Jon Boat In Tournament? 2024
Cootz reply :
Hello I would like to start fishing tournaments but I'm not quite sure if my 14' flat bottom with a Johnson 9.9 would be able to work in a scenario like that it has just about everything a actual bass boat has like foot troller, lowrance electronics , bilge pump and it goes around 18mph you think that is enough?
HoosierHawgs reply :
Does it have a livewell that you trust to keep fish alive all day?
gardnerjigman reply :
Check you local tournament rules to see if they have a length or HP minimum. Most local club/jackpot tournaments only require a working livewell.
brgbassmaster reply :
Well depends on tourney rules. But let me tell you thisMe and my buddy started fishing tournaments in high school 11 yrs ago with our 14ft camo jon boat with an 8 horse power motor. We bought a foot pedal trolling motor mounted it on front. My dad turned an old cooler into a livewell for us and we fished for a season out of it. You should have seen the ppls faces when we showed up day 1 with that boat. But We finished 9th out of 50 teams that season. Its not always about the boat but how to maximize the water your able to fish. Ya we couldn't fly 20 miles up river or whatever to fish b ut we did awesome in the areas we did fish.
Cootz reply :
On 5/16/2015 at 4:04 PM, brgbassmaster said:Well depends on tourney rules. But let me tell you thisMe and my buddy started fishing tournaments in high school 11 yrs ago with our 14ft camo jon boat with an 8 horse power motor. We bought a foot pedal trolling motor mounted it on front. My dad turned an old cooler into a livewell for us and we fished for a season out of it. You should have seen the ppls faces when we showed up day 1 with that boat. But We finished 9th out of 50 teams that season. Its not always about the boat but how to maximize the water your able to fish. Ya we couldn't fly 20 miles up river or whatever to fish b ut we did awesome in the areas we did fish.
Cootz reply :
Good to hear that it's not unheard of to be done thanks!
stkbassn reply :
Ike did it 
IndyGlockMan reply :
I thought about this too as I am on a limited budget and I don't have a truck.
I can pull a flat bottom boat with my car.
My club just requires a live well, so I'd have to rig up a cooler or something like that to comply.
Taylor0208 reply :
We fish out of a bass tracker. And I have seen a 14 foot with a 9.9 fish a Calcutta tourney and smoked the 35 boats that was in it
Taylor0208 reply :
They just used a stringer. Didn't have a livewell. He said the lake was his live well and they had one over 5 pounds
Sam reply :
As stated above, some tournaments have minimum motor horsepower restrictions. If you can locate the tournament director please inquire about entering with your watercraft.
Many tournaments have been won within a half-mile radius of the launch site. Smith Mountain Lake and the Pamunkey River are two I remember.
Good luck with tournament fishing.
Merry Christmas!
Big C reply :
You should look for Jon Boat only tournaments. You might be able to find one. There's one around here that is "electric only jon boats". Can't wait for it to start next year!
Chris at Tech reply :
On 12/18/2015 at 2:03 PM, Taylor0208 said:They just used a stringer. Didn't have a livewell. He said the lake was his live well and they had one over 5 pounds
I'm not anywhere close to a serious tourney fisherman, but I'm not aware of any reputable tournament that would allow a stringer to substitute for a livewell.
On 12/20/2015 at 1:27 AM, Big C said:You should look for Jon Boat only tournaments. You might be able to find one. There's one around here that is "electric only jon boats". Can't wait for it to start next year!
Which series are you going to fish? Seems there's typically 4-5 trails, fluctuating a bit by the year.
Big C reply :
On 12/20/2015 at 10:39 PM, Chris at Tech said:Which series are you going to fish? Seems there's typically 4-5 trails, fluctuating a bit by the year.
It's a fairly local trail, it's called the "Dixie Jonboat Anglers". I think their "homebase" is in Athens. So it's all an hours drive form there.
Taylor0208 reply :
On 12/20/2015 at 10:39 PM, Chris at Tech said:I'm not anywhere close to a serious tourney fisherman, but I'm not aware of any reputable tournament that would allow a stringer to substitute for a livewell.
Which series are you going to fish? Seems there's typically 4-5 trails, fluctuating a bit by the year.
This was a local tourney that was held for 15 years at a smallpower plant cooling lake. Had on average 40 boat but yes it is not a big knowname tourney. That's why they didn't say anything about stringer
Chris at Tech reply :
On 12/21/2015 at 1:48 AM, Big C said:It's a fairly local trail, it's called the "Dixie Jonboat Anglers". I think their "homebase" is in Athens. So it's all an hours drive form there.
Yeah, I've not fished any of their tourneys but I'm familiar with them. You got a custom jon? If so, let's see some pics 
Some of those boys fish with not one but two electric outboards, so it's kinda funny watching a few of those rigs getting up on plane!
tander reply :
As long as your boat meets the requirements, the fish don't care. 
Big C reply :
On 12/21/2015 at 7:55 AM, Chris at Tech said:Yeah, I've not fished any of their tourneys but I'm familiar with them. You got a custom jon? If so, let's see some pics
Some of those boys fish with not one but two electric outboards, so it's kinda funny watching a few of those rigs getting up on plane!
I don't have one of those "spaceship jon boats"...yet.
I am going to re-do the deck with carpeted ply-wood, get another trolling motor for the front, and hopefully get some Bluewater LED's for the front deck. Putting in more money in accessories than the original price of the boat is half the fun.
Chris at Tech reply :
I've got a recommendation if you're looking to have some mods done. Let me know if you're interested
Big C reply :
On 12/22/2015 at 7:16 AM, Chris at Tech said:I've got a recommendation if you're looking to have some mods done. Let me know if you're interested
I'm always open to suggestions, that boat is going to be a work in progress for a little while.
Chris at Tech reply :
Fish-on Fabrications in Cartersville. http://www.fishonfabrications.com/
He did my rig and many others.
1BADAIR reply :
fish dont care!
Cass lake. Biggest inland lake in my county, Spring tournament two younger guys smoked everyone in a little row boat with a cooler rigged as a livewell. 1 Fished while the other bailed lol. Then the last tournament of the season two guys had a flat bottom bass tracker that blew the engine at some point so they removed it. Again, they smoked all the 50k+ boats
Big C reply :
On 12/22/2015 at 11:00 PM, Chris at Tech said:Fish-on Fabrications in Cartersville. http://www.fishonfabrications.com/
He did my rig and many others.
WOW! They seriously know what they are doing. Probably won't do quite that much, but it gave me some good ideas to do it myself. Thanks for the recommendation.
CDMeyer reply :
As long as you have a descent working livewell you should be good.
tbone1993 reply :
Some tournaments require a console.
fishman393 reply :
I fish in ours with my 15 foot flat bottom and a 1983 9.9 suzuki. Has to have a live well here. The looks I get are so funny but hey idc. Have won a few big bass pots and placed in top 10 a few times.. this year will be fun. I got the lowrance hds7 gen 3 3d scan that will be on it this week.. going to tick off some people.but if I could win some of them offer a boat for it. Never know what could happen. I can't afford a big boat so investment in fish finder to turn heads is fun.
CarolinaBoy4Life reply :
I have literally watched an old man in a small jon boat with a homemade livewell win a tournament and never leave the marina. He fished the cove where the boat entrance was. Not sure if fish located there due to being released at the ramp and were stacked in there or if the shallow grassy flat with access to the deep channel that led out to the lake pulled them in but he slap wore em out. Had like a 29lbs bag. Next closest was 17lbs. If your club has no HP or size restrictions get in and do it. No better learning experience then being out on the water in a real tim scenario
Kevin22 reply :
On 5/5/2016 at 2:48 AM, CarolinaBoy4Life said:I have literally watched an old man in a small jon boat with a homemade livewell win a tournament and never leave the marina. He fished the cove where the boat entrance was. Not sure if fish located there due to being released at the ramp and were stacked in there or if the shallow grassy flat with access to the deep channel that led out to the lake pulled them in but he slap wore em out. Had like a 29lbs bag. Next closest was 17lbs. If your club has no HP or size restrictions get in and do it. No better learning experience then being out on the water in a real tim scenario
I visit a resort on a lake each year as a family vacation. There used to be lots of fishermen there and the ones who bass fished would go out in the morning and evening and come back with a livewell full of big bass for pictures, then let them go at their boats and the resort docks as I'm sure people had been doing every week that summer.. After 3-4 days I caught on and would get up early before anyone started up their boats and throw a topwater around everyone's boats... Just unhook my boat and fish IN the resort. I was pulling out 3-4# fish every morning and almost all of them had hook marks.. but by 6:30 am Id have 20# of fish before anyone had coffee. Finally got busted when the resort owner got up early and saw me out there, then told everyone everyone what I was doing. The next day everyone was fishing just like I was. Point of the story is that yes, fish sometimes don't travel far!
Sam reply :
On 5/15/2015 at 9:00 PM, Cootz said:Hello I would like to start fishing tournaments but I'm not quite sure if my 14' flat bottom with a Johnson 9.9 would be able to work in a scenario like that it has just about everything a actual bass boat has like foot troller, lowrance electronics , bilge pump and it goes around 18mph you think that is enough?
Cootz, it depends on the tournament rules.
Some tournaments have minimum motor and boat length requirements.
For those who don't and allow you to use your jon boat you can do very well by fishing adjacent to and near the ramp. You don't need to run 25 miles at 70 MPH to find a place to fish, especially if the ramp is used by other tournaments and the bass are released at that site.
I have seen many tournaments won in the creek by the ramp where the weigh-ins take place.
As stated above, you will need a live well to qualify your jon boat.
Go for it. Have some fun and see how you do.
CarolinaBoy4Life reply :
On 5/5/2016 at 9:55 AM, Kevin22 said:I visit a resort on a lake each year as a family vacation. There used to be lots of fishermen there and the ones who bass fished would go out in the morning and evening and come back with a livewell full of big bass for pictures, then let them go at their boats and the resort docks as I'm sure people had been doing every week that summer.. After 3-4 days I caught on and would get up early before anyone started up their boats and throw a topwater around everyone's boats... Just unhook my boat and fish IN the resort. I was pulling out 3-4# fish every morning and almost all of them had hook marks.. but by 6:30 am Id have 20# of fish before anyone had coffee. Finally got busted when the resort owner got up early and saw me out there, then told everyone everyone what I was doing. The next day everyone was fishing just like I was. Point of the story is that yes, fish sometimes don't travel far!
Seen this same thing play out multiple times on local lakes especially during a tournament. Some of these caught fish will travel back as demonstrated by a study that was done recently. Cannot remember the name but they did a study to see how many fish traveled back to the place they were caught from. Then you have the fish that just relocate to where they were released and do not go too far away from that point. Other fish will generally move in to where the fish was caught and removed and take its place. Its a crazy thing if you think about it. I just seen that old man yesterday leaving work at the store and he had a picture of an 8lber he was taking to hang on the store wall he had caught last week. Same exact spot in the marina!
CDMeyer reply :
As long as it is not against the tournament rules and you have a live well go for it!!
It's about talent not flash
Skeeter Dan reply :
The club I'm in has no restrictions other than you must have a working live well ! The only problem with that is the faster boats get the good spots and the slower boats have to take left overs.
curtis9 reply :
I fished a tournament a few years ago in NC, mostly big glass boats with 200hg outboards. Guys that won were fishing in an electric only jon boat. Thry were able to get under a bridge no one else could access and won $5k. Use the small boat to your advantage if you can.
On 12/22/2015 at 11:00 PM, Chris at Tech said:Fish-on Fabrications in Cartersville. http://www.fishonfabrications.com/
He did my rig and many others.
He's not doing full boats anymore. I contacted him last year to see about getting my boat done. I'm nearly finished with my boat now, just need to lay the carpet. No where near as nice as the work he was doing.
cmoberly reply :
Check the tournament rules. For my high school state tournament it has to be 16' long with a aerated livewell.
scaleface reply :
Sound like fun to me .
Swamp Rat reply :
Fish out of what you have, wherever you can. Another option is...many years ago I started a bass club, Small Outboard Bassers(SOB's), and our restriction was 50hpMAX...so, we had lots of 12' and 14' jonboats with 10-25hp, and we fished all over southern Florida. Unfortunately, club died when I had to leave the club due to work...still think the concept will work. Ask around, maybe you will be the founder of the new and improved SOB's.
BigBirdSTL reply :
Cootz did you find any tournaments to fish? I have a 15ft with a 7.5 merc and have been looking for jon boat tournament in MO and IL but haven't had any luck so far!
12poundbass reply :
On 8/14/2018 at 2:44 AM, BigBirdSTL said:Cootz did you find any tournaments to fish? I have a 15ft with a 7.5 merc and have been looking for jon boat tournament in MO and IL but haven't had any luck so far!
I'm not sure if you saw this thread is over 3 years old and unfortunately I doubt you'll hear from him he hasn't been on in over 2 years. Someone else might chime in and help you though.
Topwaterdude reply :
On 12/18/2015 at 2:03 PM, Taylor0208 said:We fish out of a bass tracker. And I have seen a 14 foot with a 9.9 fish a Calcutta tourney and smoked the 35 boats that was in it
That's awesome!!!!
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