A fishing tournament, or Angling tournament, is an organised competition among anglers. Fishing tournaments typically take place as a series of competitive events around or on a clearly defined body of

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

with specific rules applying to each event. They can take place on or along the edge of

ocean The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian, Southern Ocean ...

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s, including ice covered bodies of water.

The tournament

Fishermen compete for prizes based on the total weight of a given species of fish caught within a predetermined time. This sport evolved from local fishing contests into large competitive circuits, especially in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. Competitors may be professional fishermen supported by commercial endorsements. Other competitions are based purely on length with mandatory catch and release. Either longest fish or total length is documented with a camera and a mandatory sticker or unique item, a practice used since it is hard to weigh a living fish accurately in a boat. Tournaments usually involve individuals if the fishing is from the land and teams if conducted from boats. A score is awarded for each fish caught. The points awarded depend on the fish's weight and species. Occasionally a score is divided by the strength of the fishing line used, yielding more points to those who use thinner, weaker line. In tag and release competitions, a flat score is awarded per fish species caught, divided by the line strength. Usually sport fishing competitions award a prize to the boat or team with the most points earned. Thomas Wayne Jones Sr. won the American Bass Anglers (ABA) competition in 2007. The tournament was held in November at the Harris Chain of Lakes. He was the first African American to win the ABA National Championship Tournament. Thomas Jones was awarded a 2008 Triton Bass Boat and a Championship areas.

The Internet

Traditional fishing tournaments take place on a confined body of water where a group of participants pursue a common goal and the fishing tournament results are kept within the host community. The

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

has started a new trend giving fishing tournaments a worldwide presence. The internet lets fishing tournaments take place in multiple bodies of water spanning multiple areas within a country, and even multiple countries. Now anglers who live hundreds of miles apart can participate in the same fishing tournament, pursuing the same prize while fishing in different bodies of water. Not only are new fishing tournaments being conducted online but now event officials, whose fishing tournaments have been annual events for past decades, are placing their fishing tournaments online as well. Existing fishing tournament participants can post their results online in real-time. These changes have lowered the fish mortality in many tournaments as participants no longer have to kill their fish for weigh-in if they already know it will not be a top contender.

Records

The official guide to world salt and freshwater fish records is the ''World Record Game Fishes'', published annually by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA). The IGFA maintains records for nearly 400 species around the world. The records are categorised, with separate records for juniors, for the type of tackle and line used, for fly fishing, and locality records. The IGFA also organise the world saltwater championship tournaments, the saltwater fisherman's equivalent of the Olympics.

Regional tournaments

In the US, there are nearly 60 million anglers, outnumbering the number of Americans who play

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

(24.8 million) and

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

(17.8 million) combined. There are an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 fishing derbies and tournaments in the US annually. Not all states require fishing events to be registered, so it proves difficult to estimate exact numbers.

Environment

Because of the potential for large fishing tournaments to impact the environment and fish stocks, standards for fishing tournaments have been developed. An environmental standard designed in Australia rates a tournament's environmental performance as well as social and economic aspects.

Notes

References

* ''2009 World Record Game Fishes''. International Game Fish Association (IGFA). * Miller M, C Daxboack, C Dahl, K Kelly and P Dalzel (eds.) (2001
Proceedings of the 1998 Pacific Island Gamefish Tournament Symposium
Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council. Honolulu.

External links

American Sportfishing Association

Find out about UK Tournament Fishing
{{fisheries and fishing