WON Tourney 4/20/13

[tbob]

We had already made the decision as it was obvious, but we had a very upset young man who was claim to have lost his ticket and the situation indicated that his claim was possibly true. But the rules are the rules and you have to have your ticket and you have to respond before another winner is announced. He didn't have the ticket but the other two in his group had number on each side of it and the claim was that he lost it. The time to deal with a lost ticket is before the drawing.

Anyway, we had a very upset group that wantet to continue to debate, and we were especially concerned because a young man who claimed to have lost his winning ticket was also very upset. We made our ruling immediately and that never changed. The announcement to the crowd was just to let them know what was going on, as they had no idea except that we had called everyone back. Again we had a very upset young man and his family, and we wanted to show that we were giving his plea all due consideration, but that the answer was clear. Putting it out to the audience helped in that regard, and again it let the crowd know what had just happened so we wouldn't be dealing with false rumors afterwards.

We have put on hundreds of tournaments with drawing and we have many times had situation where we call a winning ticket and nobody responds. We have had people realize it later after another number has been called and we have a new winner. So the rule is clear, but it also seemed clear that we had a small child who may have been given the winning ticket and lost it. But frankly we could not even be 100% sure of that.

It was a fantastic day otherwise and we will get up the results very soon. Today is a production day at WON, so our editors are doing their normal reporting. We were likewise up and at the lake yesterday before 3am, and didn't get everything down and back to the office until late yesterday evening. But it was a great day with great fishing and fun, and we can't wait to share some of the results and photos with you soon. BTW, the boat was not won by a kid, or was it last year either. Two years ago it was won by a boy or his father, who were fishing the event again this year, as were last years winners.

Thanks to everyone who fished the event, our sponsors and of course the Irvine Lake staff, who all work very, very hard on this event with us and who make it all possible.

Bob Twilegar
Western Outdoor News

Just don't ask about who won the boat No offense WON but you truely need to get some rules and post them and stick by the rules. Asking the crowd if the kid should win the boat is a JOKE!

[hookerz]

The last time I fished this tourny. (many years ago and the last time) a kid won the boat too. The kids division received most of the prizes by far, as I recall. The biggest division was by far, male adult anglers. I don't know why kids would even be considered in a boat raffle to begin with. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that you have to be 16 to even legally drive a boat let alone own one. There's enough drama involved in these tournys. without a 10 or 11 year old winning a prize they can't legally use for another 5 to 10 years. Just my worthless opinion.

[HBAR]

If I remember correctly an older man won the boat in 2011.

[JAG107]

So besides the raffle drama, how was the bite? Nobody has made a single comment on how the fishing was! Was it really that bad?

[fishnbear]

So besides the raffle drama, how was the bite? Nobody has made a single comment on how the fishing was! Was it really that bad?

The previous weekend I tubed the flats while my wife was busy fishing the masters. I was killing it in the flats and even landed a 7.60 beautiful bow. So, for the WON tourney my game plan was to hit the flats again, but the fishing was not as good as my last outing. We tubed all over the flats from 6:30 to 12:30. Both my wife and I went home with a skunky smell, LOL. But I did catch a little bass. That was all the action we had. Water was warm, 66 degrees.

[iPhish]

We had already made the decision as it was obvious, but we had a very upset young man who was claim to have lost his ticket and the situation indicated that his claim was possibly true. But the rules are the rules and you have to have your ticket and you have to respond before another winner is announced. He didn't have the ticket but the other two in his group had number on each side of it and the claim was that he lost it. The time to deal with a lost ticket is before the drawing.

Bob you guys made the right decision. Bottom line is, no ticket = no winner! There were many people in the crowd that had consecutive angler #s BUT NOT raffle ticket #s - so it is also very possible that the young man did NOT have the winning ticket but thought he might because the others in his group had back to back numbers.

Great event WON, we'll see you in Havasu!

---Michael

[5150fishn]

Fishing for me was on fire in the morning trolling the dam area. The only problem was that my fish were all 1# class. All my fish were caught flatline at the dam area and all before 11:00 a.m. Got my limit but all were dinks. Bobberboy got a good one fishing a night crawler under a bobber that went 4.67# but looked 6# to me. Lol! He was on the board for a while but was eventually bumped out of 5th place. After 11:00 the bite pretty much shut down completely. Flatline, leadcore, it really didn't matter. It was afternoon lockjaw. It was nice of WON to set up and check in the campers the night before. It made for a easy start to the morning.

[iPhish]

Fishing for me was on fire in the morning trolling the dam area. The only problem was that my fish were all 1# class. All my fish were caught flatline at the dam area and all before 11:00 a.m. Got my limit but all were dinks. Bobberboy got a good one fishing a night crawler under a bobber that went 4.67# but looked 6# to me. Lol! He was on the board for a while but was eventually bumped out of 5th place. After 11:00 the bite pretty much shut down completely. Flatline, leadcore, it really didn't matter. It was afternoon lockjaw. It was nice of WON to set up and check in the campers the night before. It made for a easy start to the morning.

What were you trolling with to get those at the dam? I trolled the damn dam all morning with everything I had and couldnt get a bite!

---Michael

[5150fishn]

What were you trolling with to get those at the dam? I trolled the damn dam all morning with everything I had and couldnt get a bite!

---Michael

I was fishing a Pink Mirashad that I custom painted to add some flare!

[Sakana]

We had already made the decision as it was obvious, but we had a very upset young man who was claim to have lost his ticket and the situation indicated that his claim was possibly true. But the rules are the rules and you have to have your ticket and you have to respond before another winner is announced. He didn't have the ticket but the other two in his group had number on each side of it and the claim was that he lost it. The time to deal with a lost ticket is before the drawing.

Anyway, we had a very upset group that wantet to continue to debate, and we were especially concerned because a young man who claimed to have lost his winning ticket was also very upset. We made our ruling immediately and that never changed. The announcement to the crowd was just to let them know what was going on, as they had no idea except that we had called everyone back. Again we had a very upset young man and his family, and we wanted to show that we were giving his plea all due consideration, but that the answer was clear. Putting it out to the audience helped in that regard, and again it let the crowd know what had just happened so we wouldn't be dealing with false rumors afterwards.

We have put on hundreds of tournaments with drawing and we have many times had situation where we call a winning ticket and nobody responds. We have had people realize it later after another number has been called and we have a new winner. So the rule is clear, but it also seemed clear that we had a small child who may have been given the winning ticket and lost it. But frankly we could not even be 100% sure of that.

It was a fantastic day otherwise and we will get up the results very soon. Today is a production day at WON, so our editors are doing their normal reporting. We were likewise up and at the lake yesterday before 3am, and didn't get everything down and back to the office until late yesterday evening. But it was a great day with great fishing and fun, and we can't wait to share some of the results and photos with you soon. BTW, the boat was not won by a kid, or was it last year either. Two years ago it was won by a boy or his father, who were fishing the event again this year, as were last years winners.

Thanks to everyone who fished the event, our sponsors and of course the Irvine Lake staff, who all work very, very hard on this event with us and who make it all possible.

Bob Twilegar
Western Outdoor News

I just want to start off saying that our group had a great day of fishing. We had an even better day of catching. We didn’t have any expectation of catching since we normally rent a pontoon. The pontoons were sold out for the event, so we reluctantly fished from shore where we had the best day of catching all year.

Now to the ugly part….

I thought announcing to the audience that a poor boy lost the winning ticket was not the best decision for the tournament director to make. It would not have been nearly as embarrassing to him and his family if he would have just stated the rules to them privately. All he had to announce was that they did not have the winning ticket and another ticket would be picked.

The tournament director stated over the PA that the angler numbers and the raffle tickets in the envelopes were given out in order, sequentially. It seemed to me that he was presenting to the audience a choice to give the boat to the boy because of this “fact” or pick another number. I believe he then asked the sponsor.

There was a commotion in the crowd about the raffle tickets not being sequential although their angler numbers were. Our tickets weren't either.

The correct decision was made, but could have been handled better.

It is entirely possible the kid didn’t have the winning ticket. I hope that there was some type of consolation prize just to help the boy feel better about the ordeal.


Just my opinion.