Currents
N E WS
TOURNAMENT SPECTATORS CAN FOLLOW RESULTS AT THE HEADQUARTERS OR FROM ANYWHERE
WITH A SMARTPHONE OR COMPUTER. PHOTO: ROBERT FIELD
REAL-TIME SCORING IS COMING TO A KAYAK- FISHING TOURNAMENT NEAR YOU
LIVE ACTION
Kayak fishing tournaments changed competi- tive fishing with the introduction of Catch/Photo/ Release scoring. Since keeping a fish alive, or even cold, on a kayak is almost impossible, directors of early tournaments came up with the concept: catch a fish, take a picture of the fish on a ruler, submit the photo at the end of the tournament. At the end of the day, tournament officials sort through the photos and award the angler who caught the larg- est fish. There are some complications with this system.
First, photos can be difficult to interpret. Second, there is no way to determine where the fish was caught. And, worst of all, the deluge of photos at the end of the tournament can overwhelm judges as they rush to sort out a winner. Smartphones have come to the rescue. This
year, several kayak fishing tournaments are using a smartphone application that provides real-time scoring, location data and valuable information for fisheries managers. Here’s how it works. When the angler catches
a qualifying fish, he opens the app on his smart- phone, takes a photo in the app of the fish lying on the ruler, enters the fish’s length in the app and submits the photo to tournament headquarters. On the other end, tournament directors instantly receive the photo, determine if the fish and photo are eligible, and enter the results on a virtual lead- erboard at tournament headquarters. But the advantages go beyond clerical. Captain
PHOTO: iANGLER
Pat Horigan runs Kayak Fishing ClassicS (www.
kayakfishingclassics.com), one of the first events to use iAngler (
www.iangler.com), a livescoring app developed for kayak fishing tournaments. “We receive GPS coordinates with each catch,” Horigan says, “so we can verify that the fish was
24 PADDLING MAGAZINE
caught within tournament boundaries.” While the advantages for anglers and tourna- ment officials are obvious, the real winners are fisheries managers and scientists who can use the information to better understand fish popula- tions and distribution. “iAngler works with the Snook and Gamefish Foundation to provide data on where and when the fish was caught,” Horigan says. Scientists can also see the photos to evaluate the health of the fish. River Bassin’ Tournament Trail (www.river-
bassintrail.com) director, Drew Gregory and his team have developed the
kayakfishingseries.com live scoring program. “We’ve licensed the program to other tournaments,” he adds, “so it is being used around the country.” In addition to the live lead- erboard, the program allows spectators to view a thumbnail of each angler’s catch. Angler fishing the Kayak Bass Series (www.kay-
akbassseries.com) tournaments have been using iAngler since March. “There have been some hic- cups,” says Robert Field, KBS president, “however it been operator error 99 percent of the time.” Field admits some anglers were apprehensive at first. “Not everyone is technologically affluent,” Field says. But he adds that the system is so easy, even a caveman can use it. Which is good for the fish and the fishermen,
and the tournament directors most of all. Field likes that friends and family can follow the tourna- ment action from any computer. For tournament directors, the real advantage to electronic scoring is psychological. Horigan laughs, “Now, I have a good time at the tournament, too.” Find a tournament near you on the Kayak Angler
Tournament Network at
www.rapidmedia.com/ fishing-events. —Ric Bunley
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