Tournaments: Fair Share Fee for Co-Anglers

The Mandatory MBWA Co-Angler Fair Share Fee

In MWBA, Co-Anglers are required to pay their Boater a lake-specific Fair Share Fee (FFE). The FFE is mandatory because:

  1. Putting a boat in the water and keeping it afloat and running are costly. Fuel isn’t cheap. Maintenance and repair costs are never-ending. The FFE helps cover operating expenses for pre-fishing and tournaments.

  2. Some Boaters are reluctant (they are not bashful!) to ask Co-Anglers to cover a fair share of operating expenses for a tournament. A mandatory FFE ensures that Boaters don’t have to ask.

Co-Angler FFEs reflect each lake’s proximity to Phoenix. New members often ask when and how  to pay their FFEs. Since Co-As are required to contact their Boater ASAP after being paired to discuss logistics and fishing styles, we suggest handling the FFE in that conversation. The Co-A can ask whether Venmo, Zelle or cold cash is preferred. If the FFE isn’t handled then, the Co-A should pay it in cash at the Pre-Launch Meeting on Tournament Day. Leave it for “later” and “later” might never come.

Don’t make your Boaters ask for the money.

Just pay it!

Attention: Failure to pay the Fair Share Fee is grounds for membership revocation! Sadly, a previous BOD had to revoke a membership once, because the Co-A refused to pay after a long-distance Tournament.

Fair Share Fees

Close Trips: $60 — Bartlett, Canyon, Pleasant and Saguaro

Medium Trips: $90 — Alamo, Apache and Roosevelt

Long Trips: $120 — Havasu, Martinez, Mead, Mohave and the Parker Strip

Bucket List Trips: $4500 — Lake Baccarac or El Salto, México; $9000 — Río Negro, Amazon Basin, Brazil

More Tournament Information

Midweek uses computerized, random draws to pair Boaters and Co-Anglers for tournaments. This format ensures that, over time, members fish with many anglers, rather than the same one every time.

If the Draw pairs two anglers who’ve already fished as a Team in that tournament year, they both go back into the Draw, or the Tournament Director assigns them to new partners.

Why Draw Tournaments? Our tournaments are competitive, but the competition is friendly. Anglers do more than showcase and improve their angling skills by sharing ideas and techniques. They build new friendships.

Paired anglers collaborate to find and catch a limit of keeper bass (largemouth and/or smallmouth). The limit is five (total) in cooler months, three in hotter months. FYI: Striped bass and yellow bass are true bass, but they aren’t considered bass in bass tournaments. Bass tournaments fish for smallmouths and largemouths , which are sunfish—not true bass. Weird, no?

The Team shares the Total Weight of their catch, the weight of their Big Bass and the weight of their Goon Fish—which is any fish other than a largemouth or smallmouth bass.

The outcomes on those categories determine which Teams receive checks. For each category, the checks will be for the same amount for each Team member.

That’s a reminder that in Midweek Bass Anglers of Arizona, it’s about the fishing and friendships, not the money.

Most MWBA members have fished clubs and circuits that use a permanent-team format. But their primary purpose is often different than ours. MWBA enables members to compete for a little money while fostering camaraderie among all participants as they have fun.

Toward that end, we encourage exchange of fishing-related information between Team members and with other Teams. No penalties for sharing information and helping other anglers, even during a tournament! In contrast, permanent” team format can lead to secrecy and too often — let’s be honest — telling lies about fishing. Have you ever heard a money winner say, “We caught our fish at the dam in 75 ft of water on dropshots.” Gee, thanks.

In short, Midweek offers anglers opportunities to fish with others who share their enthusiasm. Whether you're (a) new to the Southwest and eager to explore fishing its waters, (b) want to give tournament-style fishing a try, or (c) a seasoned tournament angler, Midweek has room for you. We hope you’ll join us.

Angler of the Year Points

Our "Angler of the Year" points system is an important element of our tournaments. It recognizes excellent performance over the course of a Tournament Year. Anglers earn AOY points based on their tournament results. The angler with the highest accumulated points at the end of the year (after dropping their two lower scores) earns the prestigious title of "Angler of the Year."

We also give awards to the Boater and Co-Angler of the Year, and to the angler who caught the Lunker of the Year. All of those awards are hotly contested through the final tournament. Then we put the struggle behind us and salute the winners.

A Final Word, About Etiquette

In shared-boat fishing, or any kind of fishing, cooperation between teammates and with other anglers is essential to having fun and success. A day shared with a “partner” or another angler who’s selfish or uncooperative is painfully long. So is sharing water with boaters who cause problems.

We’ve all experienced bad boaters and boat-sharing problems on the water. Have you ever been guilty? Have you ever back-seated a co-angler? Zipped a 1-oz jig past your boater’s ear? Combed your “partner’s” ear with a crankbait treble hook? Poached someone’s water? Blown through a No Wake Zone? Blocked access to a cove? Come in too hot and rocked another boat? Cut in ahead of a boat fishing a bank? Fished in an Off Limits Area? Cut across a shore angler’s line? There are many ways to be a problem on the water, and far too many boaters and anglers demonstrate them!

Problem boaters and anglers make on-the-water experiences much less enjoyable, and sometimes unsafe. Nobody needs that, so let’s not be guilty. Always practice good boating and fishing etiquette. Be a good role model for other anglers and boaters, even if you think nobody is watching.

Midweek’s expectations for Boater Etiquette and Co-Angler Etiquette (click those links, please!) are reasoned and reasonable. Frankly, the same approaches should be used every time we fish or boat, not just when we are in an MWBA tournament. Fish on!