Big changes to fishing tournament cap limits
BY TYSON SMEDSTAD
Lake Sakakawea may not be an elite lake for fishing tournaments any longer with a change brought on by the ND Game and Fish the local Convention andVisitors Bureau fears.
From 1984 to 2000, there was no $5,000 cap in place for fishing tournaments in North Dakota. Tournaments were assessed the full 10 percent on every registration.
In 2000, the $5,000 cap was adopted, and the state of North Dakota was limited to two national tournaments each year.
Recently, the cap was lifted on tournaments fees.
The National Walleye Tournament, which has paid the $5,000 for the last two years, would now be required to pay approximately $28,000 to hold their tournament on Lake Sakakawea.
The Governors Walleye Cup Derby will also have a large increase to its conservation fees, which are typically up to $2,000.
With neighboring states like Minnesota and South Dakota charging little, if any, fishery conservation fees, the change could take North Dakota out of the running to host such tournaments.
“The worry is, that this could really take North Dakota off the map when considering national tournaments when other states around us are charging hardly anything, some are per fisherman, some just a couple hundred dollars and some are charging nothing at all,” Garrison CVB Director McKaila Behles said. “We were already pretty high, but we’ve been able to make it work. But this really takes us off the map.”
