Point creep was a concern of mine at first too, but ND doesn't offer nearly as many non-resident tags as the western states do. The non-resident applicants will see a ton of point creep though.
I think deciding what fish to keep is a major part of ones strategy and makes the tourneys more interesting. Going to the AIM system on smaller tourneys would reduce cheating though.
Thats odd. Every market I've heard of wants them dry. They are much easier to pull, including guard hairs when the porky has been dead a little while. The guard hairs are more valuable than the quils and are used to make native head dresses.