I would like to welcome everyone to the inaugural season of the West Texas Team Trail (WTTT). I have been tournament fishing for over 30 years all the way from the local bass clubs to the FLW Tour tournaments. In those 30+ years, I have seen the good and the bad of tournaments across the Nation. I have tried to take the experience and the lessons learned and incorporate them into the running of this tournament trail. We started this trail to ensure that the working men and women of West Texas have a tournament trail that is all about fun and camaraderie. We all enjoy a weekend of fellowship and competition that comes from spending the weekend on the lake with your competitors and friends.

The rules are simple and easy to understand. Nothing is hidden and everything is written out where you know the rules going in. My wonderful wife Barbie and Dale Blythe, my fishing partner for the past 25+ years, will be helping me run this trail. I know you will find the weigh-in to be very efficient and fair. This is a two person team trail with a one day tournament on Saturdays. The lake is off limits the week preceding the Saturday tournament date. This is spelled out in the rules. It helps keep the playing field level and prevents those that live closer to the lake from prefishing every day prior to the tournament.

Each team’s total bag limit is a 5 fish stringer. We realize that there will be occasions that one of the regular team members may have a personal or work related conflict with the schedule. You may have a substitute fish with you in a tournament with a minimum of 3 days notice to the tournament director. Then, the tournament director will make a decision as to the legitimate reason the substitute is to be used. It is my desire that the substitute be a family member. But, I also realize that not everyone has a family member that can or does fish. My decision on allowing any particular substitute to fish or not to fish is final. For safety reasons, I prefer two people in the boat, even if one is not even fishing. Perhaps your wife might like to ride with you and just read a book while you fish. I fully understand that and encourage it.

I have tried to schedule dates and lakes at the prime fishing time of that particular lake. I sincerely hope that you realize that weather plays a huge role on the success of any particular lake selection. It never seems to fail that a huge cold front or bad storm will move in the night prior to a tournament or right at sunrise on tournament day. But, we all know that is what West Texas is known for.

I would like to thank our sponsors and ask that you also thank them any time that you have the opportunity. If you are in the market to purchase something that our sponsors also make or market, I would hope you would look to them first. I welcome any questions that you have and hope to see you on the trail.

Sincerely,
Tommy Hagler
Tournament Director