I have no reason to judge. I have looked over what you mentioned about the amateurs moving to semi-pro than back to amateurs. I personally don't agree with it, but hey it's not gonna stop me from competing. I was a PGA (professional golfers association) member and I understand this concept through and through. I would love to compete as an amateur golfer again, but I chose to turn pro and gave up my right as an amatuer. An amateur is defined as:

1. A person who engages in an art, science, study, or athletic activity as a pastime rather than as a profession.
2. One lacking the skill of a professional, as in an art.

This amateur/pro topic can be a touchy one as well. By definition #1 - should guides be allowed to fish as amateurs? I am not sure there is a correct answer to this subject. I can say that, if someone makes a living fishing, they should be considered professional. If someone has made a certain amount of money in tournaments, they should be professional (CUSA covers this).
But I agree with you, I don't know why they are permitted to return from professional rank to amateur rank. I know in golf, amateurs are not allowed more than $750.00 per year, and this is not supposed to be in cash (prizes and gift certificates). I have seen a few situations with people winning big golf tournaments and having to declare themselves professional for a certain time period to collect the money.
With these statements in mind, maybe fishing needs an overall governing body similar to golf (USGA). Then all tournament organizations (Bass, Crappie, etc...) abide by these rules and regulations that are set forth. Maybe it's a start.