Late To Weigh In Question.

[gar-tracker]

I recently was penalized for being later to a weigh in after stopping for a boater in distress who flagged me down.

 

The delay caused me to be late.

 

How is this normally handled Iv been fishing tournaments for 30 years and have not run into this.

[Crappiebasser]

Our club requires us to call the tourney director before weigh in. I had the same situation a few years ago with a different club and it was decided to ask the other participants if anyone minded me weighing in without penalty for towing a pontoon in. No one minded and I weighed my sack without a deduction.

[flyfisher]

Seems pretty dumb that you are penalized for doing something that I believe is required by law.

[Broke bass fisherman]

Seems pretty dumb that you are penalized for doing something that I believe is required by law.

X2

[flyfisher]

How much did it change your final place in the tourney?

[Fishin24/7]

Yes we need the full story to give an accurate opinion.

[gar-tracker]

Full story, I was heading for the weigh in and was flagged down by a boater I turned and went back stopping, he stated he was out of oil, realizing it wasn't a dire emergency and everyone was all right I gave him my number explained I have to go the weigh in and advised him to call me and Ill send him help if he hasn't received any by that time.

 

The whole stop was about 5 minutes, I was 3 minutes late. It didn't matter in the money standings however  its a trail and the 3 pounds cost me several places.

 

Personally I feel none of the above is relevant, some one flags you done its morally  irresponsible not to find out that n one needs medical attention and like my situation the least one should do is render assistance.

 

How do the pros handle this, it doesn't seem like a sponsor would like a big wrapped boat passing a boat in distress..

[jbsoonerfan]

This is the exact reason I always leave in plenty of time to make it back to weigh in. If you're 10 minutes early, you're never late.

 

I understand wanting to fish every last minute you can, but I would rather be 20 min early as opposed to 2 min late.

[flyfisher]

Given your scenario seems pretty crappy to be penalized......coming from a non tourney angler

[Teal]

I commend you for stopping to help him. But if you were three minutes late and the stop took 5 minutes, you were already cutting it close.

A couple of the local clubs have it in their rules that they must stop to render assistance.

Besides in NC it is state law.

[Fishin24/7]

That's sucks man, the tournamnet director definitly made a bad call, you were cutting it pretty close on time but that's besides the point.

[gar-tracker]

All though cutting it close is true again I don't  feel its an issue if I didn't stop I would have made it.

 

I knew what I needed to make it allowing for weather and or locks in one thing but you cant plan for something like this.

 

What if I past and found later someone was having a heart attack or medical emergency.

 

Thanks for the input.

[SirSnookalot]

I don't fish tournaments but seems to me a sensible approach would be for every entrant to have a cell phone and or radio for communication to the people in charge of the tournament, then a committee can be sent for aid. I fish out in the ocean quite often, I wouldn't consider being out there without a means of communication.  Not only do we both have our cells with us, but the radio is never turned off in case we hear somebody.

In the event of medical emergency or danger it's a moral responsibility to render assistance, even if means a DQ.

[jhoffman]

I don't fish tournaments but seems to me a sensible approach would be for every entrant to have a cell phone and or radio for communication to the people in charge of the tournament

 

Many of the ones I fish it is mandatory!

[lmoore]

You should have called the tournament director to let him know the situation. Much easier for him to give the go ahead for you to help and be a couple minutes late than it is for him to believe your "excuse" after the fact.

[iabass8]

With the amount of accidents and fatalities we had on the river this past year you would have been commended for stopping. Pretty bad call on the directors part.

[ww2farmer]

Good job for stopping, it's what we should all do. As someone who has run a few tournaments, a rule is rule, I would have done the same to you as the tournament director in question. Now had you called in BEFORE check in time to report such an inccident, I can't speak for the director of your tournament, but I would have probably looked the other way or at least tried to get to the bottom of it to make sure every thing is on the up and up on why you were late, but it's a slippery slope. Let one guy do it, legit or not, and the next thing you know, guys would be calling in late with stories all the time to get a few extra minutes in.

[slonezp]

Rules are rules and laws are laws.

 

If I'm on familiar waters, I know how long it may take from point A to point B. If I'm on unfamiliar waters, I time myself from spot to spot so I have an Idea how long it takes to get back. Maybe it's just me, but I would never cut it that close. I give myself a 10 minute cushion for weigh in meaning I make an effort to show up 10 minutes before cut off.  

 

We had a tourney boats engine catch fire last year or the year before. Another tourney boat that was fishing the area towed them in and went back out to finish the day. That's what we as boaters, and more importantly, human beings do. Athough, never in a tournament situation, I have towed and been towed. It happens. 

[JimmyMack814]

I fished an ABA tournament last year and one of the guys was late to weigh in, because of an idiot lockmaster who wouldn't open the locks for him to get in, because an incoming barge that was still 2 miles out and according to the lockmaster, the barge had the right of way and no bass boats were allowed in the lock until the barge passed.  He even called the ABA tournament director ahead to explain and was told he has until the last guy weighing in to get to the scale, but he didn't make it was disqualified.

[gar-tracker]

I fished an ABA tournament last year and one of the guys was late to weigh in, because of an idiot lockmaster who wouldn't open the locks for him to get in, because an incoming barge that was still 2 miles out and according to the lockmaster, the barge had the right of way and no bass boats were allowed in the lock until the barge passed.  He even called the ABA tournament director ahead to explain and was told he has until the last guy weighing in to get to the scale, but he didn't make it was disqualified.

 

That scenario is a bit different because of the barges having the right of way in all situations and on a big waterway you have to factor that in.

 

This was rendering aid.

 

Then the director said we'll go by BASS rules which has a no exceptions. However my argument to that would be you cant compare a BASS event with hundreds of boats and spectators that would be around to a local 50 man tournament. That situation would never come up.

 

I do admit I cut it too close but I knew what I needed to get back.

[BassinB]

If i were in your position I wouldn't have stopped.  I would have ran back to the weigh in and notified the director of a boat broken down.  Obviously they were only a few minutes from the dock so that extra few minutes wouldn't have been a huge deal to them and you would have saved place in the tournament.  This is barring extreme circumstances however (severe injury or if their boat was sinking or something)

[jcunn21]

Our club rule is in a case like this, a call must be made to the director and/or any other club officer......then again, the club we fish is more or less a reason to get the guys together to fish than the actual chance to win some money......I guess it would just depend on the director that day......I commend you for making the stop, I know I would have for any of the guys in our club......at the end of the day, helping the other guy and safety is way more important than weighing fish, just my opinion, I know that every club/tournament is different though......Then again, being a director in our club for the time being, and not to speak for any other directors out there, but it is also difficult to make judgement on something like this because a lot of other guys that are stickler for the rules and would do anything to protest, thankfully, it is something I have yet to deal with, nor do I hope to deal with in the future, directing or not....

 

Brett Chapman just actually had a similar article on BASSMASTER a few days ago.....not exactly the same scenario, but the article kind of relates to your situation....

 

http://www.bassmaster.com/blog/sportsmanship-and-camaraderie

[Koofy Smacker]

I ran into something similar. Fishing a tournament on a big tidal waterway. We left early to get back to weigh in and were stopped by the coast guard for them to do a check on the entire boat. Took about 15-20 minutes for them to go through everything from life jackets to licenses to fire extinguishers. Had we not left early we would have been penalized, and theres nothing you can do because its something that you cannot control.

 

I was also at an FLW tourny this past year on Champlain. I forget the angler but they had made the cut and on Saturday the sponsor boat lost all power to the jackplate, leaving the motor useless (not sure what the deal was there). It wasnt even his boat, and he had to get towed in by another marshal boat, but he was disqualified.

 

End of story, anything can happen, and although its the right thing to do in your situation to stop, they were right in penalizing you. When they start making excuses is when guys will call in and say they had to help someone just so they can fish an extra few minutes.