Need your input - MLF format tournament

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Darren Thomas on July 19, 2016 at 4:17pm

Our club looked at the MLF score tracker but we were turned off by the ~$5 fee per angler for each tournament. Not sure if it is still that price but was when we looked at it. Many of us do like the MLF format. We use that format for our fish-ins paired with a little bit of the honor system :) I've toyed with the idea of writing my own app for our club. Haven't had the time but it isn't terribly difficult.

Permalink Reply by Brian Walters on July 19, 2016 at 4:26pm

Darren, the price for MLF is still $5 per angler. My thought is it would be paid for with the entry fee. The GoFree app does not cost to use and seems to have more features for the angler as well.

If we do the GoFree I am hoping we can get some nice kick backs for the tournament from Lowrance 

Brian

Permalink Reply by Darren Thomas on July 19, 2016 at 4:27pm

Sounds like the GoFree app might be the way to go. I haven't looked at it because they don't write an app for windows phone last I checked. That wouldn't be a problem for most anglers though, I'm probably the only guy with a windows phone :)

Permalink Reply by Brian Walters on July 19, 2016 at 4:30pm

Windows has a phone??? lol.. 

I am still researching it to see what is gonna work best on the water, cause that is one of the biggest things for me. 

Permalink Reply by Darren Thomas on July 19, 2016 at 4:31pm

Yeah, an app that will cache the entries and try uploading on intervals would be best. There is usually sporadic service on a lot of lakes. That is the one big part of the infrastructure that is missing...the on-board wireless that they have in the MLF tournaments. A cache and retry could get around that for the most part assuming signal is somewhat present. I'm not sure if either app has accounted for that. I'd hope so.

Permalink Reply by Brian Walters on July 19, 2016 at 4:37pm

I know that Scoretracker updates when service is acquired and will allow you to input when there is none. At least that is how i understood it.  GOFree I beleive is the same and that is one of the BIG issues that need to be looked at if we are going to go and do this type of tournament. 

Permalink Reply by Cody Anderson on July 19, 2016 at 4:56pm

Sounds like fun would the angler be in charge of posting there fish or would there be an official in every boat that may be a dumb question but just wondering

Permalink Reply by Brian Walters on July 19, 2016 at 5:02pm

Would have to be 2 people. So the other angler would post the fish for the person who caught it. Also the GoFree allows you to take a picture of your fish as well. So would be added bonus.

The format I had in mind would be boaters vs boaters and non vs non.

Permalink Reply by R Meyer on July 19, 2016 at 5:20pm

would tourney supply common scales or would anglers bring their own, with a calibration session beforehand or after?

Permalink Reply by Troy Roberts on July 19, 2016 at 5:23pm

Question is what body of water are you thinking of doing this and when? Is this a club that is planning to put it on as an open event?

I think it was Spokane Bass Club in conjunction with Idaho Panhandlers put on a MLF style event earlier this year. You should talk with them to see how it went and which app they used.

Permalink Reply by Brian Walters on July 19, 2016 at 7:09pm

As for scales fornow would calibrate before and after and if it got to a bigger level I could see supplying scales.

Not sure on body of water yet, would like to make it something easy for all but we all know how hard that can be. As of now I am working at a club level with it being a open but would like to take it into some sort of series. Try to keep entry fees on the lower side maybe, make it a into some thing where the top 10 or 20 qualify for Championship. Would love to make it something big.

Permalink Reply by Brian Walters on July 20, 2016 at 9:02am

If anyone is interested we are thinking about doing test run with the GoFree Hooked at the Banks Lake Open Aug 6-7. This will just be a voluntary thing just to see how it plays out. Email me @ wabassguy1@gmail.com if your interested and will be fishing the tournament. 

As of now I have approx 6 people signed up for it. 

The GoFree Hooked is actually pretty smooth. If anyone has any questions on it feel free to get a hold of me. You can also use it when just out for your self.