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If you fished the Rockin' Reds Tournament in Panacea last weekend and have any comments, ideas, suggestions on how to make it better, would you please let me know? We sought suggestions after last year's tournament which resulted in this year there being a Trout Jackpot added, as well as 5 places being paid out instead of 3 like the first year. We already have a few ideas on ways to improve it, but we'd love to hear from those who participated on what they thought went well and what could be improved. In advance, thanks. Chris

Don't have it on my wife's birthday!

onefishtwofish wrote: ↑June 28th, 2022, 2:22 pm Don't have it on my wife's birthday!

A $150 entry fee and a $50 Jackpot fee ($200 total) did pay out $6,300 for just two Redfish. Maybe next year if it falls on her BD you can make the case that ya'll "NEED" to be fishing so you can win some money to buy her something really nice

I fish about 8-10 different tournaments each year. All are catch, photo & release

Great thread! Directing tournaments is really difficult. I fished the pensacola Bud-lite rodeo and couldn’t participate, but it sounds like a great tournament. Good luck. Hope to fish it next year.

cotton wrote: ↑June 28th, 2022, 7:37 pm I fish about 8-10 different tournaments each year. All are catch, photo & release

Cotton I think you and I are in the minority here on the "let me show you my meat" forum.

So yes, my suggestion is to drag the tournament into the modern technology age and quit killing the biggest and best breeding stock for a few bucks.

I really don't want to say I told you so when everyone is bitching about how the fishing has gone to crap around here. There are more and more and more fishermen every year. Not one inch of new water is available to fish. This equals more hours of fishing effort per acre of water every year. The resource is under ever-increasing human pressure, every day. A tournament can either encourage and educate fishermen to correctly catch and release for the future, or pressure them to target and kill all the big ones for a few bucks and bragging rights.

I would probably fish more tournaments if they were CPR(catch, photo, release). I guess I am in the minority.

I vote for C-P-R, since it would force me to get better with using my smartphone that I absolutely detest but my wife now makes me carry.

I get what y'all are saying, but if I were fishing for 2 days at the coast, I would very likely keep my two legal redfish and eat them. I love redfish to eat. I keep very little fish to freeze so only keep when I intend to eat it soon. Isn't that what most folks do?

PS Before someone says something, that gator trout in my pic was gill hooked and was not going to live. There were 4 guys fishing that day, so we were keeping some fish.

I’m in agreement with the CPR format. Not everyone has a live well or ethics.

onefishtwofish wrote:I get what y'all are saying, but if I were fishing for 2 days at the coast, I would very likely keep my two legal redfish and eat them. I love redfish to eat. I keep very little fish to freeze so only keep when I intend to eat it soon. Isn't that what most folks do?

PS Before someone says something, that gator trout in my pic was gill hooked and was not going to live. There were 4 guys fishing that day, so we were keeping some fish.

Many CPR tournaments let you keep fish if you want. Your just not required to harvest the trophy ones.

cotton wrote: ↑July 6th, 2022, 10:35 amMany CPR tournaments let you keep fish if you want. Your just not required to harvest the trophy ones.

Would that allow for the largest fish caught to be overslot, or does that depend on individual tournament rules?

If overslot were allowed that would change dynamics a lot. Much different catching bulls in the pass than working a flat. Would definitely be a length tournament vs a weight tournament. Also would require connecting with everyone shortly before launch to hand out tokens that would need to be included in the picture. Not opposed to cpr, but it would be a change from most the tournaments in our area

No one can tell you you can't keep a legal fish within your legal limit for the area you are fishing. So you can take a picture for the tournament, submit it, and then release that same fish right into your cooler to become tasty fish tacos if you like.

I kept and cooked the tagged Redfish I caught back in 2017. It was quite tasty.

And.....photo release would allow for the largest overall length fish to win, regardless of the slot limit.

On a side note, I'll bet Scoop Sea is getting tired of all these CPR tournament posts. Willkillya county is probably not going in that direction anytime soon. Sorry to derail your thread.

Showboat in the tournaments I've been around the big prize was for total inches caught, not the biggest fish. So your honey holes of 26.999999" Reds is still good. lol

The fish do have to meet a certain minimum size, just no maximum size limit.