For the tournament bass angler who’s been bitten by the plastic boat bug, kayak bass fishing tournaments, both real and virtual, are growing by leaps and bounds with the popularity of the sport itself.
Even in areas were clubs are few and far between or non-existent, online competitions fill the void. Several websites host online bass fishing tournaments on the Internet (see list below).
Online kayak fishing tournaments are not limited to bass or even fresh water, and let you participate in conservation-oriented catch-photo-release (CPR) fishing competitions. They allow you to fish when and where you want, against anglers in your own neighborhood and from around the world.
Anglers fish on their own schedule at their favorite honey holes, in conditions they choose, and online check-ins are always open. The CPR format rewards anglers for catching the best fish, and makes bag limits, slot limits and species closures obsolete.
A major difference to this style of tournament fishing is that it is all but impossible to catch, retain, and transport a fish in a kayak long enough to get one, much less several, to a weigh-in site for scoring.
Online “weigh-ins” are actually more like photo contests. To keep everyone honest, tournaments use an identifier, which could be a playing card, a logo, or even a wooden poker chip. If the tournament is a one-day event, the identifiers, which are specific to each tournament, are handed out before the tournament and must be included in the photograph the angler takes of his catch.
Typically the rules state that the photo entry must include the entire length of the fish laying on a rigid ruler, mouth closed, with the identifier in the photo. The photo must also clearly show the length of the fish and be of high enough resolution so that the judges can zoom in to get measurements on a quarter-inch scale.
If the event is a month-long tournament, then the identifier is typically some logo designed for the event and is posted on the host website prior to the tournament.
Here are three websites that offer online kayak tournaments:
* Kayak Wars — www.kayakwars.com
* 321 Online Fishing Tournaments — www.321fish.com
* Online Fishing Tournaments — www.onlinefishingtournament.com
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