Tournament Fishing

[medevac121]

I was told to post this on this forum (Ihad it on another one) that I didn't even know about (thanks mikesmarina) but you can never get enough fishing resources - right.

Anyway here it is:

I'm getting close to retirement (late baby-boomer) and I have often thought about getting involved in large game fish fishing tournaments for the fun of it (I'm from Kansas and the fish aren't that big). I've done some searching on the web but haven't come up with much on the in's and out's of tournament fishing, so I'll post my questions here.

1. How does one get started in tournament fishing?

2. Do you need your own boat?

3. How many people make a team?

4. How long do they generally last?

5. Can you charter/rent a boat for tournaments?

6. Where are some of the better tournaments for FNG's


Any help would be appreciated.

[Team Fountain "Mary Sea"]

We entered our 1st tourney last year and have fished 4 so far. We live near Long Island sound so it might be a little different but we were always out there fishing anyway so we figured we might as well pony up the entry fee, we could get lucky!! We do have our own boat, with check out and weigh in restrictions, I think it would be too expensive to charter. There are 5 on our team and our son is an alternate. We split expenses 5 ways, same with any prize money. It makes it more fun if you catch a big one and we've met a lot of nice people. I would try it!