HS tournament on PK

Looks like they are about to get hammered. I wonder why they didn't reschedule....

Radar looks like they may catch a break between now and 3 ish. They are gonna be wet for sure but hopefully captains did the right thing in any lighting they got this am.

I dont see how the large cell going across 20 right now could possibly miss them. Got a few buddies out there. Said lots of wind and rain and are about to get pummeled. They both said staying glued to radars just try to be as safe as they can be.

I use the wapp weather app and it's been known to suck so I could be totally wrong. Green radar doesn't bother me much, the reds and yellow out west can be nasty

Wish I was there sitting in the porch watching it rain.

Big yellow and red cell about to hit the entire lake. Hope nobody gets hit with lightening.

How many kids are out and about on PK today?

Probably 200 teams

We picked up the wrist bands last night and was told 255 teams

The west side of fort worth has been getting pounded. If they got this I'm sure it wasn't a good time.

I bet they got soaked.

I was a boat captain today on PK today. I volunteer my time to be a captain. I have fished tournaments for 30 years and if there was ever one to be postponed because of weather then it was this one. All day thunderstorms have been forecasted for more than a week. Thunderstorms equal lightning. Wind is one thing but lightning is a killer. The majority of the teams bailed by noon. I bailed at 12:45 when I decided the cells coming in were just too dangerous to be on the water. No I’m not a sore loser. My kids finished high up and we were on the fish to win if they could have finished out the day. Not only was the lightning a danger but these kids are not equipped to fish all day in driving rain with the temps in the low 50s. They can’t afford 100mph suits with rubber boots. Common sense has completely gone out the window. These are kids and they should not be put at risk under those conditions. They would not have played a HS school football game under those conditions but it’s okay to out on a lake with a lightning rod in your hand?

Yeah, pretty stupid that it wasn't called. TD needs to be questioned on that. Rain and wind is one thing, but add lightning to it and that's when it becomes dangerous.

Wow, that many kids in a thunderstorm. Automatic TD firing. Seriously.

The most experienced bass fishermen in the world wouldn’t have been allowed to fish in those conditions yet you have 255 captains some seasoned some not even close and 300 plus kids prob most not in proper gear fishing in rain, wind and lightening. I guess we are teaching the future generation that we are invincible

Barrett the "defenders" will be along shortly to drag you.

Those high school bass fishing peeps are always #1 with safety,

We had a Media event on Eagle Mtn today. It was ugly in the morning and really didn't clear up at all. 2 of our boats witnessed lightning hit a sailboat mast which caused sparks to fly. It was dicey and not a good day to be out. The weather online and radar apps were way off. I base decisions off severe weather notices and not one was put out for their area. This week it said thunderstorms in the morning no later than 8 AM, yeah right. I'm not too proud to say, I should have called it and moved it to another day.

Bonus of the day it took 30+ lbs to get a check. 37.48 won the event and big bass was 11.23. So there's that, but still it made me worried about everyone on the water.

And then they wonder why there are accidents with the college kids that are now driving the 250hp bass boat. Crazy.

Even if it isn’t called , each captain is responsible for his boat, I’d bail if lightning was in the area.

Competition affects people in weird ways, a TD should have pulled the plug on this from the way it sounds, to keep everyone safe.

I bet they were caught on a Donald Harper stormy weather spinnerbait!

Exactly. If you leave it up to the captains, then they are going to run it through their own ethics filter. Me personally, I will take far more risk with my own well being. Give me the responsibility of the well being of someone else’s child, then my risk factors drop exponentially. You can’t just punt the ball and say we will leave it up to your best judgement. This especially rings true with people who are inexperienced with extreme weather conditions on our lakes. Which is more detrimental to a TD, being on the safe side or rolling the dice? They both probably boil down to a monetary decision but the wrong one will get you sued for negligence.

Yep. 13 of the top 15 were using a custom Halloween spinnerbait folllowing the 20’ contours using a shallow-deep-shallow presentation.the other two teams were utilizing the dying quiver spook method (the spooks were soaked overnight in my special buttercream and eel sauce potion that once caught 27 bass in Mexico)

Contact me for info.

Thanks MrQuang and Chongo for the orders

those of you that want a good weather app, download this and spend the 20.00 for premium (yrly subscription)

it is the most accurate I have found for radar, has multiple features that are great on the water but the best is the lightning strikes are lit up so you know proximity.

https://www.windyty.com


radar with lightning

https://www.windy.com/-Weather-radar-radar

Weights were way up. Lots of sore losers on this one. It wasn’t that bad.

What made them upset?

So it was safe, no lightning?

What does it wasn’t that bad look like? Nobody was killed?

This is always the answer unless somebody was seriously hurt or worse! There are families without loved ones today because they thought it wasn't that bad.

Any place to see results ?

https://mediabass.com/2k24/TX/COWTOWN/4.shtml

I think this is the wrong event…

It's on thsba app I don't know if it's on website

I had 2 16 year old girls in the boat with me. we waited for the lightening to clear that morning before we launched (7:15-7:30). fished through it until around 12:00 then noticed their lines were hovering above the water about 6'-7' feet when they casted. i decided it was time to pack up. by the time we got our life jackets on and everything strapped down lightening was striking all around us. we beached the boat and ran up under someone's awning in their yard. we waited for the lightening to clear and i asked them if they wanted to finish out the day. they were both shook up and decided they were done. we loaded the boat on the trailer and weighed in their fish. i'm really glad no one got hurt out there. wind and rain are one thing, but lightening is totally unsafe to be in on the water...

Wow. Can’t believe that is happening in high school fishing, especially an event with that many participants.

this is insanity ! They stop golf tournament and Bass call a halt when lightning is in play . Are they trying to get kids killed ? it's bad enough that they put over 200 boat on the water. What is wrong with these people? Is there that much $ in play here?

Having 255 boats at a time in a tournament is bad enough but it being a kids tournament and in the lightning is insanity and everyone knows it . For heaven sake break these tournaments up to smaller groups . It is teaching our kids to just have no rules on the water as to how to treat your fellow angler.

Sealy, TTT, TTZ, Champs all have 200 boat fields.
Lightning is the only thing I agree on but that is also up to the captain to make the correct choice. Sadly, they all do not make the correct choice.

All I'm gonna say about it is this. It's a tough deal to put kids and their captains who have fished all year to get to regional and have a chance to go to state in the position to choose between safety and their season ending. Glad everyone got off the water safe. God forbid if someone had been hit by lightening because beyond the obvious tragedy that would be enough for superintendents to pull the plug on any school involvement. I can't understand why an organization that has done so much work to get to where they are would want to take such an obvious risk.

Not sure I agree that it is all up to the Capt. Seems like a grown up should have made a grown up call. Parents these days dont stand up to their kids very often, If the kids want to fish and risk it, I doubt most Captains would say no. But then again, no one got hurt, so maybe fishing it was the right call, and trusting the boat captains was the right thing to do.

I think it’s consensus that that per TFF this TD needs his TD card pulled.

I never argue with idiots but for you I’ll make an exception. To anonymously call for a man’s job on the internet and pretend there is a consensus of any kind is ridiculous. You have no idea what you are talking about, you weren’t there, and you probably don’t know the people involved. Maybe it was the right call, maybe it wasn’t, maybe the TD learned a valuable lesson and is better for it today. I get tired of watching you fan the flames of drama around here. Every time there is a mention of High School fishing you have something disparaging to say. I hope you have received the attention you are desperately seeking on the internet.

That’s interesting

The only other criticism of high school fishing I’ve ever made on here was about an event that was overlapped with an elite event, it was clarified, and I moved on.

I don’t see anyone stepping up to the plate as an organization to be accountable and say they were wrong. If there were participants that were scared, and left on their own, the writing is on the wall, the TD was wrong.

I don’t have a skin in hs fishing, I have an opinion about it, but who is here saying it was a good idea to have that event? You?

It’s a fishing forum, why be on here if you don’t have an opinion?

While I’m at it, what outdoor event or competition , high school or not is allowed to proceed in lightning storms? I can’t think of one.

In HS football, one lightning strike and they empty the bleachers, everyone off the field and bleachers until there has been no lightning seen for at least half an hour...

I agree it is the tournament director’s responsibility to make the correct call. To send kids out in the weather, or not to send them. Calling for the TD’s termination isn’t the right knee jerk reaction. This needs to be learned from and actions taken place to prevent it from happening in the future is all.

Like said above, HS football games are postponed during lightning. The big “but” here is the ability to communicate to the people and students in attendance. If it’s supposed to rain, the tickets are still sold and the people still show up. Same with fishing. It’s supposed to rain…you don’t cancel the day. The problem is communication to the captains and anglers. There needs to be a way to call boats to safety during a weather related event. There needs to be a plan in effect for stuff like this. Sending out 750 text messages all at once probably isn’t even a possibility for a TD.

It needs to be looked into, not a knee jerk kinda reaction.

If I am remembering correctly, happened on Roberts a couple of years back as well and that one almost got someone hurt...

Steez, I don’t know much about how these hs tournaments function.

I understand it may be easier to shut down a football game.

What you’re saying is there is no protocol, process, rules for putting over 200 boats full of kids out on a lake with a thunderstorm in the forecast? Is this real? A text message, if there is cell service saying the tournament is postponed seems very feasible.

Firing is mostly a joke, but someone should at least have some explaining to do.

They have rules in place for this situation. I was there and at times it was dangerous. There were windows of cold rain when you could fish safely and if you monitored a radar you could see the periods of thunderstorms coming. I pulled my kids off the water at 11:00 for 30 minutes and we called it a day at 1:00 when a large thunderstorm was almost on us.

Sounds like everything is on track for tragedy, If all of this is true, the ‘ol Swiss cheese model to risk mgmt still holds some validity.

They don’t cancel sports because of rain. They don’t cancel sports because of lightning. They will, however, move people to safety during unsafe periods. This is what is needed during these fishing events is what I’m saying. Who that responsibility rests upon is the question. Ultimately, I’d say the TD would have final say so, so maybe it would make the TD the responsible person. I’m sure there are waivers that are signed relieving the TD and his employees from responsibility. This would put the control directly into the captains hands….

This is why I say it needs to be looked into and a plan in place for these situations. A plan that suspends fishing during this time, to prevent one team from gaining an advantage or being placed at a disadvantage.

No heads need to roll. Heads need to be used.

I’d love to hear why anyone thinks it was safe to have kids out in that, if you’re line is levitating above the water you don’t need a lightning map app to know you should be…not on water. Really glad everyone dodged the bullets. If this has happend before like was mentioned. How many more bullets are you all willing to let your kids dodge? After all they are trying to catch little green fish…

I've beached the boat during storms (and know a couple of other captains that did as well) or took cover in someone's boat slip.
I've also been in a HS event that was called early due to weather. We were already in a slip taking cover when the call came and we just waited until it blew through before we loaded up. I did call and make contact with the TD to let them know we were "stuck" but safe and we would proceed when it was safe to move about. There was no lightning near us but the cells coming were showing to be really bad. It was the right call, even though we were a little pissed because we felt we needed to make a couple more culls and believed we could have done it. (still got the "W" though)

If your worried about your kids dodging bullets with someone else, you have a few options.
Buy a boat and take them yourself.
Find a captain you trust with your kids.
Buy your kids "Bassmaster" on Xbox and keep them home in your comfortable living room.

Do kids like winning when most of their competition has their boats on trailers headed home because they didn’t want to be fried?

If you’re the TD, and you see people packing up and heading home in a lightning storm, what goes through your mind? “They must just not be biting”

I bet it really worked out for someone willing to brave the storm, I think everyone been on a good bite before the storm and left them biting…

I probably will keep my kids inside in a lightning storm, correct.

I can, idiots run that league.

I think what most fail to understand is that there are all kinds of kids in the event.
Some want to have fun just being on the water/outdoors.
Some want to catch fish.
Some are just trying it out to see what it is.
Some have ZERO interest in doing it in the cold, wet, hot or nasty.
Some say they want to win but don't want to do the work.
And then there are those few who want to win, don't mind doing the work and could care less what kind of weather they are in. The drive to succeed is just that strong in them. These kids would excel at whatever they chose to take on. They are going to do well if half the field leaves or stays - doesn't matter to them.
I've carried almost all of these types of kids. I have enjoyed it with them all but I won't lie - that last category is the one that I enjoy most and will do all I can on my part to help them achieve their dreams.

There are apps that can do it, but they aren't free and they require setup. We use one at work for emergency communications, mass casualty events, etc. Ours functions as an email to text app. We have several groups already setup with both email addresses and cell numbers. When you send an email to one of the groups, both an email and a text message goes out to them. Works great.

Me and my guys fish the northeast Texas division of THSBA and fished through some cold heavy rain on Sandlin this year. I told my guys when we left the boat ramp that if we saw lightning anywhere we were headed for the truck and wouldn't return to the water until I felt it was safe to go back.
I've had some run ins with lightning and feel I'm fortunate to be alive. There are probably a half a dozen incidents where it should have killed me.
I agree it would be hard for a tournament director to pull the plug without some sort of system in place that was mentioned above. Given what I saw here at the house this weekend if they launched ahead of that, I probably wouldn't have unloaded. I love tournament fishing and my guys do to, but it's not worth dying over.

You are 100% right. The kids are all at different levels and motivations. But guess what, so are the boat captains. This whole thread is about an organization and TD who did not take into account that they had adults in the field who neither had the judgement nor experience to make the right call regarding the weather. I asked about the weather when the kids picked up their bracelets. The TD’s response was use your best judgement. Which essentially means you signed a waiver and if you are dumb enough to get struck by lightning then I have no liability. Is that attitude in the best interest of children?

^^^ This ^^^

It's rather simple and there are many programs to send mass texts. That is why most "larger" tournament organizations ask for a cell phone #. They build a data base containing everyone's contact info and it take seconds to text the entire data base.

It’s been said that they already have this in place through an app, correct?

For sure but not surprising the THSBA leadership haven't figured out how to do this, or should I say lack of leadership.

Exactly!

I am not going to throw stones at the TD, but for anyone to set here and say it was ok for experienced anglers to be out in that weather, much less a couple hundred kids is nuts. We have to protect our kids from themselves, they do not know any better, of course the hard core kids are wanting to fish, I would have been exactly the same, but that don't make it a smart decision. Happy to hear there were no accidents.

I was at a baseball tournament Saturday at Rocker B Ranch on the east side of PK, we had 8am and 9:45 games and the kids played in the rain. By the time our last game was over it was pretty sporty weather wise, I damn sure wouldn't have been on the water and there is no way a high school tournament should have been being fished, someone deserved a beating behind the woodshed for not calling it.

Couldn’t agree more

Glad I’m not part of that [censored] show any longer. 3 years was enough of that cluster, seen a lot of risky decisions in my time there. I feel for the teams that truly had a chance at moving on to state but chose to leave early for safety purposes which I commend the captains for. I know there were some in this predicament and TD screwed these kids over. That tournament should have been postponed for ONE day on Sunday to allow all entrants an equal full day of fishing. The storms were being predicted for days leading up to Saturday.

this instance the directors got lucky that no one was injured you cant leave it up to fishermen to make the right choice to go or not because there will be some that would go out with a tornado on the other side of the lake. those trophys are really important to some.

Why do you think they didn't reschedule for the following day?

I live in South Texas so I dont have to ever worry about rain, and have no dog in this fight.... but... something strikes me as interesting as I have been reading this. A lot of us talk about how this generation of snowflakes are soft and how we had it so much harder and are better off for it. "We are real men and know how to persevere through difficult situations, etc". But in this instance everyone is ready to hang a guy who let the kids and captains decide for themselves. This is also kind of like the folks who think the regular citizens are too stupid to make good choices, and need the govt to tell them what to do. Seems to me a lot of kids learned that fishing is sometimes hard, what to do when you are fishing and see lightning, and when to call it a day. Props to the TD, kids learned lessons, and no one was hurt. Maybe by luck, but also maybe by boat captains putting to use the skills THEY learned from their CAPTAINS when they were kids....

There isn’t skill involved in dodging lightning bolts, that is luck. You don’t teach kids how to be lucky, you teach kids to be smart.

This! I fished it 2 years with my boys, and that was enough. There's no regards to safety at all in these tournaments. Ive watched captains/dads that have no business or no clue how to drive a boat. Its a matter of time before there is a bad accident around here in one of these tournaments.

I can tell you from an experience one of my buddies had that sitting it out in a metal covered boat slip isn’t safe either.
Get to the bank and away from the water.

Thsba associate should scrap those weather policies if they expect a waiver to hold weight in court.

So did they hang the TD yet, if not I'd like to know when the public execution is

Good point BB1

100% agree. my girls finished 3rd in the AOY this season. they were in 1st place all season and lost a couple of fish on the last tournament of the season that would have finished them in 1st. it was 100% my decision to pull them off the water early on saturday. i felt their safety was way more important that qualifying for state. and i know alot of the other competitive teams did the same thing. don't get me wrong, i'm not coming on here complaining that "we got screwed" or "it's not fair" because it was 100% my decision, but it really should have been pushed back a day to give EVERYONE a fair chance.

Thanks for making my point.

Comparing government overreach to postponing a hs bass tournament has me scratching my head, I have to admit.

That’s a shame the TD put you in that position. Luckily you choose safety over advancing.

Im not surprised...

I was a captain on Saturdays tournament, weather sucked lol.

I spoke to a few captains at the boat ramp (south d&d) at 550-610 am, most didnt have cell signal, so a mass text message probably wouldn’t have helped untill we hit a area with signal. I know at 130 when we left 60% of the trailers were gone from the parking lot. At 145/150 the big storm came in and I was glad to be off the water.

I took my kids off the lake around 11-1140 for a bathroom break/get out of the rain when weather/lightning were striking close. On of the marinas said it was 26mph winds out at their dock.

I checked the weather app and took back off to fish, bad mistake ended up catching a white cap and messing up my trolling motor and headed in after that.

I myself learned a lot from this myself, being a first year captain.

No captain or team is "forced" to do anything. If they deem it unsafe, then get off the water. If not, go fishing and take your chances riding the lightning. It happens everyday on lakes, whether kids are involved or not. Does it suck that you may lose that coveted AOY title or some qualification that will require you to dodge more thunderstorms in the future on some unknown lake...I guess so, but it doesnt suck more than being fried alive. And yeah, it's probably not fair to a lot of teams....well welcome to life teenager!! Shoulda coulda woulda. Just do what ya think is right and move on.

The decision of a TD does not supersede common freakin sense people. Do I agree with the TD? NO...the tourney probably shoulda been canceled, but if you are depending on someone else for your safety, then you are part of the problem, not the solution!! The fact that this is a HS tourney only feeds the HS hate narrative that 90% of HS captains are "stupid" and cant drive a boat or make good decisions because they don't compete in "adult" tourneys every other weekend and are not part of the "tournament community". I have been hearing this [censored] for years and yet, most accidents/deaths I see are in adult tourneys, not HS tourneys with 3x as many participants.

This kind of stuff speaks volumes to the lunacy this country has fallen into and "having to be told" what to think, what to buy, or who to vote for. Gather the info and make an educated decision for yourself. It's pretty simple.

There is no right way to do wrong and no wrong way to do right.

It’s seems like a good many of the tournament accidents these days are in college. Once these kids mature 6 months and go off to college with a brand new 20’ boat and travel the country to lakes they’ve never been on…

List the known accidents in the last 5 years in tournaments in Texas for us. Then list each accident as High School, College, or Adult tournament. Lets see the breakdown of the accidents.

This 100%. Everyone complaining seems to have given up their ability to make personal decisions.

Agree with you!

Could you do that for us?

haahahaha, how in the bleep could someone even find that info?? It would be interesting to see.

I’m looking forward to it also

I'm assuming that it would be available somewhere through TPWD. Just like hunting accidents.

Quick Google search led me to this - https://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/boat/media/texas-boating-incidents-statistics-2023.pdf
I'm not going through it but the info is out there.

Your the one that has talked about how dangerous the high school and college fishing boaters are so I figured you knew something about what you talk about.

To my knowledge there has been zero high school fishing accidents in Texas with injuries. I cannot recall any college tournaments in Texas with any either. If there are any maybe you can tell us all about them. However, there have been numerous adult tournaments with serious injuries. For example, wasn't it just last month that two adult anglers were taken to the emergency room from Sam Rayburn for running up on Snake Island. There was another adult angler seriously injured by running into a dam. There has been an adult tournament on Conroe where an angler ran into an anchored boat with numerous adults and kids on it that resulted in at least one death. I have been in an adult tournament in Texas where two boats collided and killed one of the drivers. From what I have seen the adult tournaments are the more dangerous tournaments, but that doesn't fit your narrative.

So please fill us in on the high school and college tournaments in Texas where people have been injured or killed.

Heck- after reading the TFF for a while I figured there are about 5 guys here that know everything about everything. At least they seem to think so.

That shows what you know....there are 6...

Taking the time to read through this, the TD fumbled the ball, the boat captains that launched and stayed out in this are not too bright or a combination of the 2. It has to be one or the other right? No how about a combination of the 2. It has been brought up about lightening an other HS sports, I believe the rule is if lightening is detected in the area you clear the field for 30 minutes then resume play unless lightening happens during that time then the clock starts over. The TD and the boat captains should both be held responsible for this charlie fox trot. TD should either have delayed the event or sent out a text calling for all to take shelter immediately. If there is no cell service then this falls on the boat captains and not the kids, even if they are ultra competitive and going to be the next KVD. Remember this are only kids and kids don't always make the best decisions and in this case Adults should be making these, but what I've witnessed over the last couple of years of "Growing the Sport" Adults is a term best used loosely! Mi Dos Centavos

Of course there are more accidents in regular tournaments. The number of total tournaments fished by adults cant even be compared to the number of HS tournaments. More tournaments equals more accidents, obviously. That is a stupid argument. Like comparing the total number of motorcycle wrecks to the number of car wrecks. dumb...

THSBA is a good organization overall. Like any organization they are not perfect. One area they need to improve on is their weather decisions and ability to communicate with captains. Their app was supposed to have the capability to do mass communication to boat captains. They tried to use this once at the State Tournament at Texoma and I think maybe half the captains got the message. The reality is there are many many good apps out there that make mass text communication very very simple. They need to get one of those and make captains use it for situations like this.

With all that said I do not envy tournament directors of any organization when it comes to making weather calls. It's a thankless task that is guaranteed to piss of at least half the people involved. If you postpone the event you get all the gripes about people losing money on their VRBO they cant reschedule or cancel. If you don't cancel it you get yelled out for making little Suzy fish in the rain. Add to that the fact that weather forecasting has actually gotten worse with all the technology instead of better and you have the makings of a really difficult situation. However, when it comes to lightning there needs to be a better policy. Hopefully they address that this offseason.

One last thing many of you probably don't know is the fact that all of the THSBA tournament directors with the exception of one are volunteers. They use their own vehicles and donate their time. So I doubt firing one would end their life as they know it. I have no idea who the TD at this particular tournament was, but just throwing that out there for those ready to hang him.

It would seem kind of easy to just enact the same policy that the UIL uses for outdoor athletic contests.

Establish a chain of command that identifies who is to make the call to remove individuals from the field.
Name a designated weather watcher (A person who actively looks for the signs of threatening weather and notifies the chain of command if severe weather becomes dangerous).
Have a means of monitoring local weather forecasts and warnings.
Designate a safer shelter for each venue. See examples below.
When thunder is heard within 30 seconds of a visible lightning strike, or a cloud-to-ground lightning bolt is seen, the thunderstorm is close enough to strike your location with lightning. Suspend play for thirty minutes and take shelter immediately..
Once activities have been suspended, wait at least thirty minutes following the last sound of thunder or lightning flash prior to resuming an activity or returning outdoors.
Avoid being the highest point in an open field, in contact with, or proximity to the highest point, as well as being on the open water. Do not take shelter under or near trees, flagpoles, or light poles.
Assume that lightning safe position (crouched on the ground weight on the balls of the feet, feet together, head lowered, and ears covered) for individuals who feel their hair stand on end, skin tingle, or hear "crackling" noises. Do not lie flat on the ground.

Pk is about 17,000 acres as opposed to about 1 acre for a football field. You can’t manage them the same way.

Sounds like the app they use isn’t very good, and they don’t have a good way to send communication to the captains.

A TD is always going to be in a hard place and won’t ever make everyone happy. A TD could look at the weather, make a decision to postpone, and it might not transpire, that’s life. I think the quote “it’s better to be safe than sorry” applies here.

Plenty of tournament anglers have not agreed with a TD for postponing an event.

Sounds like someone took notice.
Heard a rumor that a tournament for this weekend has been canceled on PK due to the weather forecast.

Observe weather, follow THSBA Weather Rules and make the call. Pretty simple.

sounds like they should have just canceled it and rescheduled for another day like any of the other large tournaments do.

Of course you can. The UIL doesnt make the call on the field, the coaches do. The captains would be responsible for making the call in the boat. It doesnt matter how big the lake is, or communication from the TD. A set of rules/guidelines agreed to in the pre tournament registration would give a solid gameplan for everyone to follow, and take the decision making aspect out of the hands of those who are unsure of what to do.

So what about the teams that stayed out and fished in a lightening storm verses the ones that decided to put it on the trailer and be safe when it comes to this tournament being a make or break for state? The weather weathered the entire tournament. It's not like one little storm came through unexpected. It was sporty the entire time.

TD should have followed weather policy. TD is ultimately responsible for the call. It was clear that lightening was close enough to call or suspend.

In football you have less than 6 people making that decision. Furthermore, you can look up in the stands, if no one is there, you should question moving forward. Having 250 plus boat captains is like letting the parents decide who plays. Would you play a football game with 4 on one team and 2 on the other, because those kid’s parents signed a waiver and were willing to let them play?

I wonder what these kids mothers had to say, when the kids told them they were dodging lighting bolts all day? How many captains/husbands were sleeping on the couch that night?

They didn’t make it to state most likely.

I can tell you this much.

If there were 250 plus boats on Fork when the storms moved through we’ve got dead bodies all over the lake.

That was seriously some of the most vicious lightning I can remember.

Hey RKT- Here is some ammo for the next time you see a thread that says "Waaaaaaaay to many HS touneys!!" lol Apparently, there are hardly any at all!!.
Again, it is what fits the "narrative".

LOL does this really work?!, Sounds like the tuck rule to get ready for a plane crash, when in reality all it is to kiss your arse goodbye.

What HS tournament on PK was scheduled april 27-28?

The rumor I heard wasn't high school

The UIL needs to take over these fishing leagues. I know some guys on here have a financial stake or run a region and I'm sure I'll hear from them. But having an adult get injured or killed in a tournament is one thing, having someone's child injured or killed during a high school extra-curricular activity is another. Texas lakes are inherently dangerous even without storms.

That's a fantastic way to make it go away...
UIL is only interested in things that make money for the "school"...

I'm not gonna comment on whether uil oversight is right or wrong in this case. I would suggest you rethink the part about things that make money for school. Have you looked at how many non revenue generating activities that fall under UIL? I'm fairly certain impromptu speaking isn't putting much money in the bank for schools......I'm fairly certain you don't know what you are speaking of. Maybe that theatrical design competition really brings in the bucks? What you think?

Really. No one makes money off THSBA. No one gets compensated for expenses. 501 (c)’s are purely for the benefit of the public? Guess what, very few people actually donate their time and money. UIL or THSBA? Most of the time it’s more about the money than about the kids.

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/465522960

This is very entertaining- 8 pages of grown men complaining about fishing in bad weather….

It’s been a really great tread. IMHO

The UIL doesn't want to. And they will tell you the reason why is fishing is not a real sport.

The only sport that makes money is football, it makes a lot. Boys basketball does but add in girls and its break even at best.

Bad weather is cold, rain, maybe high winds. Dangerous weather is lightning. It’s not about complaining. It’s about an organization that was formed for the benefit of children that would not postpone an event that it had a week of warning of dangerous conditions.

Believe me, someone is making money. This is not chess club or girls volleyball.

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/465522960

do you think they didn't postpone this HS tournament because they had to be at eagle mt the next day for the big money strike king tournament??

YEAH, that'll teach them!! Lets get more government involved. They know exactly what how to handle bass fishing!!

90k to the tourney director? Is this real? Who said he was a volunteer…

Its all for the money...

90K

Thanks for sharing donegonefish. Now it all makes sense. Big difference between a volunteer TD and one earning 90k/yr.

That cant be true.

I wonder how much the TSBA sold for when it sold?

When did it sell?
[b][/b]

If that is true and he is making that much, I think yall might be right. I thought yall were just whining when yall said it was for the money. That is almost double what a starting teacher salary is, for working with kids all day.

To answer the question about the TD’s income.

Matt, is also one of the 2 employees that the THSBA has. He is on a salary as well as paid for the tournaments he runs same as the other 2 TD’s. Matt oversees all the scheduling, permits, coordination with the host marina’s etc… as well as any day to day tasks that are associated with the association. Example, making repairs on the trailers, attending sponsor meetings, events, etc.. as we all work normal jobs with the exception of Steve Holland and Glenda, they are both retired. Glenda does all the bookkeeping and scholarships paperwork for the group.

Yes he does get paid. Whoever said the TD’s are not paid was not correct. They have been being paid for the past 7-8 years.

As far as the rest of the discussion. It will all be talked about in June at our meeting.

Hope this answers some of the questions.

I may not respond to questions till later.

Have a good day.
Ken

Thanks for the info!

I can’t believe yall are impressed with $90k/annually. That’s basically a living wage as an adult.

90k is a pretty descent living in TX, depending where you live, his wages make no difference to me, the point of the thread was try to understand why kids are allowed to fish in a lightning storm, I think.

Exactly what I was thinking. You want to jump down a rabbit hole, go to that same website and peruse the 990s of some of your favorite non-profits that you donate to and their officer compensation.

Are you on medication? If it "make no difference to you" then why post

"90k to the tourney director? Is this real? Who said he was a volunteer…"

Seems we as a society have lost the ability to think for ourselves- so let’s blame others when bad things happen. Every boat captain has the ability to turn the weather forecast on- every parent vetted the boat captain ahead of time and made a decision to trust that person with their child.

He isn’t getting rich…

It makes no difference to me whether he makes 9k or 900k. Paid vs. volunteer is what matters to me.

Thanks for taking a jab with the medication question - projection is real.

Until people can see and realize that there is competitive advantage gained when someone is allowed and willing to take risk when it is unacceptable this conversation will continue to go around and around.

Kids don’t need to be in boats fishing during a lighting storm. End of story. The end.

I think a lot of people presumed the whole jest of the THSBA was people volunteering and doing things from a place of giving and not taking. It could be that some thought of the THSBA is a volunteer run organization and nobody was profiting or getting paid.

It's seems as if the THSBA is a bass fishing trail. Past the school names there is no affiliation or regulation by any school, school district or the UIL.

That may be what has some confused.

This is a very true statement, many organizations have a lot of monetary value that is not "on the books".

In most organizations (even 503c declared organizations), very few times is every penny accounted for "on the books".

I didn't project anything as I am not on medication. I also don't completely contradict myself within two hours of a post. Honestly, you just seem to stir the pot and try to get a rise out of people no matter the topic. You seem to be a fairly intelligent person who just has a real need for attention, positive or negative.

Also, someone correct me if I am wrong, the same people who "run / own" the THSBA also run a colligate trail that is a "for profit" business.


It was actually an ingenious business model, start the kids in HS fishing and do it through an organization that is mostly worked and ran by volunteers and donations. Then when those kids are of college age offer them a way to compete just against college anglers and not against the hammers that fish most of the Texas trails.

very well thought out plan!

Sounds like this is not his regular job.


Quess I'm cheap. Spent 4 years as a NON paid director for a 200+ member trail.

OK, two questions...

Number 1........So name me a tournament organization (based on sheer numbers) bigger than THSBA? B.A.S.S./MLF right off the top of my head. Anyone else?

Number 2........Give me a reason why THSBA should not have 10-20 employees or even more for that matter?

And save the "because Its a school activity" excuse because if you think it is, you may want to wake up. Any school team could "leave" their school and create the "anywhere jr anglers club" and nothing would change.

Non Profit ?

I am a teacher. Some of us sacrifice and try to make the world a better place. Kind of a d-bag flex.

Im rethinking my values... I cant believe I am agreeing with you. This could be a monumental shift in the force....

non profit means a lot of things to a lot of different folks .

Are you insinuating that teachers sacrifice more than other professions?

Like most churches…especially the ones across the street from liquor stores.

Definitely. They get to raise y’all’s booger eaters for about the same pay as a zoo Keepers helper.

and the zoo animals generally are better behaved..........

Teachers definitely selflessly sacrifice more than most other professions. Not all, most. Thanks for teaching, strugglebus

If I had to identify the 10 worst jobs in America- school teachers wouldn’t be on the list. Perspective is lost a lot of times.

I don’t think anyone said being a school teacher is a bad job. I think what he said was he took less money to do something he is passionate about, which is admirable especially today.

Running THSBA is his regular job. On top of that he also works as a tournament director three weekends a month for most of the year. He then also attends some regional championships and state championships when he is not the tournament director for no pay. The THSBA is much larger than a 200 member trail and the paperwork, finances, sponsor responsibilities, merchandise design, Insurance matters, people relations, and equipment management are much more complicated than running some Bass Nation trail.


What I understand from many on this board is that if a man works a full time job for a non-profit organization as basically its CEO and then works an extra three weekends a month for the majority of the year for that organization - he should not be paid for his work because the employer is non-profit.
.
I bet there are not many on this board that would work 24-26 days a month for the pay he receives.

Many people on this board are really good at showing their ignorance of topics. I respond on the board when I have personal knowledge of the subject matter, but I sit and listen when its a topic I have zero knowledge of so that I don't interject things that are not true.
.

I stand corrected.
IF indeed that's his Full time job he needs a raise.
Some of us have a very bad taste in the mouth when it comes to most (NON PROFIT) organizations

I just think most dont understand what they mean. Its the largest tournament organization in the world as far as number of participants and they have giant title sponsors. They are making money and thats OK!

What gets old is the forum members that dont understand this. The filings are PUBLIC

As per the link posted earlier people can see that there are two paid employee's and a few tournament directors that get paid. Tournament directors get paid an amount that depends on the number of entree's in that tournament. The overwhelming majority of the people running the THSBA receive zero pay and zero reimbursement for their own expenses to attend tournaments, meetings, sponsor engagements, etc..... Those running the organization do all they can to make sure to maximize the amount of scholarship money that goes back to the kids.

What happens to the scholorship money that the kids dont use? You seem to be in the know on a lot of this.

If scholarships are not claimed or used the money will be used for more scholarships the next year. It still goes back to the kids.

Any scholarship awards not applied for within one year from high school graduation and/or receipts have not been turned in for college expense reimbursement will be returned to the Texas High School Bass Association’s general account.

Hope this answers your questions. Yes we have assets as far as equipment(trailers and equipment to run 3 events per weekend including live release tanks).

Correct, any scholarship money not collected is returned to the general account after 1 year of graduation. So if you are a freshman the money is placed aside until 1 year after graduation and then it is returned to the general account. It is then to be used for equipment such as trailers, scales, etc…to run these events. Whatever is left from that is put into the account to be used for the payout at that years events.

Ya’ll have a good day. Continue on if you will.


.

One of the easiest ways to have a “non-profit” is to keep the earnings and call them salaries.

I’m hoping one of the captains posts a video to YouTube wirh pro tips on how to avoid being struck by lightning while continuing to fish through a thunderstorm. Someone earlier on here said there was skill to it, looking forward to some tips

It seems we are awful worried what others may do. If you want to fish in lightning then go right ahead- no one is forced to.

There was one person earlier in this thread that mentioned there was a skill to dodging lightning bolts while fishing in a thunderstorm, do you have any pro tips, grandbassslayer, how do they do it up in Oklahoma?

hmmm

I’ve almost been hit before- I get the heck off the water, but I could care less what anyone else does

Okay. I want to kind of sum up this 12 page thread. THSBA is a 501 (c) charitable entity setup to schedule and manage high school bass fishing tournaments. They have no certification through the schools or the state ie. UIL. They collect money from the entrants and sponsors and award scholarships based upon a team’s finish. If the scholarship award is not used within a year it goes back to their general fund. Looking at their 990 filings they award about $1 in $3 dollars that they take in to scholarships. I could not identify in their 990 filings how much of that $1 was actually returned to the general fund that was not used by an awarded team in the one year time frame. I’m sure it is a significant amount since a lot of these kids don’t go to college. WOW SOMEONE FIGURED OUT HOW TO MAKE MONEY OFF FISHING. That’s is not the point of this thread. It’s about the fact that money was factored into the decision to continue an event that had the potential to cause harm to its teenage participants. If you don’t think that it was a monetary decision to not postpone this tournament then you don’t live in the same capitalist country that I do.

I figured Starling would be along to explain it.

I will give him credit, he has stuck to his guns for someone that is not being paid.


The best part is only a couple of people are being paid and they have used the premiss to "help the kids" to get others to volunteer their time to do most of the work.

That is the real life definition of "work smarter, not harder".

he’s around

Who ever is the TD and failed to cancel this event or delay it till storms moved out should never be near a high school tournament. Putting kids lives at risk should never happen.

Gimme a break- I missed the part where the boat captains and kids were forced to go fish. If anything it’s a teaching moment for the kids- personal responsibility, doing the right thing even if it doesn’t benefit you, etc.

This thread is better than the FFS sonar ones and BM threads

Ultimately, its the boat captains and parents responsibility,,,,,IMO

THSBA WEATHER POLICY. You think TD followed policy?

Depending on day - HS fishing is the only thing hated by the olds worse than BM or FFS.

I didnt say there was skill involved in dodging lightning, genius. Read what I wrote, ask your mom for help with the big words if needed. I work with kids on the spectrum every day. I am starting to understand you a little better I think.

From what I’ve gathered, they looked at a weather forecast before the event started, which per the NWS said there would not be severe weather, and then they let it go all day.

Why was it not suspended after severe weather came into the area, that’s the question.

I’ve heard a lot of, “well they can’t do that because they can’t get that message out to everyone”. It sounds like they can, through an app, perhaps the app is no good, and they need to invest in a mass text service, ok.

So, I would say no, the policy was not followed.

I know if I was competing I would want to compete against a full field, not against the few that remained because I was too stubborn to come off the water while everyone else had left and gone home. Too hot, too cold, too wet is one thing. Lightning is something else.

I know exactly what you wrote, and it could be interpreted two ways.

1. Kids learned from coming off the water because of lightning
2. Kids learned by staying on the water.

Your message wasn’t written well, don’t get that confused with me not understanding “big words”, you didn’t use any, teacher. Nice jab thinking I’m on an autism spectrum, I’m not, but if I was I wouldn’t be ashamed of it. I would be embarrassed to be you, especially if you are a special ed teacher.

Nobody is sending the right message to kids if you allow them to fish in lightning. Period. That’s IMO the role of a TD for HS. There shouldn’t be luck involved in safety.

Hmmmm.... not being able to correctly interpret what other people are saying is one of the key things we look for when diagnosing Au. Sorry if I hit a nerve. Some others are not understanding sarcasm, fixating on topics (FFS, old people, Randy), repetitive behaviors (FFS, old people, Randy), inability to correctly assess their own actions, seeming blunt, rude, or having little interest in what others think or say, taking things too literally, and having no friends.

I am glad you would not be ashamed of it, but accepting it and understanding it go a long way in getting help. There is no shame in getting help either.

As for kids fishing in a lightning storm, that is obviously a bad choice. But if we just keep them indoors any time the weather human (do not want to be sexist and offensive) says we might have bad weather doesn't teach them anything. My original point that you had difficulty understanding was that in a situation like the one that occurred, The life time skills that hopefully the captains possess can be passed on when a storm pops up on the water. Things such as when should we get off the water, where should we go, how to tell how close lightning is based on seeing it then hearing thunder, how to read a weather app on your phone, when is it safe to fish again, etc. These are important things that should be taught, and are best taught on the water.

I hope this was written well enough for you to be able to understand.

Wow. You’ve come to a fishing forum to diagnose a stranger with autism. How many gold stars do you want?

It’s a school day, maybe you should go back to being a teacher, since you’re doing it for all the right reasons.

hahahahahahahaha, come on, you know that was funny. And well written.

And a great part of of being a Behavior Specialist is that in between melt downs I get to bust your chops on here. But I do appreciate your concern that I am neglecting my students!

I probably have autism, some days I wish I was on rain man’s level (able to read both pages of a book at the same time) but, I’m not into labels, so I’ll continue to go undiagnosed, if that’s okay with you?

If it isn’t the td role to suspend competition when stubborn captains are still out there fishing with kids that don’t know better, , then who’s role is it? You don’t usually get a second chance with lightning.

This is all completely irrelevant. When you saddle up and hit the water you can use that grey matter between your ears and decide what to do. I get us men don’t have much of a prefrontal cortex but it’s insulting to say that people need someone else to tell them to get off the water.

Sorry bud, I believe labels are connected to funding. You need a label. We are going to have to set you up with 2 district paid specialists. We probably wont change anything on your Individualized Education Plan, and we certainly wont hire any more staff to support you, however.

I get your point. The real problem with MY argument is that I doubt all or most of the captains have the skills that should be passed on, and some of them undoubtedly cant say no to their kids. So maybe someone needs to make that call for them. But I should not have had to tell you the fallacy of my argument. Come on, youngster, do better.

This is all completely irrelevant. When you saddle up and hit the water you can use that grey matter between your ears and decide what to do. I get us men don’t have much of a prefrontal cortex but it’s insulting to say that people need someone else to tell them to get o

There a written policy that the TD is responsible for regarding dangerous weather that you should read. Did the TD follow the written policy? It's a yes or no question.

I don’t know I tend to think for myself. Honestly if I was a captain I’d make a call- regardless of what anyone else decided to do.

Jack. You’re 100% correct. At the top of that document it says “policy”.

This is how I’ve always operated. Policy = rules. Guidance = advice. The document should be a guide if it isn’t going to be followed as it’s written.

I remember one very stormy Friday night my senior year in high school. We were set to play a rival for football, we got through warm ups and a storm that was forecasted to miss our area hammered with lightning. We waited it out, until it got too late. We were ready to go, and if you’d have asked us if we wanted to wait until the next day we would have said no, let’s go.

Luckily we had smarter coaches and officials that followed a few things, common sense and policy. Trust me. I learned just as much waiting until the next day. I definitely didn’t feel like the government was overstepping and infringing on my right to play a football game.

There is something about avoiding unnecessary risk that just makes sense and like many things in life there are some that like to expose themselves and others to it, too bad, especially when kids are involved.

I have a suspicion that there was more to this situation. Maybe eventually the truth will come out, hopefully nobody dies before it does.

Lawyers love written policies, it makes their job easy. All they have to do is show you had a policy in place and didn't follow it. They refer to it as practice vs. Policy or something another. I'm not a lawyer but over the years I have been sued enough for nonsense that I should have been one.

Living on the edge?

paternity?

So true. Not a lawyer either but my dad was one. Most who know me say I talk and think like one. So I guess the apple does not fall far from the tree. And I’ve paid them more than I care to add up over the years in business to have a full dislike of the profession.

I’m not a lawyer, but it doesn’t take one to know you shouldn’t have rules if you aren’t going to follow them. Just have no rules, easy. Want to use your lightning rod as one? Go for it.

All you need is a good hood lawyer

They are the only ones that win.

not true, some people have a lot more money then their lawyers

Lol I guess, having a some businesses that customers walk in building and a few hundred employees tends to bring them fairly regular. Sprinkle in occasional alcohol liability claim and they can keep the lawyers billing

A big problem on that lake if you aren't familiar is there is a fairly large area of popular water that has no service. None. If youbare trying to watch radar on phone it's not gonna happen. The only way to get a signal is to run to the most unprotected part of lake. You can get stuck trying to take cover and just not know that what's coming is worse than what's already there.

I guess I just dont get the disdain and hatred of capitalism? You really may want to look up "non-profit" salaries of some of the biggest organizations in this country. I could list a ton of them, but google is much smarter than I am. Non profit DOES NOT MEAN THE PEOPLE IN THAT ORGANIZATION MUST WORK FOR FREE!!! What is so hard about that concept? You may not like that, but it is fact.

What THSBA does isnt even in the same universe as some of these huge "non-profits". As with any capitalist venture, if you are not providing something the people want or will pay for, YOU WILL FAIL! Apparently, that is not the case with THSBA as they obviously have many happy customers. For more info, please reference ECONOMICS/Free Enterprise for Beginners.

the reason they have so many happy customers as you say is that most of the folks fishing are not having to earn the money that is paid for the entries.