I think we should let them fish if they want. Since we don't know if any are going to fish and they are not paid in until that night, the DNR has always held to the line that if we don't average 16 teams or more, then we don't need a permit. But if we plan on or know that we will have more than 15 teams, then we need a permit. Remember, we needed to put in for a permit last Oct. We could ask, but nothing is guaranteed.
I would let them know it's ok, then if or when we have more than 15 teams wanting to fish, we do a split like we have before.
If they are really not in the tournament, but only wanting to fish the same time frame and score with us, just not compete with us, let them do it. But they are really not in the contest and could come and go as they choose. No different then if they launched, waited around and went fishing, then came in about the time we do. Any one can do that, these are public waters, so we can't do anything about that. It really only comes down to scoring them at the end of the night. Tell em to fish any they want.
Spies! They are all spies looking for our hot bites on their own lakes! J/K
We should make those "feeling it out" teams wear bright orange hats or have a big orange dot on the side of the boats so we know who they are
Otherwise sounds good to me to let teams try it out. If you think about it, it's a huge committment and we do post on what was caught, so they kinda know what to expect. But trying it out for 3.5 hours is a different experience, I'm all for it.