[bootheelboy]

JP and Mike Webb put on another awesome event! This is the biggest thing the sport has ever seen and with out JP and Bass pro, this wasn't possible. So yes, I went in and paid my appreciation to Mr. Morris and spent some $$!

The only suggestion I have is for all of the people that competed in the tournament that were NOT at the BAA meeting,... PLEASE join the BAA and attend the meetings. We can not get the things that you want accomplished if you do not show up and let us know. We are here for YOU, to help protect YOUR rights, but we can not do that if you do not join and support the organization!

 

[walteman]

Not buying the agent story. All five lakes have bowfisherman on them every weekend. And yes I will be there again next year along with 99% of the guys and gals that were there this year

I don't give a chit if you buy it or not. First time we were somewhere down by hwy 86, could really tell you exactly where. it was a GW in a white boston whaler with twin 250's on the back. checked our licenses, life vests, insurance stuff. then told us we had to be facing the shore to have our "spotlights" on or we would be ticketed for impeding navigation. in his words "there could be some 75 year old guy driving around out here that has a hard time seeing the way it is". He had never heard of the tournament until we told him.
the second one was a very pleasant young lady and a guy in a bass boat that chased us down in the back of a cove with nothing but a spotlight up by cape fair marina. We dint' know what the hell was going on and were getting ready to thrown down until we saw the uniform and she identified herself. She is the one that told us we had to have our fish separated and identified by who shot them.

 

[Cajun_Ag]

Had fun. Trumman sucks, but it was like shooting back home. Most places less than 2' visibility where we found fish. Our big fish were gone come Saturday, but even then I estimated a 250# bag prior to the shoot so it would not have panned out either way. We ended up with 196#. I would like to see a total weight shoot. Fill the boat!!

 

[Flathead76]

When the starting time was 5 pm I was a little concerned that the areas might get fish blown out from teams fishing it early. That is why in scouting that we tried to find places that were not as obvious. The first two nights we saw like zero fish.......seriously. Finally early saturday morning we found an area that had some serious fish. The entire four hours just before dark we only saw one boat. We were excited because we thought that we could cash a check with no problem and not have to play bumper boats all night. Then we get the news in a total down pour that the start time was bumped up to 4pm. With our bad starting position the earlier teams had a massive advantage of being able to get onto fish and shoot before the latter teams. When we get there there were 15 boats just destroying the area in that time frame where it is damn near impossible to see into the water at sun set. Obviously the locals already knew of the area. Crfishunter at least you had a back up plan. We litterally had the fish blown out of the area and they never came back. I have no problem with the hard work of finding fish and tring to figure out a pattern. Its beyond frustrating driving 700 miles to finally find winning fish and not even getting a chance to hunt them.

The announcement over the PA that we could leave an hour early was absolutely ridiculous. You cant make a change like that in the pouring rain from a PA stand outside? Absolutely not okay. I talked to several people who had a late start because of it. Other than that I thought it went really pretty smooth considering the huge amounts of people and boat traffic in that area! We picked Pomme to shoot and it was absolutely a let down. Ended up rolling to Stockton which was better but disappointing as well.

 

[Flathead76]

The captains meeting being scheduled on friday in springfield hurts the out of town fisherman. We already have to drive long distances just to get to shoot the open. We had to drive over an hour just to get into springfield. Then we have to find a place were we can park with our boat in a crowded lot. Then we have to try and figure out where the meeting is at. By the time we actually get there the room is so jammed packed that we can not even hear the rules because we had to stand just outside of the doorway of the room. It should be on saturday because every hour of sleep is very important just to try and not get gased while fishing the tourney let alone the very long haul to get home after the tourney. I didnt get home til 6am this morning. It starts to become a safety issue.

 

[Drylander]

I don't give a chit if you buy it or not. First time we were somewhere down by hwy 86, could really tell you exactly where. it was a GW in a white boston whaler with twin 250's on the back. checked our licenses, life vests, insurance stuff. then told us we had to be facing the shore to have our "spotlights" on or we would be ticketed for impeding navigation. in his words "there could be some 75 year old guy driving around out here that has a hard time seeing the way it is". He had never heard of the tournament until we told him.
the second one was a very pleasant young lady and a guy in a bass boat that chased us down in the back of a cove with nothing but a spotlight up by cape fair marina. We dint' know what the hell was going on and were getting ready to thrown down until we saw the uniform and she identified herself. She is the one that told us we had to have our fish separated and identified by who shot them.

I believe you had GW issues, two weeks ago I had the same issues on a different lake. I hope soon we will have clear to the point regs because right now we have some grey area as far as when your able to run lights and fish seperation...

 

[crfishhunter]

We also got checked by gw all they wanted to see was our fishing lisence and how many fish we had. Nothing else was said. They where flipping the cherries on every boat they saw.

 

[Hacksaw]

I thought it was a smart move on their part to have it at their store that way people are spending money there. Having registration at the farthest back point in the store was just a good marketing play they had to have lost alot of money the last two years hosting this tourney so why not have it there and maybe make some money this year . I cant see where letting everyone go ab hr early hurt anything might as well been driving as sitting in the truck waiting for the rain to pass i doubt the early turn out put anyone at a disadvantage people were still gonna fish the same spots. Ive been pulled over and checked in little local tourneys and they always act like they dont know what is going on had the gw show up at one tourney just before take off and wanted to have a meeting with everyone and do boat checks i think they all play dumb for a reason . I got pulled over on table rock because they didnt like my stern lights that 3 wardens in Ks said were just fine made me go to the bank and stay within 50 feet of it they were really nice guys about it he knew all about the tourny even knew about the captains meeting on saturday he was walking around the boat parking lots in plain clothes with a big back pack . I thought they gave everyone the option to drive thru the staging area they told me i could drive thru or go park. Great tourney i thought we found some good fish friday night and they werent there sat night but that aint the first tourney thats ever happened at . Thank you Jp for hosting this amazing event .

 

[Realtree555]

I had an equipment issue that really blew the night and I'm still ticked off about it, but...we completely enjoyed ourselves. We scouted every night, hit a couple different lakes and finally found good fish Friday night. We fished 5 straight nights. I never get to do that at home. Saturday night started well, we had some really good ones in the barrel and were chipping away at a good haul. Then at 12:30 the trolling motor fried. Melted the brushes and housing so bad I couldn't free them up. We were done. Nothing I could do. 35$ part that I ordered today. Talk about a kick in the nuts.
It was the first time we have been there and I plan on going back next year. My only complaint is about changing times after they are already set ahead of time. Didn't hurt me but I'm sure the early start got a few other guys. Overall, great tournament and great time! Keep up the good work JP. Thanks for all you do for us.

 

[junebug]

i think they should have kept it at the lodge where they had it last year...

 

[MarkinMissouri]

The wait between weigh in was a bit awkward. I also wish there was more seating. The fact that they altered the leave time was perfectly fine to me. Why expose people to un necessary drenching. In our lot I only saw a couple of boats not leave when released. hard to imagine that if your boat was where it was supposed to be that you wouldnt have figueed it out. Actually messed us up more than it helped us but I'm glad they didn't have us standing in the rain for no reason. Dont know if they did or not but an Email blast or group text would have solved the problem?

I would also love to see an actual leader board. Most of us aren't vying for first. We are trying to break the top ten, fifteen. It's hard to keep track when you haven't slept for a day or two.

I also heard about the mystery team that showed up late to the weigh in. Anybody know the scoop there?

 

[Djbmmb]

Team allowed to weigh in late is garbage. Not sure why they allowed that.

I did think that it went smother out of big cedar than at Springfield.

And the boston whaler was not and gw it was water patrol. If he check your fishing tag he was out of line that is not his job. Them acting like they knew nothing about the tournament is b s, because I know for a fact that they had a meeting with all patrol man about the tournament. If they did that that is crap and in my opinion un professional.

 

[Leet]

I thought it was awesome. fished all night and didn't see a single boat. Ended up 20th, but would have been nice to have a couple extra shooters in the boat, as we only had 2! Can't wait till next year!

 

[walteman]

I also heard about the mystery team that showed up late to the weigh in. Anybody know the scoop there?

I was sitting there watching the boats pull up to the main stage and a frantic guy walked up and asked the group of us where the weigh in line was. I pointed over to where it was and told him where to pull around. Looked at the guy next to me, checked the time and it was 8:30! there were still a lot of boats in line for weigh-in, so i assumed he just got in line? I guess they could have told him no when he got in line, but with that many trucks waiting that long i doubt anyone noticed.

 

[bowfishin bill]

I was also stopped by the m.d.c. but it was no big deal, only time during the tournament there wasn't a boat 20' from us. We were eating dinner down the street when we noticed boats going past one after the other W.T.F. ???? It was 4:05 we left our food on the table and headed for the truck. Highway patrol had the road shut down so we jumped a couple curbs between 2 officers and headed towards the boat. Prime example why you can't go changing things. Not sure I'll go back.

 

[whiteriverrambo]

not sure why everyone was thrown off by the early start. we were all told to be at the store between 2or3 incase of boat inspections and to get parked. I was looking forward to competing in the deep water tank shoot. the shooting was cut off when I got there at 3pm. no one knew when it was going to take place. the captain's meeting was a joke. in no way should you be asking about state laws to a tournament director. it is not his responsibility to educate you on lighting or counting fish. the spread out approach worked but why not have the main stage where you can park all the boats. the walking back and forth was terrible in 93degree heat. this is why no one attended the BAA meeting, it was a long walk and Matt from AMS was giving a seminar inside the store. better off having everything together and captain meeting and tournament release should go in order. lastly I felt like the previous opens were more personal the settings were calm and collective not so spread out. I expected swag give aways, didn't see any.

love this destination shoot. its easily one of the most difficult shoots I attempt. from hundreds of miles of water that's typically crystal clear takes me way out of my element. and I love the challenge.

 

[whiteriverrambo]

we can all get out voices heard in a orderly fashion. I'm sure there will be another survey sent out this year.

 

[jlmww8]

My family and I had a good time. I'm surprised about the complaints on early start. With a shoot of this magnitude I was amped up and couldn't wait to get started and the extra hour of shooting seemed like a bonus but I have never participated in an event this size. Also, we had a good night so that helps my opinion as well. Am already excited for next year.