Tourney Mistake/Misforutne/Mishap, Share Yours

[gambler1]

We’ve all had em. Not me but witnessed a costly one.
Was a big Tournament on Kissimmee chain several years ago like a 10K for winner.
Team sacked up their fish that no doubt was big fish and winning weight.
One guy stepped on the dock as the other reached to hand the bag off and must have had to much water
and momentum hit the side of dock or something and the bag split open.
All of the fish fell out bottom of bag right in the water. This happened in front of several people
and was a sickening sight and all felt so bad for them. If you remember the cheap weigh bags from BPS that was what they used.

[tcesni]

I only had one fish in a tourney and tossed it prior to weigh in since it was only a single fish. Turns out I would have taken second place..... LOL


Tom

I have to ask where the tourney was located (22 years in SE PA).

[mean_dean]

Not paying attention to conditions, in a protected area on Lake Erie, came out to return to the ramp to BIG waves. Took us 2 hours to get back on what should have been a 10 minute boat ride, we actually move away from the ramp working our way closer to shore at first. My boater lost his graph off the console and the TM broke, luckily he didn't lose it, we put it down in the floor.

[willwork4fish]

Got a hook stuck in my neck yesterday...partner called for the net, he decided to swing it in instead, fish came unbuttoned in the air (stayed in the boat though so didn't lose it) but ended up with a 4/0 Gammie in me. Was kinda funny because when I yelled he thought I was reacting to the fish coming off and he was like "No I got it"...then he saw the hook (luckily not past the barb).

[Fish.Team.Rose]

Woke up to my wife saying arent you fishing today? And 50 missed calls. Got to tje tourney 2 hours late. In a borrowed boat. Borrowed batteries. They died, so we left 3 hours early. Seat blew out on the way home. So i had to pay for a new seat, and wasted lots of gas.

but, i live in america so its not that big a deal

[LTZ25]

My tournament mishaps are mostly the part where I paid the entry .

[Walkabout7781]

Can't say I've had any terrible things happen to me, but saw a club member open the livewell hatch and watched a 5 lb LM jump out and into the lake. It was his boater's fish, which made it pretty embarrassing.

[mrdeath]

Had 2 keepers in a 3 fish evening jackpot tournament once. Decided to throw them back and not bother weighing only 2 fish. Turned out it was a super tough night and we would have gotten a check with the fish we had. We don't do that anymore!

[bcreek]

In most sports they now give ribbons for 13th place!

[PassPowered]

A few weeks ago I fished a club tournament, set an alarm for 2:30pm to make a 3:00pm weigh-in. Get a call from a club member as my alarm is going off, answer to him telling me I’m late to weigh-in and hurry up everyone is waiting on me. Come to find out the club posted on social media that they moved the weigh-in to 2:00pm. I was floored, I looked at the clubs rules voted in at the beginning of the season and sure enough weigh-in is supposed to be at 3:00pm unless a vote at the previous tournament changed it. I was at the previous tournament and there was no vote to change the time. I exercised my right to protest, but they decided to DQ me anyways because “I was the only one who didn’t come in at 2:00pm”. I said how can you not follow the rule voted on by the club but issue the penalty of that same rule!?!

Needless to say I won’t be fishing with them again! Worst part is I was leading AOY and with my DQ the guys who DQ’d me now sit 1, 2, 3 in the standings…go figure.

[HOGIE]

This year, seems my biggest mistake is paying the entry fee😟

[brianf.]

Fishing in a 125 boat team tournament with my son, we came in two fish short of our limit and none of them were big. Milling around the other boats at the weigh-in, I suggested we just toss the fish overboard and head home early so as not to deal with the embarrassment and the crowds at the scales. My son agreed, and then a minute later changed his mind. He wanted to weigh the fish just to get the experience. I reluctantly agreed. Turns out we finished fourth and cashed a check for $2000. Boy, did I feel dumb.

[BOW4UM]

Man I remember once long ago heading to the Chickahominy River in VA for tournament and a road crew had just sprayed the road with tar and the cones were not out and several bass boats and tow rigs rode thru it flinging tar all over their rigs and not just a little spray but tons of it!

[kpcbass]

Had a tournament were I was flipping marina docks. I hooked a fish and swing it into the boat. It comes off midair and hits the windshield and then the side of the boat and is headed back into the water. I dive for the fish and get my hand under it and flip the fish back in the boat. My momentum carries me forward, head first into the water. After I right myself, I hear a hissing sound. I was wearing my inflatable and the wafer was dissolving. A second later the live vest inflates. I didn't have another live vest in the boat so I had to wear the inflated vest every time I moved. But I got the fish and took 2nd in the tournament.

[ksubasser24]

I had a new tournament scale and was fishing a tournament with my wife who isn't much help handling the fish. The scale I had would tell you which number was your smallest fish and record it's new wait in that spot. I was catching cookie cutter 2 1/2 pounders. Caught one that I thought won't help but put it on the scale and it weighed 2 13. Didn't think anything of it and kicked out a 2 7. Caught another one that again I didn't think would help and scale said 3 1 so I kicked out another 2 7. Kept fishing and culled up from 12 1/2 lbs to about 15 the rest of the day. Went in and started pulling fish out of the well and was thinking man these are small. Ended up weighing 11 14. Went to inspecting my scale and somehow the chain was messed up making it read higher. I was culling 2 1/2 lb fish for 2 lb fish.

[Spot-a-saurus]

We’ve all had em. Not me but witnessed a costly one.
Was a big Tournament on Kissimmee chain several years ago like a 10K for winner.
Team sacked up their fish that no doubt was big fish and winning weight.
One guy stepped on the dock as the other reached to hand the bag off and must have had to much water
and momentum hit the side of dock or something and the bag split open.
All of the fish fell out bottom of bag right in the water. This happened in front of several people
and was a sickening sight and all felt so bad for them. If you remember the cheap weigh bags from BPS that was what they used.

That right there is a heartbreaker. I know any bag can fail but I try to invest in the “heavier” fabric/sewn bags if I can but not even those are a guarantee. I hate for that to happen to anyone. Even if their misfortune “benefits” me, I would rather get beat fair and square than have that happen to anyone