As Dan said....this Fish-in was an adaptation of the concept of Major League Fishing ( www.majorleaguefishing.com ) where anglers are sent out onto a fishery where they have a Marshall on board who documents the day and anglers approach, baits and assists and checks weights and measurements of all catches......the Marshall then places this data on an I-Pad which is then broadcast to all the other marshal's who then inform each angler of the other anglers results (at least the weights and how their angler ranks in the standings). this adds a pressure component to the day where anglers might be forced to operate out of their comfort zone. They also have some penalty components that we do not employ yet as we are just getting started with this. Anglers catching fish must stop fishing, weigh the fish, photograph the fish if camera capable phone avail, and transmit the text before returning to fishing.
So....we started on Long Lake in Thurston Co. at about 7AM and here is the transcript of how it went adapted from texts that are time stamped.
8:40        Jose caught a 6 oz LM
8:55        Larry caught a 1lb 6oz LM
9:03        Karl caught a 3 oz LM
9:06        Karl caught a 3 oz LM
9:40        Larry caught a 9 oz LM
10:05      Jose caught a 6 oz LM
11:09      Karl caught a 7 oz LM
11:15      Larry caught a 10 oz LM
11:16      Karl caught a 9 oz LM
11:22      Jose caught a 6 oz LM
11:37      Larry caught a 8 oz LM
11:58      Jose caught a 6 oz LM
11:59      Larry caught a 7 oz LM
12:16      Larry caught a 6 oz LM
12:45      Jose caught a 7 oz LM
1:48        Karl caught a 3 lb 5 oz LM
2:20        Dan caught a 5 lb 3 oz LM
2:29        Larry caught a 9 oz LM
2:37        Jose caught a 1 lb 10 oz LM
2:43        Dan caught a 4 lb 1 oz LM
2:44        Larry caught a 10 oz LM

1st    Dan 9 lbs 4 oz
2nd   Larry 5 lbs 1 oz
3rd    Karl 4 lbs 11 oz
4th    Jose 3 lbs 9 oz
5th    Christy 0
As you can see the end result seems obvious but during the day...as your phone is going off with texts from other anglers getting fish this can really make folks get nervous and drive some to maybe change their plans.......Dan in this case, stayed the course and fished big waiting till he was able to get those big ones to hang on and get the win while the rest kept hoping for numbers to carry them to victory.
This was not a tournament but rather it is a study in patterns and tactics to help anglers get over their nerves and test themselves and their resolve. I cannot wait to run this format on Lake Washington where the phones will be chiming constantly and have better size than Long Lake did. As a participant this was a very fast day....the times registered for catches seem as though there were breaks in catches but the day flew by because you kept anticipating another text any minute.....before we all knew it the last hour was upon us and Dan really turned up the pace in that last hour!! Great day and am looking forward to doing this again!!

No Karl you're right on target that's what the fish ins are for, to learn. I'm glad you guys enjoyed the fish in I had a blast. I Kinda wanted to experiment with the new idea to make the fish ins more fun and I think I nailed it i can't wait till the next one.The rules aren't set in stone yet but yeahh we could include baits/methods.  we will be doing it again. I'd like to hear from some other club members if they are interested or like or dislike the idea but after trying it out I'm hooked. Now I just gotta pick a good September Lake. 

The Major League Fish ins are here! This was soooo much fun i can't imagine going back to the old way. Unless it's pouring rain and texting isn't a good idea. i've ruined phones before taking fish pics in the rain. That would probably be the only thing to stop me from doing this again. All i can say to anyone who wants a fun day on the water is to try this.

Lake Washington should be killer!!! lots of fish, big fish and we haven't even put in the 2 hr/1/2 hr break yet (2hrs fishing with mandatory meet and break for 1/2 hr.) that really gets them messed up!!