Why the 9 fish limit in the amat Pro AM?

[TOP SECRET]

Anyone know why they changed the amateur limit to 9 in the pro-am? It just doesn't make sense to me. Most of the pro ams, the ams didn't even reach the 6 fish limit. I'm afraid it's going to make the pro-ams into a brown fishing tournament in Sodus and Oswego

Nick

[Tim Bromund]

Nick, it always used to be 9 fish. They lowered it to 6 fish 2 years ago in an effort to give 2 man teams a chance to compete and increase small boat participation, but that change was met with constant, non stop whining and complaining by many of the long time AM competitors, so this year they changed it back to 9 fish and created the Open Division to try and accommodate the small boat, small team guys and give them some place to compete.

Tim

[TOP SECRET]

Yeah I had liked that they changed it to 6 ... guess it's my turn to complain Maybe it's just me, but I HATE fishing for browns! I don't often catch 9 fish in a morning out of Sodus either. I'd feel better about it if it seperated the really good king fisherman from the average king fisherman, but when a team can go catch 9 browns and beat a team with 5 kings, it just erks me.

I wonder what would happen if they got rid of the 10 points per fish and just based it on weight? No more nine 5lb browns worth 135pts, now just worth 45points. Then the five 15lb kings would be 65points instead of 115.

Maybe it's just me, but I give more credit to a catch of 5 15lb kings than 9 browns. Don't get me wrong, both are awesome days of fishing...

Nick

[rustyrat]

Thats the beauty of it. whats your strategy? Sometime the bown guys get it but there are days where the guy who went after kings comes up big. An its not that easy to box out on browns in july. Especially when you can't fish very very early.

RR

[daker1979]

Nick, the reason the Pro-am's are interesting is because of the point system.... It is a TROUT and SALMON TOURNAMENT.......NOT a big fish derby...... So therefore there are decisions to make, making it more of a thinking man's game rather than just luck.

There are enough big fish derbies on the lake to enter over the entire lake. Our team didn't do well in the Orleans Pro- am but we salvaged it somewhat by entering a big brown in the Olcott weekly derby for some nice cash......So you can do both...

BTW..... most of the top teams targeted cohos and rainbows to get their boxes as the big salmon were very far and few between

[TOP SECRET]

All good points. I'm pretty sure the rest of the tournaments won't be won with big bags of kings either. Maybe I'll try out the browns this weekend, although more than likely I'll be too lazy to spool some rods with light line

Nick

[Shade]

The open division was also implemented to eliminate the Observer and the manditory 2 day fishing. You can fish one or both days in the open and you are not compelled to have an observer on you boat.

I believe if the word gets out you will see more participants in the open each year. I think the fishing time frames and weigh ins will be addressed for both the AM and Open divisions before next year.

As for the scoring there was some small talk going around about eliminating the 10 pts. but I do not see it becoming a major concern. It depends on your strategy like RR said. I saw boats go for the box with minimum legal fish, get 9 for 90 points and have 37lbs of weight to total 127 and teams a team filled a box with 9 for 90 points and 89lbs weight for a 179 total. The second strategy changes because now you need weight so you target Kings. Top Gun did it in the Orleans, he was behind after day one headed out to 600' landed some nice Kings and Bows and won by 4 points.

You can have fun in the pro/am but you still need to do your homework no matter what division you fish in.

Just one thing that surprised me was the drop in participants from 87 in Niagara and 50 in the Orleans, only 14 Amaturs. Is this normal?

Shade

[daker1979]

All good points. I'm pretty sure the rest of the tournaments won't be won with big bags of kings either. Maybe I'll try out the browns this weekend, although more than likely I'll be too lazy to spool some rods with light line

Nick

Just add some lighter test leader to your salmon rods.........

[TOP SECRET]

Just add some lighter test leader to your salmon rods.........

Good idea, that would be a lot easier and with the fleas showing up save me some time!

Nick

[Yankee Troller]

All good points. I'm pretty sure the rest of the tournaments won't be won with big bags of kings either. Maybe I'll try out the browns this weekend, although more than likely I'll be too lazy to spool some rods with light line

Nick

I would if I were you! I saw a picture from a captain out of Sodus this weekend with a pair of 15lb Browns! I even resorted to looking for some BT's this weekend. And I plan on looking for them heavily on the east end.

And all you have to do is just put some light floro leaders on your salmon gear bud.

[Yankee Troller]

The second strategy changes because now you need weight so you target Kings. Top Gun did it in the Orleans, he was behind after day one headed out to 600' landed some nice Kings and Bows and won by 4 points.

You can have fun in the pro/am but you still need to do your homework no matter what division you fish in.

Shade

He didn't win it in 600' of water. For some reason he had to do a fakey each morning. Both Saturday and Sunday he headed NW out to 400 then hooked right and ran East 10-20 miles. Saturday he ran past me about 6:30 heading east past Sandy creek. I saw him come back by me on the way in. Sunday he pulled the same fakey and headed over to Devils Nose once he reached 400 or so. That's where he won it. Not, the part that pizzes me off is what the heck was he doing in the same area i was in that I was doing wrong?!?!?!?!?!?

Maybe he ran north looking for a temp break for steelhead and never found it, so he went to shallower fish. I dont know.

[Fishtails]

Nick,

Tim , Scott & Guy nailed it on the head, and it makes for a very interesting event. The strategy involved is what makes the Pro Am so much fun. One day tournaments barely get my interest anymore, as anyone can go out and wonder into a few big fish. Having a nine fish limit is challenging, in that you have to look at the current fishery at each port during the time of the event and decide what your best options are to box out. So far this year It's been Coho....followed by Steelies as the targeted species for most teams. If the kings are around in Oswego or Sodus in any numbers, that will change the whole dynamic and make the decision making even harder. What do you target? What's your best chance to box? Kings first, then browns to finish your box if need be? Browns first, and then go for a couple kings as kicker fish? Just go for the Browns and hope for the full box and be happy if you get it? Or...go for kings and hope the added weight over the smaller fish will make up the difference if you don't get your full box. Anyone who can hit a home run and box out on big kings is gonna be in the drivers seat, but it can be a risky decision if they are not around in numbers.

Day two strategy can be really interesting also, depending on where you rank after day one. For us, slight indecision has come into play with our team during both events this year and has hurt us a little, but we're learning from our mistakes. We have yet to all be in agreement 100% on what species we should target, except on day two of Niagara.

Like you mentioned Nick....many teams don't/won't get a limit. In Niagara, we got an $1100 finish and only boxed 4 fish day one. We boxed nine on day two and shot into the money. With a nine fish limit, your usually not out of the money picture after day one, because you can bang a home run box of kings day two and potentially launch yourself into the the $$. That was hard to do with the 6 fish limit.

It's a total blast though and I really look forward to Oswego to do it all again!!!!

[LIQUID PLUMBER]

We ran the same spoon rods and lead core rods in both Pro-Am's that we did in the little salmon river brown event. The number one thing to do in a Pro-Am is know when to change what you are targeting.

I would like to thank everyone who worked hard and long to make this a great event.

Del

[Shade]

I said 600 because that is what was said at the weight in by a close friend of his. My point was if you miss the first day but you are in striking disatnce you need to make a decision to go for weight or box. Like Rod said what you do the first day desides day two. All I am getting at is you need to do your homework. I was talking to some pros on the dock and it was interesting that they pre fish to find fish not to catch them and they look for 3 or 4 areas and they check these raeas for 3 days prior to Fridays event. Then they decide where to fish on day 1, thats why I said they do their homework. The only 2 times I fished the Oak was on a charter in 2005. I did not know I was fishing Orleans until late Thursday afternoon so the boat I was on made his decision for Saturday and he landed 2 fish. Friday he landed 8 fish in the same spot. So having more than one area is a good thing and thats what makes the tournament interesting and a learning experience.

One thing I learned fishing on a pro team and watching what came on the scale is you Charter guys make the same silly mistakes us Am's do but on a much bigger scale.

Shade

[Yankee Troller]

Yup! We do!