First I want to welcome you and thank you for the question. Here's how it works..
The points on our points system are per fish, up to the limit. So if you come in with 4 crappies over 8" and under 11", you would get 5 points each or 20 points total.
The advantage and goal is to catch what you can score as quickly as possible and move on to another species. In our contests we try to score a hot bite in 30-45 minutes then on to the next hottest bite. You really want to get 3 different species, obviously the more species the better. Say you catch 1 crappie over 8", 1 pike over 24" and 1 perch over 8", this will score you, 5 + 10 + 5 or 20 points for the fish, PLUS the multispecies bonus of 20 points, doubling you total points to 40 points. That's the advantage.
Of course if you are on the crappies and can get 4 over 8" quickly, take them. Strategies and clock management, as well as finding out what the dominant fish species and sizes are per lake help. If you know a lake and fish it, you learn what you can expect and how to best go get them.
It's a quick day of fishing and gets addictive. I hope you can make it. I am sure you'll love it. We all do.
Thanks and good fishing.
Sure you can fish with any partner you want.
This year is shaping up nicely.