Tournaments: Why Use a Draw Format?

Why a Draw Format Works Better for MWBA

The Basics

The most common tournament formats are: Draw v. “Permanent” Teams. Both work well, but from its birth, MWBA has found that the Draw format enables the Club to accomplish its primary purpose: promoting the sport of recreational fishing, while providing Members with opportunities to share their passion for bass fishing with like-minded individuals.

How so? A computerized, random Draw that pairs Boaters and Co-Anglers for each tournament ensures that, over time, members fish with many anglers, rather than the same one every time.

Toward that end, if our Draw pairs two anglers who have 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. We want our anglers to continually be exposed to new ideas and new challenges, while having fun and shaping new friendships.

Tournament Details

Our tournaments are competitive, but the competition is friendly. Our anglers do more than showcase and improve their fishing skills by sharing ideas and techniques. Re-pairing helps build new friendships and strengthen old ones by sharing the challenge of finding and catching bass.

Paired anglers collaborate to find and catch a limit of keeper largemouth and/or smallmouth bass. Our limit is five (total) in cooler months, three in hotter months.

Each Team shares the Total Weight of their catch and the weights of their Big Bass, 5-lber (if caught) and Goon Fish — a fish that isn’t a largemouth or smallmouth bass.

Outcomes in Payout categories determine which Teams receive checks. Our Payout formula is 1:4; for every four boats entered, one place receives a payout. In a typical 30-boat event, 7 places are paid.

All fish caught are Team fish. Both Team members receive 50% of the Payout for each Payout Category.

An equally-shared Payout is a reminder that, in MWBA, it’s about the fishing and friendships, not the money.

Most Members have fished clubs and circuits that use a permanent-team format. But their primary purpose is often different than ours. Ours is to enable members to compete for a little money at low cost, 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. We don’t penalize anglers for sharing information with other anglers, even during a Tournament! Yes, we do have anglers with limits who share key information on the water with anglers who are being skunked. It’s awesome to see!

In contrast, the permanent” team format often leads to secrecy, and — too often telling lies to “protect” a Honey Hole. For example, many of us have heard a money winner accept their check, while smugly saying, “We caught our fish at the dam in 75 ft of water on dropshots.” Gee, thanks for giving me such useful information in exchange for my Entry Fee.

In closing, MWBA offers opportunities to fish with anglers who share your enthusiasm. Whether you are (a) new to the Southwest and just eager to fish, (b) a novice or experienced angler who wants to try tournament-style fishing, or (c) a well-seasoned tournament angler with trophies and cashed checks galore, MWBA has room for you. We hope you will join.