Min size For Tournament

[macgyver]

Well as most of you know, I've never fished a tourney, but keep toying with the idea. Anyway while playing with the Bait Elephant I picked up a flyer on a tourney on 3/26 saturday. I can't fish in it due to work, but it did strike me as odd the minimum size of the Bass. First off I'll explain it's on a Lake that has a power plant, there by never freezing over, due to the water being warmed by the turbines. Anyway it should have some of the bigger bass in the state, due to the year round warmth. The flyer says "Big Bass Team Tournament", with a 20" minimum, 2 Bass creel. Well it's seem like a Large size minimum in my mind for Indiana, and I realize it's a BIG BASS tourney, just wondering if this is normal or out of the ordinary? Don't get me wrong I would love to catch some of those big bass, but is this kinda of standard?

Lizards

[james33]

All tourneys are run a little different. We got a big bass team tourney here that they only let you weigh 1 fish. They follow the lake limit which is 18" Is 20" the limit on that lake?? Another reason they might do this is to save time at the weigh in. Instead of weighing a bunch of say 16" fish that aren't gonna get you a check anyway they raise the size limit.

[catfishtonyd]

Generally speaking the legal line is the line. However, individual tournaments can place more restrictive limits

Example. At Buggs Island Lake, on the NC/Va border the legal limit is 5 fish, two of which may be under 14" inches. Natrually the other three have to be over 14". Note, the low side is just "under 14".

Most "big" tournaments set the limit at 14". Period. That way they only have to worry about "bumping" one size fish.

When we ran club tournaments there, the club set a limit of 14" inches, except that two of those fish could be between 14 and 12 inches. Eleminates really little bitty fish, but still allows people to keep a couple of smaller fish.

[IL.bassin36]

Hey Lizard! Thats the tourney over at Turtle Creek, the lake minimum over there is 20" with 1 being the creel limit per angler. I've talked to some that have fished that and they say it usually takes 15-16lbs to win.

[macgyver]

[quote author=HoosierAngler link=board=MessBoards;num=1110541269;start=0#3 date=03/12/05 at 05:16:54]Hey Lizard! Thats the tourney over at Turtle Creek, the lake minimum over there is 20" with 1 being the creel limit per angler. I've talked to some that have fished that and they say it usually takes 15-16lbs to win. [/quote]


Yep it's Turtle Creek, and I was talking to someone yesterday afternoon, that said it is 20" Min on the lake. He said they have shocked up 14+lb bass outs there. He said the reason for the increase(it was 18&quot is becuase the fishing hasn't been to great, they lost all the vegetation a about 5 years ago, and they also quit stocking crappie in it. The bass were taking some turns downward, and these are the things he knows of them doing to try to increase the fishery for bass. Obviously they want a new state record to come outa here. I'm going to fish it this year sometime, so next winter, I might just leave my boat there, since it never freezes ;D I would've have never guessed a 2 fish limit would be 15-16lbs in Indiana. All I keep reading is how the best waters are the PITS, where the majority of the bigger fish are coming from. But 1 guy who ran a big fish contest for 5 years, kept all the recorded info, and nothing was bigger than 8lbs in those 5 years. So to have a 14lber is absolutely phenomenal in my book.

Lizards