tournament fishermen, what do you concider late?

[doc]

I fished a local "open" buddy bass tournament put on by a neighboring club this weekend. The fishing was terrible but something happened at the weigh in that I thought posed a good question. Tournament time was from safe light till 3pm, me and my partner only managed to boat 1 fish ( I had 2 good ones shake loose at the boat but thats another story). Anyway skip to the weigh in. The winners had 3 fish with a 7lb total, one other person weighed a fish but we were above him with by about 5 oz. The scales were put up, winners and 2nd place was declared then there is a holler from the boat ramp. by this time it's close to 3:15-3:20 Two other fishermen had just came in and had fish to weigh. The scales were unpacked re-zeroed and they were declared 2nd place winners, which knocked me and my partner out of a check.

Now, the point of my post is not to call anyone out and say we were robbed, and the check was hardly enough to get ones feelings hurt about (it would have just been enough to cover expenses for the day and mabye a meal.) but, I was fishing with members of a neighboring club, had never fished with them before, and didn't want to be labeled as "that guy". I wasn't sure of their rules for late weigh in's for open tournaments but I know their club rules and there was supposed to be a penalty enforced (if it was an official club tournament.)

There are probably some people that fished that tournament that will read this post, again i'm not trying to cause a stink, and will probably fish with them again. It just brought up a question in my mind " how late is Late, and at what point do you say something about it?" My club has similar rules for every minute your late your docked weight, but in all honesty we don't have a set definition of late, are you late if your in sight of the boat ramp, or your boat is'nt trailered, or your not in line at the scales?

So lets here it, how late is late, and when do you say something about it?

[nova385]

Late is late- 5min or an hour. If you are to be at the scales at 3:00 be there at 3. I feel for you man.

[CamG]

Late is late. If no penalty was enforced (15-20 minutes in my old club would have taken away the entire sack) it is B.S. IMHO.

I guess I don't know how I would react. Lucky for me I never had to deal with that.

[MIbasser]

Late is late. Doesn't matter if it's 30 seconds or 5 minutes. Anytime money is involved it changes a lot of things, if it was just for fun I don't think I would worry about it too much. I would protest to the TD and the late team should be DQ'ed. I've seen it happen first hand.

[doc]

When they broke out the scales I did mention a "isn't there a late penalty" but got a chuckle from a few of the men around, so I kind of just shrugged it off and chalked it up as a loss. I was already in a sour mood for loosing a 4lber and a 3lber beside the boat.(dunno what happend, I'm blaming it on my drag. I had my reels professonally cleaned over the winter, and called myself re-setting my drag the mornin of the tournament, I was fishing with a jig, and am thinking that when I set the hook my drag wasn't tight enough and I was pulling drag on the hookset.) both of the fish I got to the boat and when they came up and hit their side the just popped loose. My fishing partner said on the way in "it's gonna suck if 6-7 lbs wins it. Sure enough out of the 22 fishing including the 2 fish that came late there was only 6 fish caught. I chalked the day up to being my fault we were not in the money not anyone elses.

Like I said, If anyone in the club is reading this, I made the post just to ask other tournament fishermen their opinions on it, and if they have a clearly defined late rule, or if it's more of a "good ole boy" system where there is a little leeway in what is defined as late.

[CiK]

Ask to see a copy of their rules. If its stated there, then you definitely have a valid argument. If its not, then it appears they are lenient. As long as they are consistent with the "rulings" each time and not favor certain guys over others would be my concern.

[lilmule]

Locals are sometimes friendlier,but generally late is a penalty for each min late.!5 min in any national org its to late,penalty is normally 1lb per min.
If you feel its unbalanced dont fish it,if its a jar T or local club,wont do much good to protest it,just avoid it.
In a club T I once lost big fish because of same,friends etc ,no longer belong to that club either.But didnt protest it.Such T are easy to replace.Easier than making some sore about it.
Now a national T, yes place a protest,but feel any national T org wouldnt have let them weigh in at 15 min late.
Just read a later reply by you some clubs have a sort of inner circle,you most likly arnt part of that,bet if reversed and you were late it would apply.Just find another club or club T,been there done that.

[nofearengineer]

I'm a "law and order" guy. If you're not going to follow the rules, why bother having them? If I were you, I just fished my last tournament with them.

[rrw4258]

In the clubs I am in, late is late! We go 1 pound per minute until 5 minutes go by, then the person cannot weigh in. Rules are Rules, and if they are there enforce them.

Ryan

[MississippiBoy]

I don't fish tournaments, but from what I have heard from other people talking about their rules, this:

Originally Posted by rrw4258

In the clubs I am in, late is late! We go 1 pound per minute until 5 minutes go by, then the person cannot weigh in. Rules are Rules, and if they are there enforce them.

Ryan

is pretty typical.
One club a friend of mine is in does a "poker chip" weigh-in...at blast off, everybody gets a poker chip with a number on it. When you come in off the water, you put your chip in a collection box located as close as possible to the pier. At exactly 3 o'clock or 4 o'clock or at whatever time the tournament ends, the box is taken away. After that, penalties are assessed up to I think 10 minutes, then anyone else is DQ'd. If a person is pulling up to the dock at 3:00, he's late. If he's walking up to the box at 3:01, he's late. Exact time is determined by the TD before blastoff so everyone has a chance to sync their clocks to his.
My thoughts are that it should be abundantly clear EXACTLY what happens when someone is late. That way, nobody's buddy gets a better deal than anyone else...it's not a fair competition if the playing field isn't level.

[cassidyta]

I think that club tourneys tend to get too relaxed with thier rules. In my club, we begin the penalty phase at 5 minutes and charge 1 lbs a minute until 10 minutes.
I agree that if you are not going ot follow the rules, then why have them.
The one thing that I would be curious about is this. Would you have gotten the same relaxed treatment had you been 15 minutes late? If so, then I would say that they have accepted a 15 minute swing. If not, then I would be hesitant about fishing with them again.

[JB]

I have served as tournament director for region 5 in ohio bass federation and also tournament director for our local county bass club.
All anglers are expected to check in to someone at the docks or near before the cut off time, no exceptions. We did take a few liberties on guys showing up late at launch times, that usually turned out to be a few squabbles later on tho at the next meeting.
In all my experiences in big tournaments, lets say any where from thirty guy all the way up to over 900 guys in the MDA tournaments, if you don't check in at the correct time that its over, you don't weigh in.
That means checking in to the director or his assistant BEFORE anyone weighs in a fish.
I've been in lots of tourneys where you check in and there's so many anglers with bags of fish, it could take well over an hour to get to the scales, usually they have troughs of water to keep you bag a little cooler.
Penalties include short fish or dead fish, each club is dif, but the old B A SS Federation clubs had to go by the same rules.

[3dkicker]

My club has a 15 minute 1 pound per minute rule unless the boat breaks down (have to be legitimate motor issues confirmed by the tournament director who happens to be a boat mechanic). Then and only then can the fish be weighed late and you get full weight. Typically if you have to have your boat towed in by another angler then they let you slide other than that you're late.
Tournament director should give you boundaries as to where and when. If not then the organization needs to look at their rules and maybe replacing the TD.

[everettvet]

Like many of the others have stated...Late is Late! Check the rules. I see that situation as being a major problem.

[carolina-rig-01]

I agree that late is late. I fished a club once that was just for fun and no money was paid out. In this club they were fairly lax on being late. But the club I am in now there is money that is paid out, not a lot of money but money none the less. Anytime money is involved, in any amount, you have to strictly enforce the rules. In my club I am the tournament director and everyone will be given a poker chip like Mississippiboy said. This poker chip is their boat number for takeoff and at weigh in it must be in my hands before 3:00. We use AT&T cell phone time which I will announce the time prior to takeoff so everyone has a chance to compare their time to mine. If at 3:01 I don't have your chip in my hand you are late and penalties will be enforced. I don't do it to be a jerk, there may be a time when I am late myself (in these instances there is another person desginated to collect the chips) and if I am late I know that I will be penalized as well. You have to be that strict to make sure nobody gets feels like they got cheated out of money. It's easier to explain to a guy who is late why they are getting a penalty with the rules in your hand than try and explain to someone who was on time and got bumped down the leaderboard why the rules weren't enforced. I understand you not wanting to make a big deal out of it and be labeled as "that guy", I am the same way. But I wouldn't fish with them again if it were me. I had a similiar situation a few years back in a jackpot tourney on Table Rock where we passed a boat during take off and we ran several miles up a river. As luck would have it, the boat we passed ran up to where we fishing on our first stop and it turns out that was where they were headed. At the weigh in the boat we passed was the guys incharge of measuring fish and they called one of my fish short and it was a keeper buy more than a half inch. It was obvious that we were the only guys there that weren't in their little clique and I opted not to make a scene but that little revenge tactic from that guy knocked us out of the money by like 4 ounces and if they would have weighed my fish that was "called short" we would have ended up in second. We didn't make a scene but we never went back either.

[MississippiBoy]

Originally Posted by carolina-rig-01

In my club I am the tournament director and everyone will be given a poker chip like Mississippiboy said. This poker chip is their boat number for takeoff and at weigh in it must be in my hands before 3:00. We use AT&T cell phone time which I will announce the time prior to takeoff so everyone has a chance to compare their time to mine. If at 3:01 I don't have your chip in my hand you are late and penalties will be enforced.

Maybe that was you I was quoting...thought it was somebody else.

Originally Posted by carolina-rig-01

At the weigh in the boat we passed was the guys incharge of measuring fish and they called one of my fish short and it was a keeper buy more than a half inch. It was obvious that we were the only guys there that weren't in their little clique and I opted not to make a scene but that little revenge tactic from that guy knocked us out of the money by like 4 ounces and if they would have weighed my fish that was "called short" we would have ended up in second. We didn't make a scene but we never went back either.

You're a better man than me, Charlie Brown. I would have made them measure that fish again in front of God and everybody and called them a liar if they said it was short again. Probably would not have ended very well for anybody then...

[carolina-rig-01]

Originally Posted by MississippiBoy

Maybe that was you I was quoting...thought it was somebody else.




You're a better man than me, Charlie Brown. I would have made them measure that fish again in front of God and everybody and called them a liar if they said it was short again. Probably would not have ended very well for anybody then...

They did measure it infront of God and everybody, turns out everybody was on their side lol, life goes on. I have fished tournaments when I weighed in a squeeker that's tail would just bump the line. I usually tell them they may have to measure the fish on both sides and talk sexy to her but she will measure. I have never been busted for a short fish other than that one tournament and that fish was totally leagal. The weigh in was also on a dock and there were several dead fish floating in the lake by the dock and no dead fish penalty was handed out. In fact one guy was pulling them out of the lake and laying them on the dock to take home and clean and another guy came along and kicked them back in the water with a look on his face like "act like you didn't see anything". I may not be a smart guy but I am smart enough to know that no matter what kind of bag we would weigh in there would always be a reason why we wouldn't draw a check. It's like fishing in the mafia lol.

[Dave63]

I've seen that late crap (up to 25-30 minutes) and I've also seen dead fish weighed for the clique...My personal favorite was the guys that won the local tourney five weeks in a row until the rumor got out that they had a live box hidden back in the pads that they'd load up after "pre fishing". They'd go fart around until after dark and then load up their cooler/livewell and finish the night drinking beer. They'd show up with a sack 10-12 pounds when everyone else was working their *** off to get 4-6. This to win 50-100 bucks. After the word got out, they never came back.

[screwballl]

I would make sure to have a rule book handy and show if 3:00 is announced as weigh in, that is the cut off time. No weigh ins will be allowed after this time, or else a 25% penalty per 5 minutes... or whatever the rule book says.

Sounds to me like a lot of the local "good ol boy" tournies I have hung around (but never fished) where their buddies get a free pass, but Joe Smith that no one knows gets cut off. One possibility (that a few tournaments had seen a few years ago) is they waited until everyone left to go turn in and they hit their secret stash where they caught a few a day or two before which is why they were late.

I think that is bogus, cut off is cut off, whether it is your friend or not.

[bamabassman]

thank you for reminding me why i don't fish tournies. besides the fact that i would be a giver of my money anyway. dinks don't make it to the weigh in,lol.

[bassboogieman]

Late is late. Check in is established for a reason - keeping eveything equal. Otherwise you could spend a few extra minutes, making a few extra casts, and boat another fish - that is NOT fair. Most tx. have a late penalty, usually beginning at the 1 minute mark and DQ'd after 5 minutes. Usually just prior to blast off the time is given to all participants, so they can "adjust their watches" (lamest excuse in the book). If you have fish to weigh and think you may be in the money - you better be a few minutes early to check in and err on the safe side. No excuses for lateness in returning for weigh-in, other than mechanical problems with the boat requiring a tow back to the ramp. Personally, I would not put any money up on a tournament that "overlooked" a late return without incurring a penalty, and a fairly steep one at that.

[TN_Bassin]

In a club i fish you have to be around the bend in the creek in sight of the boat ramp by 2:59 after that you get knocked for late. THis was really only enforced last year when people would come in right as the scales were being put up. Let it slide one week, the next they were wondering why they didnt get to weigh their fish...

[flfireman]

At boat ramp at weigh in is pretty standard for the tourneys I fish. I usually fish alone so I pull up, yell Im here and then find a place to tie off and get my fish. If you are late enough that the scales have been put up already...you lost.

[BassFeverJohn]

I have never fished in a tourney, but if I were I would consider late to be after the deadline. No excuses. Getting your spot snipped by some douche that couldn't keep track of time in a clutch situation should never happen. Not in fishing, or any other competition.

[nikldac]

Here's the rule as it is in our club:
" a. LATE PENALTY: A one (1) pound penalty for each minute late will be assessed for anyone not at the check-in site on time."


As club president; I guarantee you, that rule is enforced.