DNR crackdown on Bass Tourneys this summer.

I hear that the DNR is really going to try and crackdown on Bass tourney being held without a DNR permit this season. Even though I’m normally against any form of government control, I myself think its a great idea. I have nothing against bass tourneys but think its a great idea to know when and where they are being held. Nothing worse than showing up at a lake for a fun morning of fun fishing only to find the landing full with tourney boats. This happened far to often last summer and at some lake you would never think there would be a bass tourney at. With the # of tourneys being held ( including week night and High School ) the whole tourney thing is getting way BIG. The DNR Created this link to show the date and locations of all tourneys that have pulled a tourney permit:

https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/recreation/fishing/tournaments/2023-dnr-fishing-tournament-list.pdf?v=2023.01.19-21.29.29

Here is also a link to what tourneys require a DNR permit:

https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fishing/tournaments/requirements.html

I’m curious to what all your thoughts are on Tourneys requiring a permit and the crackdown they are going to have on them this summer.

If tournaments of any species meet the requirements to require a permit, I was under the impression that permits have been needed for some time now. I chaired a tournament for several years over a decade ago now and permits were always required.

If tournaments meet the permit requirements, I’ve always been fine with it, bass or any other species.

Karry Kyllo wrote:

If tournaments meet the permit requirements, I’ve always been fine with it, bass or any other species.

I’m generally ok with it too. What I think fishthumper is getting at is that there’s now a route to check that before arriving at a specific body of water. I do not generally fish a lot of lakes that have tournaments, so I rarely encounter this anymore, but I could see it being a buzz kill when you arrive at the access.

I think another part of the issue with having a tournament is the availability of parking. If an access only has a limited number of spots, the tournament should not be able to occupy all or most of them. For example, if the access only has 25 spots, you shouldn’t be allowed to hold a 25 boat tournament. IMO the parking capacity should not exceed 50% of the spots available at any given site. Some bigger lakes obviously have multiple accesses with a lot more parking, so that’s generally why tournaments are held there more often.

Only tournaments over 24 boats need a permit. At least that’s how it was the last few years.

Seems like there will always be some kind of loophole anyways. That list has been available for several years and generally anything over 25 boats you need to pull one.
Maybe the answer is to exempt some lakes from contests based on acreage size or accessibility?

3Rivers wrote:

Seems like there will always be some kind of loophole anyways. That list has been available for several years and generally anything over 25 boats you need to pull one.
Maybe the answer is to exempt some lakes from contests based on acreage size or accessibility?

Most of the leagues that have more than 10 or 15 boats only fish larger bodies of water. Meaning average to larger sized lakes. Not the smaller ones.

I think another part of the issue with having a tournament is the availability of parking. If an access only has a limited number of spots, the tournament should not be able to occupy all or most of them. For example, if the access only has 25 spots, you shouldn’t be allowed to hold a 25 boat tournament. IMO the parking capacity should not exceed 50% of the spots available at any given site. Some bigger lakes obviously have multiple accesses with a lot more parking, so that’s generally why tournaments are held there more often.
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I wonder if they’ve ever considered valet parking? Too many boats for the access space, have part of the entry fee go to paying for valets and offsite parking. I can understand people not wanting anyone touching their truck, but seems like a viable solution to access parking issues. Frankly I don’t care about extra boats on water. I either fish Chamberlain or Minnetonka most times and it’s always bumper boats.

I am part of a high school bass league. And I am completely against there rules. The last 2 weeks were catch weigh photo release and now starting Monday will be live weigh ins. Yeah let’s take these fish right off there beds during spawn and keep them in a livewell for 5 hours and then release them . But I can’t release a walleye I decided I didn’t want when I couldn’t catch another. But let’s multiply that by 5 or 6 tourneys on that same water that same week. Dumb. I hope they do crack down. And I hope the tourney pressure eases up a bit.

mahtofire14 wrote:

Only tournaments over 24 boats need a permit. At least that’s how it was the last few years.

That’s still the rule, its right on top of the second link posted.

24 boats on a relatively small lake is still a lot and should be reported. Especially if there’s only limited parking.

mahtofire14 wrote:

Most of the leagues that have more than 10 or 15 boats only fish larger bodies of water. Meaning average to larger sized lakes. Not the smaller ones.

Maybe in your area, but not the case in this area. I’ve seen some rather large groups at some rather small lakes around here.

mahtofire14 wrote:

Only tournaments over 24 boats need a permit. At least that’s how it was the last few years.

25 boats or more or a entry fee of more than 25.00 a person. Not many of even the small durby’s fishing for less than 25.00 a person these days.

Bearcat89 wrote:

I am part of a high school bass league. And I am completely against there rules.

I hate to say it, but the # and size of some of these high school events are a part of the growing problem. Once again – nothing against it. I just think they should also have to follow the current permit rules. I showed up several times last year as some smaller lakes only to find a High school event was going on and they had used up every landing spot available. I’d be fine even if they were not required to pull a permit, just list the info. on a central site so that other know in advance when and where they are going to be.

gim wrote:

That’s still the rule, its right on top of the second link posted.

That or over a 25.00 entry fee per person.

In Fish Thumpers link it says a tourney cannot use more than 50% of the parking spots at a state owned access.
Weighs ins at the access are not allowed unless give. Authorization to do so. Tournament organizer has to provide a parking plan.

You gotta love it when you show up to an lake and you find out that there are two tournaments being held that day on the lake. One walleye tournament and one bass tournament.

gim wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mahtofire14 wrote:</div>
Only tournaments over 24 boats need a permit. At least that’s how it was the last few years.

That’s still the rule, its right on top of the second link posted.

24 boats on a relatively small lake is still a lot and should be reported. Especially if there’s only limited parking.

What are you going to report? It’s not against the rules. I wouldn’t even want to be in a tourney with 20 or more boats on a small lake but you can still do it. Especially if they have a permit or they are under the 25 boat limit.

mahtofire14 wrote:

What are you going to report? It’s not against the rules.

No, that’s not what I meant. I didn’t mean report it as a violation. I meant report it to a public database so everyone can see when and where its being held in advance.

We had a small club tournament on Tetonka/Sakatah 2 weeks ago. Our tournament director got the permit from the sheriff, everything was set for us. Got there at 5:30 the morning of the tournament and found the parking lot was full. There was a kayak tournament going on with 75 kayaks in their tourney. 30 launching at Tetonka, 30 on Sakatah and 15 at one of the smaller ramps. Apparently this kayak club holds the same tournament every year for the past few years, based on what I was told by some of their anglers. The ramp at Tetonka has been rebuilt and is in great shape with ample parking, but not when this many kayak anglers show up. Plus, they were taking up parking spots designated for vehicles with trailers. I don’t know how the sheriff’s department allowed this, but let’s just say it put a damper on our tournament and club members.

fishthumper wrote:

I hear that the DNR is really going to try and crackdown on Bass tourney being held without a DNR permit this season.

Where did you hear this? Find it hard to believe the DNR is going to “crack down” on anything these days!

Personally don’t see that there is a problem with the way things are now. Hard to believe there are a lot of tourneys happening that need a permit and don’t have one. Can anyone point one out?

If there is a problem with the current regs, change the regs!

-J.

Jon Jordan wrote:

Can anyone point one out?

Ford guy’s post right before yours is a great example. While not being illegal, you’ve got what is now close to 100 tournament anglers scheduled for the same 2 connected bodies of water on the exact same day. If there was a route to reporting this in a more universal manner, it could be avoided. Parking is limited too.

Again, its not against the regs, but having a method of posting where and when these events are going to be held in advance would save a lot of headaches. I would have been pretty upset if I was in that club event and a kayak tournament of 75 was already there.

Jon Jordan wrote:

If there is a problem with the current regs, change the regs!

-J.

100%

Bass tournaments aren’t going away and probably aren’t going to be less often. Bass fishing is where the future of fishing is. It’s where the money is. I know people in this state don’t want to hear it, but it’s true.

gim wrote:

Ford guy’s post right before yours is a great example.

Ford guys post is not a tourney problem, it’s a parking problem. I’m all for “cracking down” on cars/trucks parking in designated trailer parking spots. Love to see these Dbags get ticked and towed ! It is a huge problem.

-J.

Jon Jordan wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>fishthumper wrote:</div>
I hear that the DNR is really going to try and crackdown on Bass tourney being held without a DNR permit this season.

Where did you hear this? Find it hard to believe the DNR is going to “crack down” on anything these days!

Personally don’t see that there is a problem with the way things are now. Hard to believe there are a lot of tourneys happening that need a permit and don’t have one. Can anyone point one out?

If there is a problem with the current regs, change the regs!

-J.

The crackdown was told to me by a CO officer out on Clearwater lake when I talked with him last week. I also have several tourney directors who I know tell me they were informed by the DNR that there was going to be a bigger effort to keep a eye on tourneys this summer. As of last year all the tourneys with proper permits were listed on the site. I can tell you there were many times I looked at the site prior to heading to a lake and not see a tourney listed. Get to the landing and there were boats everywhere and told there was a bass tourney happening. Once again sometimes this was only 12-15 boats, but on a smaller lake that is all the landing spots there is and 12-15 boats is a lot for some of the small lakes I had this happen on. this is not a problem with the current Reg. its a problem with Tourney directors not following the current Reg’s.

mahtofire14 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Jon Jordan wrote:</div>
If there is a problem with the current regs, change the regs!

-J.

100%

Bass tournaments aren’t going away and probably aren’t going to be less often. Bass fishing is where the future of fishing is. It’s where the money is. I know people in this state don’t want to hear it, but it’s true.

Once again I said I have nothing against bass tourneys. Just think there needs to be some control of it. Just curious – Does the tourneys you fish pull the proper permits? I’m going to take a guess here and say they have more than a 25.00 entry fee to those tourneys. So according to the DNR regulations they need to pull permits and inform the sheriff of the event.

Jon Jordan wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>gimruis wrote:</div>
Ford guy’s post right before yours is a great example.

Ford guys post is not a tourney problem, it’s a parking problem. I’m all for “cracking down” on cars/trucks parking in designated trailer parking spots. Love to see these Dbags get ticked and towed ! It is a huge problem.

-J.

It was a tourney problem. They had over 75 boats and did not most likely have a permit. They also took up more than 50% of the parking spots at the landings. Some landings I fish are posted as boat trailer only parking, other just say parking for landing use only. Those that say landing use only don’t need to have a trailer to park there. Some do have a mix. some marked as boat trailer only parking and some spaces say for landing use only. Sometimes there is someone meeting a guy with a boat at a landing. They need someplace to park their auto as well.

I know you’re not against them fishthumper. I hear and see so many complaints but no one ever does anything about it. I was just agreeing with John that people need to stop complaining and do something about it if they want it changed because it’s only going to get more popular around here. I don’t see high school or college walleye teams. They are bass teams and that’s because it’s what is popular and where the money is.

The tournament series I have fished and fish don’t need permits because they are $25 entry fee and one is 24 boats and the other is 12. The bigger ones I’ve fished and know of, pull permits. There is one large series that I know doesn’t but I don’t fish it and most guys I know also don’t fish it.

Just have to get up earlier to beat them to parking. Its a win win. You either get a spot or you fish and no one else is out.

Youbetcha wrote:

Just have to get up earlier to beat them to parking. Its a win win. You either get a spot or you fish and no one else is out.

I don’t want to fish a lake that there is a tourney on even if I beat them to the start. Those tourneys usually start rather early, if you are going to beat them to the landing you would most likely need to get there in the dark. In a short time after they start you would most likely not get to any of the spots you want to fish. Most would likely have someone already on the spot. The last thing I wa t to do is to catch a ton of fish off a spot while a tourney was going on. That spot would end up getting hammered hard all the rest of the summer. Those tourney fishermen have great eyes and use them real well during a tourney

mahtofire14 wrote:

The tournament series I have fished and fish don’t need permits because they are $25 entry fee and one is 24 boats and the other is 12. The bigger ones I’ve fished and know of, pull permits. There is one large series that I know doesn’t but I don’t fish it and most guys I know also don’t fish it.

I thought it was the Greenhorn bass series that you fish. What series is it that you do?

I haven’t done Greenhorn in two years, but that’s the 24 boat one I’m talking about. The 12 boat league is a solo tournament series called the ABC League.

The only problem I have with tournaments in general is how the contestants treat other fisherman that aren’t in the tournament.