Marshal advice needed

[rubba bubba]

If anyone out there has been a marshal in any Bassmaster competition, I'd appreciate your thoughts and experience based advice.  I'll be a Marshal at the upcoming Classic and have never Marshal'd before so any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated.  Advice on what to do, what not to do, before/during/after the fishing, etc.. would be welcomed.  What am I responsible for? Any training videos out there?  Things like that would be immensely helpful as I really don't want to bungle this in any manner so what to prepare ahead of time as much as possible.

Recommendations on where to stay?  I'm planning on staying close to the launch to minimize my morning drive down there, and then just drive to the weigh ins or whatever evening activity is going on.

I haven't received the packet yet so not sure how much info/instructions they will provide.

Roy.

[poebassin]

In 2015, I was a marshal for the first time and it was a really awesome experience. I am doing it again this summer as well. Being a marshal for the Classic is a great opportunity - I'm jealous haha. The most difficult part of the whole thing is not fishing. Being out on the water all day and you can't even pick up a rod. Marshals are responsible for operating BASSTrakk and contributing to the blog by taking pictures as well as providing updates. This will all be explained in the meeting you will attend prior to the start of the tournament and it is all super easy. You cannot help the Elites in any way and your role is to basically be the eyes and ears on the water to protect the integrity of the sport. Bring your life jacket, snacks/drinks for the day and I thought it was important to just stay out of the way when your dude is landing fish. It is really a lot of fun so have a great time and enjoy the experience.

 

[rubba bubba]

Thanks for the info - didn't know about the BYO life jacket.  After the fishing is done, what happens then?  Any more work/volunteering to do?

On the water - what do they do for bathroom breaks?

Do you get assigned a different pro every day?  Or do you get to pick a pro based on a number out of the hat you get?

[poebassin]

After your day on the water riding with the Elites, most of the other marshals and myself just watched the weigh in. It's pretty exciting to be there in person watching it all go down. There was a bourbon tent at Waddington - so that's another post tournament option I suppose. There are usually vendors, food, activities etc. The BASS staff were super nice so there may be additional opportunities for other jobs if you were to approach them about it. Bathroom breaks are basically how they usually go on the water - whatever that means for you! One marshal said that one of the Elite guys didn't even put his rod down when nature came-a-calling haha. But yes, you randomly get matched with a different Elite competitor each day. I was able to marshal for 4 days and I was with 4 different Elites. On Championship Sunday, the camera boats are on the tournament leaders so I think there were maybe 7 or 8 marshals on the water the final day. I guess there's a possibility that you might be paired with the same Elite guy twice as a marshal but probably not likely.