Walleye trail and tournemnts

[HuyFishin]

Does anyone here join the walleye trail and tournaments with little small aluminium boats with aerated coolers and water exchange systems?

Or do you guys ever see any in the tournaments?

[Walleyedude]

The SAWT tournaments have gone to the CRR format - catch, record, and release. No livewell required as far as I know.

That's assuming there'll be an SAWT this year...

[korie83]

Originally Posted by HuyFishin

Does anyone here join the walleye trail and tournaments with little small aluminium boats with aerated coolers and water exchange systems?

Or do you guys ever see any in the tournaments?

I did the Golden Walleye Classic on Slave Lake last year, for my first fishing tournament. I don't think there was anyone in a small boat, like you are suggesting. We had one of the smallest and its a 17' with a 115hp. I think I saw one guy with a newer 16' with a 60hp maybe. 95% of the guys are running 18'+ boats with 175hp+ motors etc. Probably most are worth over $80,000.

The lake was so rough that we were taking waves over the bow of the boat. Had to baby it back to the weigh in station because it was so rough, and didn't want to harm the fish. We were definitely at a disadvantage in comparison to most of the boats out there. It got so bad the second day that we couldn't risk returning to our spot to get our final two fish, and had to settle for a spot closer to the weigh station. Ended up not filling our last two slots because of it.

If you had perfect conditions you might be able to make it work. But getting to and from your spots with healthy fish will consume a lot of time.

You would probably be better off looking for a partner with a proper boat, or see if you can borrow someones.

[Jigapoolza]

If you can find a tournament on a smaller lake you might be alright but I would stay away from any of the tournaments on the bigger lakes.

[67ZL1]

Moose Lake tournament will be adopting the AIM format this year also, so no livewell required for that tournament.

[dutch_m]

Originally Posted by 67ZL1

Moose Lake tournament will be adopting the AIM format this year also, so no livewell required for that tournament.

No livewell , that's a great ideal , I wonder how long that will take till. The cheaters figure out a way to screw the honest anglers over

maybe they should look into making sure no one has scissors in the boats or a little torch to burn the tails after trimming so they fit the slot measurements ,

What are they going to do about the cages that are holding the big walleyes ?

[Willowtrail]

A guy did it a couple years ago at Pinehurst. The lake can get rough but also has lots of calm spots.

[pikeman06]

Originally Posted by dutch_m

No livewell , that's a great ideal , I wonder how long that will take till. The cheaters figure out a way to screw the honest anglers over

maybe they should look into making sure no one has scissors in the boats or a little torch to burn the tails after trimming so they fit the slot measurements ,

What are they going to do about the cages that are holding the big walleyes ?

Totally agree. I've said it before. Add money and guys will find a way to cheat somehow. Holding tourneys on any of these lakes with collapsed populations and tag systems is a joke. There is always mortality and stress on fish. Everyone is targeting the biggest females in hot weather and deep water. They shut down the commercial guys, if protecting and trying to enhance a fishery that in the eyes of the biologists is on its last breath then sorry but tournament fishing certainly doesn't conform to what they are trying to accomplish. Especially when the tournament guys don't have tags. How can they "retain" or "possess" a fish that's illegal to keep, even if it's just to a weigh station.

[MooseRiverTrapper]

If anyone needs a partner for this summer. Let me know. Let’s have a beer this winter and figure out details.

[Freedom55]

Originally Posted by pikeman06

Totally agree. I've said it before. Add money and guys will find a way to cheat somehow. Holding tourneys on any of these lakes with collapsed populations and tag systems is a joke. There is always mortality and stress on fish. Everyone is targeting the biggest females in hot weather and deep water. They shut down the commercial guys, if protecting and trying to enhance a fishery that in the eyes of the biologists is on its last breath then sorry but tournament fishing certainly doesn't conform to what they are trying to accomplish. Especially when the tournament guys don't have tags. How can they "retain" or "possess" a fish that's illegal to keep, even if it's just to a weigh station.

I take it you don't like tournaments and have no problem slagging tournament participants. Let me enlighten you a little. As mentioned above, Moose Lake is going to a catch, photograph and release format. That way the purists get what they need, cheat-schemes are eliminated and the tournament guys get their fix too. Many tournaments have adopted the AIM format and the rest will likely change with time and pressure from lobbyists for ethical fishing.

Seems to me that I saw a well known angler at Pinehurst 3 or 4 yrs. ago that had to rig a cooler and a couple of pumps on an expensive jet-boat that was delivered without a live well. Then there was a couple of guys from down east that started off in a tinner and took a fifth place finish just off Dog Island. They showed up with a bigger boat after that but they were somewhat successful in a home rigged boat. Go for it.

Free

[TimboLefty]

I have fished quite a few of these tournaments with a 16 footer 85 horse motor. When conditions are great it’s okay but when lake is rough you will be at a severe disadvantage.

[Kim473]

I think they should do similar to bass pro's. Minimum slot length and say best weight of 5 fish. With a turney person measuring and ref in the boat with say a 5 min penalty for dropping a fish in the boat. ETC. And a 4 hr time limit. Just my opinion.
That way no fish would be out of the water and stressed for more than a few mins. Cheating would be monitored in every boat then.