Fishing can be a hobby. It can be a means of providing food for a hungry family. It can be considered a competitive sport and as such can net the successful fisherman big cash prizes, bragging rights and the pride of a well-spent day.

If you sit at your desk dreaming of the day when you can walk away from the office and make your living off the deck of a boat, you should consider entering some small, local fishing tournaments to see how you do before doing anything rash.

Finding a fishing tournament is usually very simple. You can open the local newspaper, or log onto the Internet, and type the words “fishing tournament/local area” into your favorite search engine.

All of the details should be clearly spelled out for you, but if they are not, you should have a contact number so that you can call and have any questions answered. Another source for information for fishing tournaments is the local Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

As for the tournaments themselves: they are all basically the same from area to area, with only some minor variations in limits, rules and of course, prizes. The bigger the lake, the bigger the prizes generally are, but that is not always the case. Some lakes have special kids fishing tournaments meant to get more young people interested in fishing. Entry fees for kid’s day tournaments are generally free, or very low cost, with the prizes being small cash prizes or fishing gear.

If you do sign up for a tournament, make sure that you know and follow all of the stated rules. Make sure that you are using legal baits for the contest, and do not even bring anything that is expressly prohibited during the contest period.

Make sure that you pay careful attention to both starting and ending times; a fisherman returning to the judging dock a few minutes too late has lost many a tournament. There is no leeway in the time rule- ending time is ending time, period and all entrants that come in after will be automatically disqualified.

Doing poorly in one tournament should not discourage you from ever entering another, remember, fishing can be unpredictable even under the best conditions. If you do well however, you should consider using a portion of any winnings to enter new tournaments as they come up.