The Vidalia-area clubs mostly have 1 horn WOT race or WOT on 2nd horn...be it 10 or 30 boats...
please post your club policy and usual # of boats.
Just curious from a safety and legal exposure of the club angles.
Add if there has been an accident during the blastoff time (15 minutes or so) the past 2-3 years...
Thanks...
2018 Z19/200 Optimax 2 stroker 24x3 Fury Ultrex 112
Lowrance HDS 12/9 Lives with AT 2
I fished in a local club that used to let everyone go at once and one morning some guys in a bullet decided they were going to the front of the pack. it was half dark and they were passing boats on right ,left etc. they got almost to the front when i went to make a right hand turn for which i had slowed down and made sure everyone was behind me he tried to pass me on the right. His passenger was ejected and hit a bridge piling killing him, he sustained several broken bones as did me and my passenger. Totaled his boat beat my stratos up pretty good and messed up 4 families for a long time. there were lawsuits,insurance companies,wildlife and fisheries,state police grand juries and et cinvolved afterwards it was not a fun ordeal. that is why i cuation everyone to be carreful in these situations . This single incident ended my serious tx fishing completely for a few years and is still ended for the most part even now it really took a toll on my outlook to the sport of competitve fishing. Doug
I am suprised that "shotgun starts" are still used at all to be honest.
the crowley bass club just has a blast off we only have about 15 boats . i also fish the the thursdaynight king of henderson tourments and we blast off by boat numbers. normaly call boats numbers like every 30 seconds to be on the safe side. a couple of the other tourments i fish we can trailer to different landings so we just blast off on our by our self at safe daylate
Derek Picard
When we had alot of members in our club we pulled numbers at our meeting,but now we"re lucky to have 8 or 9 boats so we just idle out one behind the other and take off.
21XDC / 250 PROXS
This is my opinion only, but you should stop this kinda blast off NOW.With all the high powered boats out there now, its not if but when someone gets hurt or killed.The last tx i was in that did that i probably had the fastest boat but sat still untill everyone took off.They had 2 close calls where everyone had to make a turn and there was some close fights because of it at the weigh in.I also knew the man Doug was talking about and was angry and sad at the same time because this could have been avoided.I thought this kinda thing ended several years ago.
Reelman please reconsider
JOHN202
I haven't fished many tx but I have been involved both the shot gun method and number type, also some that go off of honor and let you leave when you want. I prefer the honor one myself. You are usually leaving with just a couple boats at a time. I think the shotgun method is very unsafe. You have to remember though no matter how you do it someone from the back will be trying to catch up. Personally that many boats running at one time scares the hell out of me.
Modified by KRAMER 21XD at 9:24 PM 9/2/2009
SUSHII
21XRS/SHO
Even with picking numbers, slow boats will be passed and depending on the waterway it could get rough. The Diversion Canal here is bad when a lot of boats are running because the bulkheads make the water very unpredictable. I always wait til last.
Our club used to do a blast off a few years ago but now we basically just use the honor system. We just pay our money and ease off at whatever time you want and start fishing at whatever the official fishing time is. The blast offs are fun and exhilerating but they really can be dangerous. Especially on some of the smaller lakes we fish around here. I don't know of any accidents that have occured around here during blast off but I've heard of some really close calls. So I'm glad we don't have them.
20XD/250XS
now this is a great post , i fish the tuesday night dog fights and some saltwater tx and both clubs we fish with use the horsepower ruling. largest boats first down to the smallest. depending which water way we are in the time varys from 2 -5 minutes release time, i find this works very well, in my opinion normally your smaller boats that fish local tourneys dont run all that far anyways so that they can be back to weigh in on time. so it really works out well, if the water way is small the big boats can make it a little rough if there is big numbers but its still safer than shotgun,
Kevin Soileau
2007 21 xdc
250 xs
I wait too Roger, Let the big dogs go then i ease out. I seldon drive over 50 anymore anyway. It's amazing how long my engines last now compared to when I used to run them hard.
our club of about 20 boats blast off in the order you sign up. the last guy to the ramp calls out the numbers
I fish in borderline with you, and where I have never seen an accident, when we fished bushley earlier this year one of our members cut in front of me from about 40 yards to the right so close that if I wasn't paying attention his motor would have taken off the front of my boat, and my boat is way faster than his is, he never looked back, I don't even think he knew it happened, speed isn't everything and I really wish we could come up with something better.
We have been discussing this topic on my LouMissBass Forum...the younger guys are giving us cautious folks (with fast boats) frowny faces and static about any change to 2 flights (odd-even) if 10 or more boats fish.
Hope I can ghet a half dozen more posts to put on the Forum along with these...
2018 Z19/200 Optimax 2 stroker 24x3 Fury Ultrex 112
Lowrance HDS 12/9 Lives with AT 2
Tell them to call me and i can tell them what its like and how "IT ONLY HAPPENS TO OTHER PEOPLE"!
Too many other things that can kill you out there.Safety should always take first place in fishing tournaments.Dont let them knuckle heads that dont want change get to you. By you standing your ground could save someone's life.
JOHN202
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