How to train your fishing tournament judges.

Your judge corps is the operational backbone of your event. Catch verification happens at their hands. Disputes that survive into Sunday night usually trace back to inconsistent or untrained judging. The good news: judge training is not complicated. It's mostly making sure everyone reads the same rules and uses the same tools the same way.

How many judges

Plan for one dock judge per 8–12 boats. For multi-category events, add at least one floater per category. For multi-station weigh-ins (typical for inshore tournaments), you need a judge per station plus a head judge to manage the queue.

Qualifications

• Fluent in your operating language(s)
• Comfortable making calls under pressure
• Available the entire event window (not just one day)
• Familiar with the species your tournament covers
• Willing to commit to written disqualification reasons (not "DQ" with no explanation)

Pre-event training (one session, 60 minutes)

Schedule this session 2 weeks before the event, in person if possible:

1. Walk through the rules document. Every judge reads it. Discuss every section that's ambiguous.
2. Catch-entry tool walkthrough. Each judge logs in on the actual phone they'll use during the event. Walk through the 5-tap flow with sample catches.
3. Disqualification protocol. When to disqualify. How to write the reason. What language to use.
4. Dispute protocol. What to say to a captain who challenges. When to escalate to the director.
5. Radio protocol. Channels, codes, when to broadcast.

The dry-run (one session, 60–90 minutes)

Schedule a Saturday morning two weeks before lines-in. Run a simulated tournament hour with sample catches. Each judge logs catches in real time. The director runs the jury queue. Walk through every step the actual event will require — registration, catch entry, jury review, leaderboard updates.

The dry-run is what catches the issues you didn't think of. Run it.

Day-of judge brief (10 minutes)

The morning of lines-in, before judges deploy to stations:

• Confirm everyone's phone is charged and the catch entry app is working
• Confirm radio plan and channel assignments
• Distribute station assignments
• Confirm escalation contact for the director
• Brief on any last-minute rule clarifications

What you can hand to your judges

Print or share the DockScore "For Judges" page with your judges. It walks them through the catch entry flow, the offline queue behavior, and the language toggle. They can read it before your training session — saves 20 minutes of explanation.

Where to go next

The For Judges page is the best material to share with your judge corps. The rules template gives you the document they'll reference during the event.