Mississippi River Spring Fling - May 13th

[mn_bowhunter]

Hey guys,

The Mississipppi River Spring Fling will be on the Mississippi River on May 13th, out of Ike's Park in Wabasha. Open to all navigable waters. Rules will be nearly identical to the fall derby. Please read all rules below. My contact info is listed below as well.

Wabasha (Ike's Park Boat Ramp). Launch out of Ike's, will have to park in Bridge Street dirt lot adjacent. Here is a map of where the Bridge St dirt lot is located in relation to the boat ramp. https://goo.gl/maps/H5BLAgRmNKK2
Beach boats to the EAST side of the docks - they will not be available to us to use. Please show up plenty early.
Tourney time will be 8:00am til 4:00pm.
Take off number will be given at check in. It is the duty of the last boat in the draw to call numbers and send boats off. Please allow boats in front of you to get on plane.
Check in will be morning of event, and you need to check in with me and pay.
Waters for event will be Pools 4 & 5 (No trailering and navigating to other pools must be done by boat through the locks)
Cost is $50 per boat
Two people per team/boat maximum.
Payout is 40% to 1st place, 30% 2nd place, 20% 3rd place, and 10% to big bass.


1. 5 Fish Limit(Largemouth and Smallmouth) - 14" minimum length
2. Under the age of 18 years you must fish with a parent or guardian
3. All anglers will wear approved flotation vest or jacket when the combustion engine is running and tethered to the kill switch
4. All Minnesota boating and fishing regulations apply
5. Must have valid fishing license
6. Absolutely NO LIVE BAIT. Violating will result in disqualification (Pork Trailer is not live bait)
7. Participants are allowed to leave the boat for emergencies or to use the restroom only. Leaving the boat for any other reason will result in disqualification
8. Winners will be determined by total weight of 5 fish limit of Large & Smallmouth Bass by pounds. (Ex. 13.94lb bag). 14" minimum
9. Weighing a short fish will result in a one pound penalty per fish plus no weight for the short bass. 14”minimum
10. Dead fish will receive one pound penalty per dead fish
11. Ties will be broken by: Number of bass, then Biggest Bass if still tied the prize money will be split
12. All bass will be released after the weigh-in absolutely no exception. Please release from the END OF THE DOCK and not from the shore
13. Late penalty Take-off: Every Team must check in with tournament officials (Wyatt Hayes or Josh Shackleford) and have live wells checked at least 15 MINUTES PRIOR TO START TIME
If you miss the check-in time you forfeit your tournament slot and will NOT be refunded. Teams will check in as they launch their boat.
14. Late penalty Weigh-ins: Any team late for weigh-in will be disqualified. Weigh-ins will start at posted times, if you bag your fish you won’t be able to weigh in til the posted time. Please do not bag your fish early until the weigh-in station is setup and ready
15. Please just be early we don’t want to penalize anyone, and it’s not fair to us or other anglers
16. Breaking of fishing, boating or tournament rules are grounds for disqualification
17. Tournament official’s decisions are final
18. By paying the entry fee, you agree to the rules and agree that all liabilities of tournament staff are waived with no exceptions
19. Everyone must have current liability insurance for themselves - the tournament is not liable for any incidents
20. There is an OFF LIMITS of fishing inside the park. The off limits starts from the sign at the entry of the park all the way throughout. You can fish the main channel outside the park.




All rules apply to tournament day only. PM or email me with any questions. hayeswg4@gmail.com


If someone wants to bring a grill and donate some dogs, burgers or brats, tasty refreshments that would be great. Hanging around after is highly encouraged. Would like to meet other BBC'ers and know what your screen name is.


-Wyatt
612-799-1385

[BigBrownBass]

That is the same date and ramp as the Brian Robison Reel em in Foundation tournament...

[mn_bowhunter]

Well I suppose I might have to change the date or change the ramp.

[mn_bowhunter]

His tournament is May 14th, Sunday.

[hydrashack]

In.

Looking forward to getting out on open water.

[mn_bowhunter]

Keeping the date of May 13th. Please post here or e-mail me to let me know you are in so I can get an accurate count of boats.

Look forward to it!

[mn_bowhunter]

FYI, this tournament is open to anyone you want to invite. PM or e-mail me for info. If I get more than 25 boats, can always pull a permit and use entry fees to cover the cost.

Denny's has a tournament the same day, same ramp, but we have coordinated to have different start/end times to not bump into one another.

[bass-o-maticjm]

I'm assuming with 8:00-4:00, you're going out and coming back later than Denny's?

[mn_bowhunter]

Correct. Denny's is 7:30am-3:30pm. We may end up doing the weigh in on the beach/shore of Malone Park just to avoid any potential conflict. Shouldn't be a problem.

[mn_bowhunter]

Remember to PM or e-mail me to sign up.

[KBush]

His tournament is May 14th, Sunday.

I'm pretty sure B Rob's Tourney is a 2 day event. Saturday is the VIP Auction boat tourney (~50 boats) and Sunday is the open (~100 boats).

[mn_bowhunter]

I was informed by his group that Saturday is a media event, and there will be a FLW Trailer (of unknown size to me) in the Ike's Parking Lot, which will affect the Denny's Tournament too. I was told that Saturday was a celebrity event recently - no other details than that. I contacted them long ago when he posted his tournament dates about Saturday and never got any response.

Worst case scenario is we launch the boats in Ike's, and go park at the dirt parking lot just like you would do for the St. Jude's. For weigh in, if we have to, we can go through the first bridge and beach the boats at Malone Park. Shouldn't be an issue, just have to be somewhat flexible.

We can always go to a different ramp location on the river, just creates a whole new issue. I think if we park the trucks/trailers in the dirt parking lot and beach the boats at Malone's we will be fine. I have informed Denny as well as the tournament coordinator for the B-Rob tournament as that's our plan for Saturday and they were happy that we could be accommodating and flexible.

[Boone2004]

Move it down to Winona MN and not worry about any conflict?

[hydrashack]

I will be there on the 13th to fish.

It is impossible to not have conflicts, have perfect weather, be within 20 miles of everyone's front door and make sure everyone turns in a 20 pound sack.

Thanks for putting this together Wyatt.

[mn_bowhunter]

Winona is a long ways farther south than Wabasha when a lot of guys are going to be coming from the cities area.

I am going to just have to stick to the Wabasha area, and after talking with Denny's and Brian there is plenty of room for us all. Like I said - worst case scenario we will park our trailers in the dirt lot, and for weigh in we will either beach on the other side of the docks, or we can go under the bridge and beach at Malone Park.

[Boone2004]

Yeah it's about 20 minutes farther. Was just thinking out loud.

[mn_bowhunter]

So here's the deal. We will launch our boats from Ike's Park. We will then have to park them in the dirt lot on Bridge Avenue. About a 5 min walk. Here's a map--> https://goo.gl/maps/aVUkzgjTbg52


We will do the weigh-in at Malone Park. We'll pull in to Ike's Park with the boats, and idle through the park and then under the bridge and then beach the boats at Malone's. See the pic below. Contact me with any questions. Look forward to it!

[mn_bowhunter]

***UPDATE***

I spoke with Brian last night, and he is CHANGING the off limits rule for his Sunday tournament to 8pm the night before (Saturday) - so now if you want to fish both you are able to.

[hydrashack]

Nice.

[lucasm01]

Geez! I didnt know you and Mr. Robison were on a first name basis! Fancy that!