TOPIC:

The point system would probably be the best way to go. It kinda evens the playing field for offshore or inshore. But I still like the rule that if we do a big fish contest no lakers.

I think this would all depend upon the tournament itself.

I like the point system! I also agree a laker should not be allowed for the big fish.

If its a Laker tournament - they should be allowed to be big fish

Now that would be interesting! A laker tourney, but a laker can not be the big fish.

Well guys I have been pretty quiet this year as I really got discouraged over the past few years of tournament fishing which ended with my worst experience at the slam last year. Which lead me to decided not to fish any tournaments this year, which seemed to turned into taking some time off from fishing the big lake to deal with some family obligations. I have been a supporter of Rich's tournaments and the Salmon Slam since they moved to the Ditch and have tried to help out when I could. Other than being a member of the Coho Club to fish the tournaments I usually dont have enough time to attend meetings or belong to the board. What I have become the most frustrated with is the bickering, no matter what you will not make everyone happy and the fallout is what really turned me off last year. I always used tournaments as a way to get a few of my buddies together, have a good day of fishing with friends, and gauge how I was doing against the local guys that knew the waters. We have fished tournaments down here when we probably shouldn't have and seen a few called when we could have fished. I have seen my fair share of disputes and finally got accused of something that put me over the edge and out of the game since I don't need the added aggrivation. So to the point;

#1 Everyone takes Safety of ship and crews very seriously, which is a good thing.
#2 Not everyone will agree with the rules, but the rules are the rules and need to be understood and followed.
#3 If #2 were read and followed then there would never be a dispute,everyone would feel safe, have fun, and that is really what these should be about. But then the $$$ get involved and tend to sour the day in my opinion right now.

I kind of liked the idea of the smaller run tournament you guys ran earlier in the year, sounded like a few local guys getting together and having some fun.

Just a few thoughts and background on them. I am probably done with tournaments but I would say some of the ideas I read have a pretty interesting twist. Things will need to change as we wade through the changes in the lake over the next couple years.

Oh, last thing I am not sure how easy it is to change a tournament date with the State regulations/fees but I do agree in this case of last tournament of the season it should have been rescheduled for this weekend if possible earlier in the year there are just too many other tournaments to be practical.

You kind of hit the nail on the head - our tournaments here are more to get some friendly competition going, and the opportunity to meet people, share stories and learn, as well as get people involved who would not otherwise fish a tournament. That is one reason for keeping the entries low.

I think we have alot of neat ideas to work through in the offseason to make the tournaments next year more fun, engaging, and rewarding.

Before we started these tournaments I consulted with the DNR and no permits are required for LM - so that is not an issue which keeps life easy for rescheduling.

There used to be a spring and fall tournament each year between Lake County Fish and Game Club and Salmon Unlimited, which was basically a greater Lake County club. I’d enter each year and fish for the Lake County team since many of them were my hunting buddies. It got to be stupid when a small contingent of the contest entrants started cheating using various methods. The last one to be held was also the funniest.
The conditions were horrible. Wind from the NE. Waves 4 to 6 feet. Only three or four boats fished the tourney - none from SU. They’d just built the inner harbor at Buffington for the casinos but there were no casinos yet. I bounced over there with my 18 foot Sylvan and managed to catch 7 cohos in where the casino boats are now docked. This was when BKD was killing off the chinooks and we free-netted a sick king that happened to swim by the boat.
At the weigh-in only one of the other boats had caught any fish. He’d scraped out 5 cohos and a king fishing from Pastrick to the first light. I was impressed! The cheaters were no-shows. I’d already weighed my catch and my two extra cohos made me the winner over Stan.
So I fessed up. My free netted chinook should be disqualified so Stan was the winner. When I was DQ-ing myself, I told the few people there I only did it to beat out the chronic cheaters.
“Stan, you are the winner!” I said. Then he confessed. “My chinook was a free-swimmer, as well. I only brought it in to beat out the cheaters, as well!” The prize was a plastic trophy, no money involved. I left with the trophy and a good feeling that both Stan and me had played the game well.

Great story Mike!!

Love it!