Mike and others that don't understand the money spent by tounament anglers in the local economies where tournaments are held......It would make a huge impact to the local economy if tournament organizers decided to not fish IDNR Lakes and fished on other bodies of water or out of state. For instance, if a central Indiana tournament angler bypassed French Lick or Jasper (Patoka) and went to the Ohio River or even into Kentucky (Taylorsville, KY Lake, etc.) instead, so does their money. I use central Indiana for this example because of the distance to travel adds to the overall expense of the trip. One could simply call Hucks or Lanes or Tony's Marina in French Lick to get a perspective.

- Most tournament anglers traveling with boat in tow simply don't like to travel with full tanks in the boat because of the weight. They will fill up at the local gas station.

- Most tournament anglers show up at least a day in advance to scout. Therefore they seek a place to stay (hotel or camp). Or, they make a trip down the weekend prior or even a day during the week.

- Most tournament anglers go out to eat when they're in town. I bet Judy's at Tony's Marina would not survive if not for the breakfast crowd from tournament anglers.

- Granted, tournament anglers aren't buying bait....But if they need something, which happens quite often, they'll be at the local bait store spending the money to get what they need.

Referencing these category's for the tournament anglers spend, then let's do a little math experiment. A Hoosier Open will have 180 boats at Patoka in late March/early April. That's 360 tournament anglers (One important note before we move forward....those 360 tournament anglers would not even be there if there wasn't a tournament.). Conservatively 50% of the field, 90 boats or 180 anglers, travel more than an hour to the tournament.

+ If 50% of those boats that travel more than an hour, 45 boats, needs gas at least once during their stay, and the average fill up in the boat is $50 (low estimate), then that is $2,250. We'll keep tow vehicle gas out of the exercise but we all know it's being purchased in the area.

+ If those 90 anglers (45 boats with 2 anglers in each) need a place to stay and the average hotel is $50/night for 2 people and they stay at least one night, then that is another $2,250.

+ If those 90 anglers spend $15 (low) on food, drinks and supplies for at least one day, then that is another $1,350.

= I used a very conservative 25% of the full field staying one night, one tank of gas in the boat and one day's worth of supplies and you get a jolt of $5,850 into the local economy on a date when there are no pleasure boaters even considering getting their boats out of storage. Plus, this accounts for only one tournament organization per weekend. In the spring there are typically tournaments being ran on Saturday and Sunday. ~ $10,000/weekend.