fishman08

I actually like the idea for the pro/am very innovative for sure, wish the one day box was the best 6 salmon of your 9 fish box but beggers can't be chosers right.

Can't wait to see the final details troy. Sodus has always been my favorite port. If Oswego pro/am does go I’d love to see you keep the tradition going of the pro/am at Sodus so the eastern cup and hopefully the challenge cup can prevail. Adding your own wrinkle of a one day tourney mixed in is definitely intriguing.

i hear ya tom the challenge cup is the major reason why i compete in all four.

if this does go through i wonder if there will still be the challenge cup. I would hope so plus it would give me a reason to fish orleans lol

I don't know if i have ever seen a positive word about any tournament from you. In fact your logic shows just how much you don't know about our fishery. Although I don't believe tournaments take a huge toll on the king salmon population, if it actually does than tournaments would be the reason why fish are as big as they are in Lake O. If you decrease the number of predators (salmon) there will be more bait for the fish to eat resulting in bigger fish. Then again with your philosophy maybe we should double our stocking numbers like Lake Michigan use to and we'll see bigger fish, oh wait that’s right there fish are a lot smaller and have hurt their bait fish population.

what many of you guys don't know is that every year during the st catherines tourny there are other tournaments going on the same day in the same area. Many of these teams have small boats which is the norm in canada (small 18 to 22 foot aluminuim boats where unlike the US where small boats to us are much bigger). Many of these teams want to be able to compete in the KOTL but don't want to put the money in way ahead of time since gthey won't know what the weather is like. So this division is to help incorperate these new teams into the king of the lake atmosphere but also so they can get in last minute as they wait to see what the weather will be weather. It's funny that we continue to see people complain about tournaments one way or another yet most wouldn't even consider fishing it anyways.

i'll take the colder weather rather than the lake effect snow you guys get out west

I was on the ice nov. 30th , plus with the temps coming i bet ice will be here arouind christmas time, atleast for us here in the adiroundacks

wrong dave boss man

Teams spend a lot of money to get into these tournaments and when only about half of them get in the calcutta, they see it as why limit their team of all available resources when half the field is going to be able to talk to their buddy. Its not that most want open communication we just want a level playing field and the only way you can have that is by closing communication because some teams just have a wider communication pool than others.

thanks for the offer bill but we won't be doing the WHI this year due to the old lady graduating. Now that she went back to school and has become an RN i guess i better be there to support her or i'll be sleeping with the dog.

IF the pro/am committee truly wants to see things keep going i say let the east end go back to the old rules no comm pro and am division and see how things go. I bet by year three oswego would be respectable in numbers and sodus would be bigger than niagara.

Just wanted to see if there is still interest out there for an amateur division.

It's very sad to see the pro/ams dwindle away and see that tournament style kind of become a thing of the past, i do believe it had a lot to do with the multiple rule changes and the mistreatment of the amateur division. In the Pro Division it has been evident over the past few years that you have your usual players that will be at the tournaments no matter what then you have teams that competed occasionally or are local to that port. Yes we lost some teams that were always there but mostly we lost the part timers. I feel the open communication rule left a bad taste in their mouth and pushed them away slowly as they saw teams that were connected at the top and heard the rumors of teams getting called to the fish. Although not every team communicates such as Vinny and company, 80% of the teams that are gone would say the number one reason why they are no longer competing is that one simple rule. In the Amateur division the numbers were down dramatically then they use to be but they still had 20 teams or so competing. The new rules forced them into competition with the pros and guess what 2 or 3 teams decided to give it a try and it was only for a tourney or two. So ya maybe the amateur division had dwindled down but that’s 20 teams lost at each event and lost of revenue for the each town. When I was fishing in the amateur division it wasn’t about the money it was about the competition and to help grow as a tournament angler. So ya maybe the pay out wasn’t the best for the am’s but I bet the majority would say they would have fished last year if there was an am division…why, because they love the competition and the camaraderie. Top all that with the fact that the tournament doesn’t communicate well with its fellow anglers and let them know in reasonable amount of time when the tournaments are going to be (which is now before the holidays so we can put in for vacation) and you can see why its dwindled and failed. One could argue that they are always the same time each year but new teams don’t know that and without putting information out how are new teams going to get informed and interested. If they went back to the original rules multiple division, listened to the competitors and told everyone well ahead of schedule what weekend each tournament will be I’d bet money you’d see a slow rise in the teams. It’s not going to happen right off because they first need to gain everyone’s trust and after a year or two of keeping to the rules and seeing teams being excited again I bet by year three pro numbers would be in the 40’s or better and ams would be in the 30’s if not higher. There’s obviously financial support as the website states clearly that over $170,000 was dished out this past year. So there’s no reason things can’t improve. ok that’s the end of my rant lol

Although i'd like to try a 12 salmon tournament i have a feeling you'd lose potential players because of the high catch limit. And boy could i see the possibility long runs involved. I do agree with glen that some tournaments would be quite poor if it were salmon only. which is why i love the pro/ams...set up for salmon then go after your steelies or browns if you can't get your box, just have to know when to switch over, I know i have learned a lot and have grown immensely as a fisherman because of the demands of the 12 fish box.

i can put information out at gander mountain and richards bait and tackle from those two i know the word would be pasted around quickly

Sounds good troy glad to see a tournament staying in sodus. By far my favorite event each year. Rick- although salmon fishing is top dog, a 12 fish 2 day event is still exciting and shows a good all around fisherman. I think most players would continue to support that style as long as the rules would reflect what the majority want.

Tim, Have you been putting out any flyes or advertisments out. I haven't seen anything around plattsburgh and i can garentee you'd easily pick up a bunch of additional teams if there was information around about the tupper lake tourny.

Love my Otter! I've had it for 4 or 5 years now and it has held up 10 times better than my clams ever did. Well worth the money.

good job boss man

There is need for change, however i disagree that it is too late for the pro/am. This tournament still has a lot going for it. It is well run and it seems like we finally have guys on the rules committee that are willing to work with the teams. Also sponsorship seems to be better as there was 40 grand from sponsors put towards prizes for the four events. A few changes that i believe are need for positive growth are: 1. Bring back the AM division, I admit i was for combining the two divisions. As a previous AM team i saw the division constantly shrink and moved to pro for that one main reason. However, we have all seen that it has backed fired and saw maybe two AM teams partially competed this year. 2. Bring back the original rules, this 60 payout BS will never work as there isn't enough teams interested to make this worth fishing. By making this rule you took away the one thing that made the pro/ams special and different from every other tournament and that is two day big box tournament. (and no comm) 3. Lastly although probably one of the most important but the toughest to do is that the tournament should be directed by someone other than the counties. If rules are truly dictated by county influences, such as communication and decision to fish or not due to weather, then have a third party source take over. I’m by no means saying to not include them in helping put the tournament on. They do an amazing job and put a lot of hours in to make these tournaments run. Let them keep doing what they do but take the liability away from them so rules aren't dictated by them. In the end the counties would still benefit from tourism and the tournament would benefit by finally having a set of rules that most fisherman would like to see.

try slowing down a tenth or two...

oh sorry jim i misunderstood you

Observer for niagara found...still need one for orleans

Yes the new 2106's are nice and have some sweet upgrades but the 1106's work flawlessly and imo aren't really worth the extra money. Save the extra money and buy more tackle lol