Not all tourneys end with smiles. Big Time DQ - or not ???

[Texas Transplant]

Okay, guys and gals. I'll give you the situation, let you comment, then let you know what happened as a result.



Our club had a 2 day tournament on Russell this weekend. We drew for partners, ramp location, and starting times at Tuesday night's meeting.



Ramp - Calhoun Falls State Park (opens at 6:00AM)

Sat. Time - 6:30AM - 3:30PM

Sun. Time - 6:30AM - 2:00PM



We got up at the motel both days, and most went to the local Huddle House for breakfast, then on to the lake. On Sunday, my boater partner and I (for the weekend), were about ready to leave HH when nature called (for me). After a short delay, we left (everyone else had already left.



We made a quick stop at a Gas/Food/Bait Shop, about 8 minutes from the ramp so my partner could get some drinks. Nature called for him. Need to understand that my partner for the weekend had his right leg removed above the knee 18 months ago, so he moves kinda slow. Took about a 15 minute delay.



We get to the lake, and everyone is staged and ready to go at the boundry of the no wake zone, at 6:20PM. We are geting the boat into the water, and everyone leaves/blasts off. It is 6:26AM by my watch. We comment that our 'President' must have started them early, again.



Point of note, the VP and Tournament Director for our club was my partner for the weekend.



We got in the water, and one of our boats came back to both pick something up and check on us. We then left and fished for the day.



We came back near the ramp at about 1:00PM, to fish some points we had been successful on Fri/Sat. About 1:30PM, another boat came into the area. We both motored over to the ramp, and were trailered at about 1:45/1:50PM. I mentioned to my partner that it was strange that only 2 boats were back.



Upon parking the boat, the other boater told us that our President had told everyone on the water, that check-in was 2:30PM.



Most arrived between 15 and 25 minutes after the hour. When our President finally got in, he was called over and had a talk with our VP/Tourney director.



Here are our rules.



VP/Tourney Director shall run all the club tourneys.



Late check in: 1lb penatly for each minute late. After 15 minutes, boat and anglers are DQ'd from the event.



Only 2 boats made it back by 2:00PM (only 2 were there by 2:15PM also). Quite a number of anglers had limits of fish to weigh.



Clarification - only 2 boats made it under the wire. All others were past the permissible time. Sorry for the confusion.



Questions:



What should be done in regards to the rules?



I'll let you have a crack at your take, then post up what actually happened a little later today.



Tex

 

[Rich D]

Tough call. Following the rules exactly, only 4 boats should have weighed in and the rest disqualified. But then you are punishing people for listening to a club official that should know the rules and what can be changed. I think the president should have been disqualified and allow the 2:30 end time.



Rich D

 

[Jim B]

I guess it all depends on how serious you are. In my club while we are serious about our tournaments we are all friends first. The first thing we would have done is call the tournament director to find out if he is going to be late them let him know if he is going to be late that we will blast off without him and let him know what time to be in. We also have an unwritten rule in our club that if you are late you need to fins someone in the club and let him know that you are here and if you are in the pools for the day or not. Its more a courtesy thing then it is a rule. There is no way we would dq almost the whole club for something like this. I would think should something like that happen it would cause some serious problems in the club. We are all friends first and we try to keep it fun. We would let it slide and make sure it dosent happen again. You should put an end time in your tournament rules, what we do is all tournaments start at 7(state law in NH) and end at 3. We have had times where we have ended them early or later but it is decided well in advance of the tournament so everyone knows the times. 99% of the time we follow the start and end times in our rules.

 

[gone bye bye]

What was the purpose of selecting a start and end time of the tournament if the Prez is going to do what he wants at the time?



I think everyone should have been dq'd and only the two teams that were in on time should be allowed to weigh fish.



If they can get away with it in a club tournament the will expect to get away with it in other tournaments. They dont run tournaments that way around here.....



Mini

 

[Bill McElroy]

Tex,...you need to find a new club,....your "President" does what he wants to anyway....aqua-vu's during tournaments,...fishing with "preserved" bait,...bends the rules to fit his needs...etc..etc...



I'd walk away from those turkey's...IMO.

 

[Texas Transplant]

Mac,



Actually, your suggestion is one that I have been considering, to some degree. He's a young guy, and his reign as President might be coming to an end. He's been President for several years now.



It will be interesting to see what shakes out in the next few weeks. I have a Federation District meeting tomorrow night. I'm going to do some information gathering to determine what the makeup is of some of the other clubs in the area.



I'll give it a little while longer, before I post up the rest of the information.



Tex

 

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

I'm sorry to say that these are some of the reasons that I stopped belonging to a club or have tournament fished for a number of years.

Only two should have been allowed a total weigh-in and two others should have been penalized.



Bill

 

[Brian Ingersoll]

It would be hard to DQ everyone since the President of the club had announced the tournament hours at the blast off. USUALLY the president should know what is going on (that is his job). In our club the T. Director makes the on the water announcements and calls out the boat #'s. I can't imagine (in a small club) trying to blast off early while the T. Director is putting his boat in the water. The President overstepped his boundaries by changing the hours and blasting off early and should be removed from office.

 

[TrepMan]

Tex - You should have come to KY, would have solved ALL the problems!!! LOL

 

[Texas Transplant]

Trep,



Based upon what I caught this weekend - you are right. I'm not sure that the extra few points I got, was worth it. Certainly not based upon what happened. However, I did get to fish with someone I've been wanting to fish with for some time.



Tex

 

[Michael Snow]

I'd say "let it ride".



After all, the tourney director didn't show up early as should be an expectation. At that point, I would consider the Tourney Director to be a no-show and whoever the by-laws say is the alternate in case the TD doesn't make it, should have made the call. All rules subject to change and any changes made public before launch. It sounds like all of that happened.



At WORST, the president overstepped his bounds and this should be made clear at the next meeting. Otherwise, it has to go down as a "misunderstanding" and everyone weight their fish.

 

[Pierre Voisine]

If it's clear the VP/Director is the authority allowed to make changes, then rules apply as thay for the past. President or not, you can't change for the sake of change. I agree with Mac and mini, we don't have that kind stuff happen here, everything is in writting and if you want to change a rule it has to be voted in and approved months ahead of time.



but my guess is they let slide, everybody was allowed to weight in regardless of the time they ended their day.







Pierre

 

[Texas Transplant]

The other side of the story . . . .





Here's what happened.



The other boat that came in with us at 2:00PM, said that he just wasn't willing to trust our leader, since he get's things wrong all the time. That's why he came back in at 2:00PM - since he remembered it from the meeting.



When the President came in, he was asked to go talk to the Tourney Director/VP, who was waiting for him. They talked for about 5 minutes. The Tourney director confirmed for him that I double checked the meeting minutes and the tourney rules.



The 'Pres' then walks back towards everyone else and announces that anyone not back by 2:15PM, was disqualifed from the event. That meant all boats, except the two that were back. He told everyone not to bother weighing in, and put them back in the lake.



Needless to say, 3 or 4 were very bitter and upset, stating they were quitting. Had enough. This included our Treasurer, who had his son (teenager) with him for the weekend.



About 1/2 of the members took it in stride. Most stated, 'I am responsible' - we choose the time at the meeting.



The guy that it most affected, was our weigh-master. He weighed in a decent sack on Saturday (2nd), and had over 10lbs and probably the big sack on Sunday. Would have meant 1st place pot money (about $25.00), plus first place overall (points) and first place Team Plaque. His comment, 'I should have known better. Johnny (not real name) NEVER gets it right. Why did I listen to him. Well, it's my mistake.'



Overall, it will not have much effect, since almost the entire club got nothing but 'meeting points'. Only three people will get tourney points - but the others should at least get meeting points (yeah, it's somewhat complicated).



This is what will happen:



1st - 112 points

2nd - 111 points

3rd - 110 points (that's me)



All others that fished were DQ'd.



Meeting/dues points is 10 points less than the lowest points earned.



All others should get 100 points. In reality, the 'penalty' turns out to be minimal, since it affects almost everyone.



The tourney director said that he would write a letter to everyone. Hopefully, this will serve to better align the 'roles and responsibilites' within the club. However, the President probably has a big chore on his hands.



Thanks for the opinions and feedback.



Tex

 

[Texas Transplant]

Mike,



The tourney director was at the landing before blast off. In addition, since I was his partner, my cell phone was on my belt. President could have checked with me very easily. If we were going to be 'late', then I would have called him. Since we weren't going to be late, or were late, it was inmaterial to us whether we actually blasting off at 6:30 or 6:32 (which is when we motored out).



In addition, our rules are not changeable at all. Per our bylaws, our rules can only be changed once a year, in January. They had too many problems with the rules being changed to 'fit the situation' in prior years, as I understand it.



Obviously, there will always be at least 2 different opinions on what should/should not have been done (more than likely many opinions).



We'll either get this straightened out, or we won't. If it results in our roles/responsibilities and functioning improving, then it would have been worth it.



Tex

 

[gone bye bye]

Sounds like a new president is in order.



If you let stuff "slide" it will all "slide". Afterall that are what rules are for!



Mini

 

[Texas Transplant]

Mini,



Thankfully, we did hear that phrase uttered by a number of our members - that is what the rules are for. Hopefully clearer heads will prevail, and maybe a few of us learned something in the meantime.



Tex

 

[Texas Transplant]

Geo,



Appreciate your insight. However, I do have a question?



Do you only enforce the rules when it's convienent, or do it as a matter of principle? After all, they are called rules, not guidelines.



It's not a money thing, for the only money that is involved is the voluntary $5.00 pot that about 70% of the anglers throw into.



I did talk to one of our other members last night (who called me), and it seems as though he (and potentially others), were more upset in the way it was announced and handled.



We'll see how this unfolds over the next several weeks. I'm attending a district federation meeting tonight (where our President may also be in attendance). I plan on talking to our district rep, and get his input.



Tex

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Geeeze Louise......can anybody go fish for fun in a club or is every clubs rule book the size of a World Book Encylopedia????? Why-o-why do you consider this fun??? I could see it if there was a substantial amount of $$ involved (i.e., BFL,FLW, Federation, etc.) but c'mon, talk about taking all the fun out of it.....



TOXIC

 

[Michael Snow]

TX... our rules are different. Our TD sets everything, but it IS changable at the ramp. For instance, if you knew a big storm was coming in at noon, you couldn't change that? Tourney or not, there are some things not worth risking a life over.



If the TD isn't in attendance, there is a back-up person allowed to run the show (and change times, etc).



I guess it all comes down to how the rules are written. I'd say if the TD can't make it there on-time (ours is boats in the water at 5:45, blastoff at 6, but that's not a "rule"), I'd consider at 5:45 figuring out who the Tourney Director would be for that day.

 

[gone bye bye]

Geo and others good points....BUT in Geo's "5. Be utilized as a base for expanding into higher levels ". This is where the problem lies. If you have no desire to continue to a "higher" level, no big deal. Just go to a lake and fish....have fun, the sport really is a riot.



BUT If you do aspire to go further, you need the basics of what rules are and why EVERYONE should adhere to them. If I had a dollar for every person that siad "We never did it like that in our club" I would be rich enough to sponsor LaMoy for the FLW....lol



Realize that there are rules for a reason, stand by them and dont budge a millimeter. It worked for BASS in establishing the legitimacy of the "Sport of Bass Fishing" and it should not be compromised.



Mini



PS Toxic, for some people everchanging standards or rules are not fun.....

 

[Texas Transplant]

Some of the older members of the club, have indicated that the reason that our rules/by laws can only be changed once a year, is that a number of years ago - they were changed whenever anyone felt like it needed to be addressed. In short, operation by almost no rules. Even to the point of changing them to suit the situation, then changing them back.



Now, we can only change them once a year.



And to answer the question by Snowman (above), we have the ability to change landings and/or cancel a tournament due to situation or weather. The other thing we did, was put into our rules the following:



'Any situation that is not covered specifically by the Rock Hill Bass Club rules/by-laws, will be covered by the SC Federation handbook (rules/bylaws).' It is far more detailed than ours is, and covers most near any situtation.



Tex