Lets see .

Entry=The $200.00 is all ready paided, correct? You have to send that in when you enter the lotto and you get it back if you are not drawn or called up??

Bait= For these guys (or my self) would be pretty much free. At least they all ready have it and can get some easy. My self, I have about 30lbs of frozen sucker at home yet.

Food=Dollar menu at Mack and Cracks goes a long way . Buy a case of pop at cub .

Hotel=Hanson has seemed to have a great option from a previous post in this thread (if that still stands). For me, a sleeping bag and a front porch would be just like home

Gas=Short of doing some "gas and goes", you are going to be paying this, but split between 2 people should bring the price down.

Sounds easy and it should be.

I would offer to stand in for one of you guys if the other was wanting to go, but I will be in Duluth that weekend, touring Tall Ships Plus, I do not know if that would allowed in the rules.

I will also volunteer as an 'alternate'.. I have'nt fished it since '98 mainly because no one I know up here is much interested in any fish other than them LOTW Wally's!!

Oh trust me...if there's a thrifty guy out there it's me! I try to save money every chance I can. Those prices where just estimates...My cost is less. GAS IS PROBABLY MORE!! You could get by on less, or easily spend more...It's what you want to make of it. If they can make it up here to fish the tournament for next to nothing, great!

$200 for the entry is still $200, and I don't think they "take" that money until you are officially in the tournament. So it really technically hasn't been paid yet.

My hotel cost is less than $100 bucks for both nights, bait hopefully will be free or cheaper, I have frozen Goldeye and suckers too. (But I like fresh bait) so we'll see if I can keep live ones going up till tournament time. Plus, Suckers from bait shops in GF/EGF can be tricky to find around tournament time, and they like to charge a bit more for 'em too, it's pretty easy to spend more than you expected on bait, if you have to get it in town...So it is good to bring your own if you can.

Either way, I hope you guys can swing it...You're gonna kick yourselves if you miss out on this chance!

Yeppers...

Looks like we are out.

Yeah I’m sure that I’ll kick myself somewhere in the future. It’s just tough to get it sprung on with only a week and a half to prepare mentally and financially. Not to mention the time of work I would have try to work out.

Conservative cost for me.

$100 entry
$100 Gas
$100 Hotel
$50-75 Food and Drink
$25 bait

Had the river been in my back yard, it would’ve been an easy decision.
-100 gas
-100 hotel
No time off work

Slam Dunk

Also I have a sneaky suspicion that if I used that money to go a little further North sometime in the future I'd probably have a lot more fun

Oh well, you gotta do what you gotta do...right. I understand the time off work thing at the last minute, cost, etc.

I guess now you can look at it this way...You just made another team on the waiting list REALLY HAPPY! It's kinda like a good deed done to help two others who where probably super bummed.

Maybe next year.......

I was high on the waiting list a few years back, sure wish this would have happened back then. Good luck to everyone that is fishing in the tourney this year, it is approaching real quick!!

Good luck to you all that are fishing it.
It was a tough choice to pass on it.... I wish we would have had some inkling that we had a shot of getting called from the waiting list. (pretty much sounded like real long one, if not impossible.... right after the drawing).
Well toss a hat in next year and take it from there.

Knock em Dead Boys!

Man I sure wish it was going to be that easy this year... Im used to driving 30 miles and camping out.. Not this year.

Entry fee.
Hauling huge jet boat all the way up there 4.5 hours.= $300 in gas or more.. sigh sigh... I so look forward to this every year but the price of gas it realy starting to anoy me. Not like you can pull a boat with a Geo.. lol..

I bet you "could" pull a boat with a metro...but you might want to leave now to ensure you make it here by next week!!! You should try it, I would love to see that.

Rusty, When are you coming up? I'm gonna fish this Saturday, maybe Sunday and again next Wednesday...then I'm gonna leave my spots alone till tournament time.

I'm sure I'll talk to you some time next week, but if I miss you for some reason...good luck.

I am fishing the Franklin Cat tournament all this weekend.

I was going to head up Monday but now I have to wait for some very inportant mail on Monday, registration for the new Jet boat.

So maybe Tuesday and I want to fish Wed for sure, maybe Thurs. but I hate fishing that late in the week.

Yah, I suppose boat registration is kinda important!

I hear ya about fishing late into the week. If I go out again before the tournament it will be Wednesday only...and it will be more of a "feeling out" trip, rather than a catching trip, if you know what I mean. I'm pretty sure I have enough locations to fish for the tournament, so I'm gonna try and leave them alone.

Went out today and fishing was alright. It wasn't spectacular, but we boated roughly 15 fish in about 8 hours of fishing. Biggest was just under 30"inches, with several between 26"-28"inches, and a few slot fish. I have caught ALOT of fish around the 28" mark this year...ALOT!!! I wonder why?

From what I have been seeing this year, I have a feeling this is gonna be a low weight year? I would almost be willing to bet a weight in the upper 50's to low 60's will get you in the top 15...and 70lbs could win it! I guess we will know soon enough...