It has been several years (8-9?) since I fished a friday night tournament. I do remember they had a 6 fish limit. I have no intentions of fishing any night or night tournament because night fishing is just not as fun as daytime fishing for me. If I do fish at night it will be a spur of the moment descision. So with that being said I will not be there, so my opinion is from an "outsider".

The main reason most tournaments have a 5 fish limit is because once a person has 6 fish in there possesion they must stop fishing for the day. If the limit is 5 and you catch number 6 and cull down to 5 and you can continue to fish. If the tournament limit is 6 and the state posession limit is 6 and you continue to fish for number 7 then cull back down to 6 you are breaking the state posession limit law.

Since the friday night tournament is a "buddy/partner" tournament the 6 posession limit will only be an issue if somebody shows up to fish by themself and are catching several keeper fish. They are suppose to stop fishing when they reach 6. OR If one member of a team catches all 6 fish he must stop fishing but his partner can continue to fish because he has 0 fish. When the partner with 0 does catch 1 the guy with 6 can release 1 and start back fishing...now I am speaking by law...how many partners would have the ethics to stop at 6 and wait for thier partner to catch 1 so he could get rid of 1. I bet there is not a hand full of people that would actually follow or even know the exact details of the posession law. Hence the reason "most" tournaments have a 5 fish limit,so they ensure the the fishermen stay within the state posession law.

Years ago when I fished some of the friday night tournaments, it was always caled the UPS friday night tournament because the guys who held the tournament were UPS employees and several of the boats were people from UPS. It has been running for a long time and from what I have been told it still has a good turnout. I wish you the very best and hope things goes well and run smooth. One thing you will learn fast as a tournament director is that you will have to make descisions that everybody will not agree with. You can not please everybody so do what is right for the sucess of the tournament. You are taking on a job with no pay and will have to sort through complaints from people and for that I wish you luck.

Like it was said earlier it has been 6 for several years. The people who fished the tournament in the past will more than likely want to keep it 6 because it is human nature to not want to change or adapt. I would like to see a 3 fish limit in all tournaments day/night/hot/cold because I it would more than likely be benifical to the fishery in the long run.