Why not have paper tournaments rather than weigh-in tournaments?
On shorelines, perhaps around lakes, or with small fishing clubs, paper tournaments can be a useful alternative to the weigh-in tournaments that are common to many larger tournaments. When possible, paper tournaments should be considered. Small groups of anglers may have built bonds of trust and friendship that help foster the efficiency and application of paper tournaments. With small clubs, non-biased data recorders may also travel with the anglers and record weights of fishes. When confined to small locations, paper tournaments can also be useful because a data recorder may physically travel among angler stations and be present for a weigh-in. Unfortunately, the size of many tournaments or their location prevents the application of a paper tournament. For many tournaments on the Chesapeake Bay, the distance covered by anglers, the size of the tournaments, and number of strangers jointly fishing tournaments prevent paper tournaments from being an effective alternative.
