more tourneys

[kingslamon22]

more people would fish the tourneys if there were tounaments with smaller entry fees, smaller payouts and less money and time on the line. i dont have the money to fish tourneys with you captains even though i have fished next to you and done just as well, i cannot afford to spend 250 300 per ticket then fish all week long against all you captains who write off your boats and gas as buisiness expense then get payed for the costomers on board while tourney fishing. (thats what we all want outa life so more power to ya) but thats why youll never fish agains us. but if there was a lot less on the line to loose and shorter tourneys with more tradition and fun involved, you would see me every time. im sure i speak for many people out there wishing they could challenge the great capitains and not loose their house or not be able to feed their children for the sake of fun. im competitive and would volunteer to help set something up for the sake of my fellow broke, savy lake ontario fishermen. i want it bad but i aint payin big cash and gas and all other expenses to fish only a couple days of a tourney that lasts all week. say 2 day tourney, 35 dollar per boat entry, 500 dollar payout for biggest fish and 250 for second. something along those lines. plan them around the seasonal movements of fish too. maybe one in spring and fall for mexico salmon. summer out west somewhere for steelhead and salmon. high percentage catching. the fun stuff. lake ontario should be a local fishery as well as big money comercial, publicity fishery. maybe it would draw some of the little guys like me up for a couple more weekends of fishing. most people find this lake intimidating, so the high payouts and huge compititions that only capitains, engineers and layers with lots of vacation time and money can fish, scare the small guys right back to oneida and otisco with no drive to challenge big names and huge experience. or maybe i just need a better job but i dont think so. back me up broke guys!!

[Legacy]

check out the proam open division. it might be what your searching for.

http://www.lakeontarioproam.net/

[kingslamon22]

sorry man its not what i was lookin for. who wants to fish out of mexico in july?? i dont wanna run 8-10 miles offshore to fish next to you. maybe in september or march ill fish outa mexico against you guys. no way am i bringin my broke ass to the shipping lanes to have my 1988 22 ft trophy **** the bed. im into it but man but cmon i make 10 bucks an hour and have 2 kids. thanx for the input. must be im the only guy who has not alot of money and still wants to fish ontario. i guess ill get an inner tube and fish for sunfish.

[Shade]

Kingsalmon,

Keep one thing in mind and I am not trying to persuade you in any way. If you paid a Charter $500.00 you want fish in the boat and most of them will be just legal or teenagers. Youn have just as much a chance of putting a 20# king in your boat as that charter. The Charters goal is to limit that client out with fish and if he lands a 20# thats just a bonus.

I agree with legacy. If you want to compete with just amatures and not charters (Pros) enter the Pro/Am. It will be fun and competitive. Check out the website, read the rules and decide if ya wanna give it a shot. You will not regret it.

Shade

[LongLine]

KS - Don't feel all alone.

Tom B.

(LongLine)

(and you have a new & bigger rig than me)

[motoman]

lots of smaller derbys & one and two day events out there! sounds like you need too look around , And as for the bigger derby's & Events , people have been screamimg for better pay outs and bigger events ,its about grow for the sport, lake and economy, keep an eye on here for them! You can also look on attheoak.com i now they have i think 4 one day events for a 100 buck a boat , get four guys 25 per man and you will get ur day agianst the catains out there! and also check out the pro-ams like legacy said there's the open & or am class you can enter (no captain in them class's) If all else fails hit me up i will throw down some cash with ya!

[bottom-feeder]

check into these

ATOMIK challenge in oswego

LIL SALMON RIVER challenge in mexico bay

FAIR HAVEN CHALLENGE in fair haven

family oriented usually lots of boats ( good payouts )

HARBOR CLASSIC in henderson ( 3rd week of may......4-day derby....biggest fish wins in 4 categories )

JON'S lil salmon brown trout derby

another in cape vincent around 1st of june

pillar point bass/walleye derby

and i'm sure there is many more smaller derbies around

[kingslamon22]

i hope you captains dont think im saying anything bad about you casue frankly im jelous. thats my dream life. my experience goes far beyond my years and so im told. but my pocketbook dont run a close second. im maxed out with just my setup. now i wanna use it to show my skills. any traveling and big spending is completly outa the question. and who wants to fish somebody elses style on somebody elses boat? im self taught by the way and ive never had a charter. nobody i know has shown me anything. im completly self taught and i have made great catches outa lake ontario sinse i graduated to the big lake from oneida, wich i still live on and fish. there are several small tourneys on oneida that cost under 30 dollars to enter and there a hoot. id like to see it on ontario. thanx motoman but no thanx. unless you wanna jump aboard the old hardtop with me and my r&r tackle boxes and catch some effin fish without the big spending. i gues ill stick to catching, not competeing. ill save those dollars for oneida where they appreciate the broke bastards with skills to show.

[Splitshot115]

Kingslamon22,

If your looking for those kind of Derbies you're more apt to find them on the fingers.

Sure you'll find some on Ontario but you'll have to travel. If you want to fish with the Big Boys, Do what I do and work all the OT you can get in the winter months or just save your pennies so that you can enjoy the summer months. I can't fish all the one's I'd like either

so ya gotta pick and choose.

Splitshot115

[Landshark]

Just do the loc

[muskybob]

There's a lot of guys on here that don't make big bucks, are not charter captains, still compete in the tourneys, & I'm one of them. The only additional expense of derby fishing vs rec fishing is the entry fee. The tourney fees are divied up between usually 3 of us so it's not that bad. We fish alongside the pros in the Scottys and the ProAm's under the Am category. Sometimes yer the bat & sometimes the ball.

Those tourneys were set up with bigger entry fees to accommodate the guys that were asking for bigger payouts. The ProAm even set up an Open Division to accommodate the guys that were asking for it. That entry fee is reasonable too.

As bottom-feeder mentioned, check those out and compete. You'll have a blast, meet some great folks, & won't regret it.

The only other thing you can do is grab the bull by the horns and set up a derby like you would want. There are plenty of guys here that would be glad to offer advice on how to go about it. You can get your other friends to help & even ask for volunteers here on this site.

Good luck on the water this year & let us know if you do set something up.

[motoman]

you lost me , let me get this strait you want a derby too be held on lake ontario for cheap but you don"t want too travel , ya i don't think you going to have any luck there. sorry man

[Gill-T]

Mr Kingslamon, you actually have an excellent platform to fish the pro/ams. I own a 23' 1988 trophy, and also have a limited budget. You need two other partners and an observer. The total cost for a pro/am weekend for my crew is $150.00 per person. I pay the observer gas reimbursement based on his/her car's fuel economy, plus some beer, plus a meal and offer to sleep in the boat ($80.00 approx.) Other expenses shared are gas to tow the vehicle, entry fees, launch fees, ice, boat gas, slip for weekend. This figure works pretty good, and I can tell you it is the best $150 you will spend all year. You got to pay to play......at anything. Eighteen holes of golf with cart......around $50.00. Sports leagues........hundreds etc. etc. It all how you chose to spend your dollars. Of course if you win big steelhead or big king or place well, you have a chance to actually make money......but don't count on it. Now my boat sleeps three comfortably, so we save on lodging if we fish the eastern events, but we chose to fish only the western events only and mostly commute from home.

[kingslamon22]

thers already local tourneys. but im not fishing outa mexico in june for kings in 300 fow. by the way like i said before, i dont know anybody to fish with so i fork all the cash for ice, gas vehicle and insureance payments, food, tackle and all. im askin for a tourney in march in mexico for browns for cheap. or in sptember for kings, for cheap. sorry about the miscommunication but musky bob is the grand master and i like his ideah and im gonna look into that. i would like to join the bigger payout ones to fish with real people but im not real people myself. im lowly hourly worker with kids and people to support. by the way, id never be caugt dead golfing.

[kingslamon22]

i pay alot to play also. i make 10 bucks an hour and i fish lake ontario with a respectable boat and tackle to boot. whats not paying about that???

[muskybob]

i pay alot to play also. i make 10 bucks an hour and i fish lake ontario with a respectable boat and tackle to boot. whats not paying about that???

Sorry, you misunderstood what I meant. I meant that if you're going to go fishing, the only extra you have to pay is for the derby/tourney entry fee, which is divided among your team mates. Not all of us take a week off from work to pre-fish the tourneys. I'm sure you pay as much as anyone else to enjoy our sport.

[Shade]

King,

No sense of beating a dead horse here but just here me out.

What muskybob is saying is if you fish on a Saturday it is already costing you gas, ice, maybe a lunch or snacks. The difference between that and the tournament is the entry fee. The Pro/Am isn't about catching kings, its about catching 9 fish. Each fish is 10 points and each pound is 1 point. You can catch 9 browns and be competitive.

Here is an idea. Why don't you volunteer to be an Observer. Most cases the Pros pay about $100 and the Ams pay $75 but the most important thing is you get to see what the Pro/Am is all about. Just contact the tournament commiittee in your area or post it on the LOU site that you want to be an Observer. I think the Sodus is sometime in mid July.

OPTION #2 - You have about 28 weeks to save the money to enter the Pro/Am as well as get a team together which comes to about $10/week. This is not personal. I do not know your finacial situation. If you do not want to put your own team together again post your interest to fish the Pro/Am in your area at the marina and on LOU and you may fish with others that may need a team member.

Shade

[motoman]

ok i do see your point! here is an idea for you with the cost factor and the money that your working with, look on the home page on this site under OPEN SEAT/TRADE A TRIP click on it and put a post in there stating what you have and what you would like too do , I know there's guys around that want too get out and don"t have boats but can help with expences for sure ,SAMPLE ---(I have 22ft trophy fully rigged boat , looking too fish sodas pro am in the open div. on xx/xx/10 want too split up cost and all winning looking for 3 or 4 guys to keep cost down for everyone reply here or give me a ring.) hell you can do this even for a day trip for fun fishing in fact thats how i met the landshark , he was working out by me and put an add up there and i reply too him and i took him on a hell ride ! If this don't work ask santa for a fishing trip for XMAS.

[Legacy]

Theres not much more advice these guys can give you and Ive heard a bunch of good ideas here.

1. become an observer for the proams. 4 events all along the lake, you will get paid, and gain some experience. As a bonus most boats that you observe for will let you "prefish" friday (which always hosts a tourny).

2. place apost under trade-a-trip/ open seat and see what happens. Besides the guys already fishing out there looking for a change in scenery or looking just to split some costs or to fish tournys. You might also get people that are less fortunate than you and dont have the means to fish the big O but are looking to donate some time and money to get out there. Or maybe jump on board with someone else.

There is no lack of tourneys out there but you may have to travel also.

-Oak orchard hosted 4- 1 day events last year

- LOC derby spring summer fall $30 per

-scotty tournys

-proams- open division = $105.00

- new $1000 a day derby

-ATOMMIK challenge in oswego

-LIL SALMON RIVER challenge in mexico bay

-FAIR HAVEN CHALLENGE in fair haven

-orleans county derby- $25

[kingslamon22]

yeah i guess if i knew some serius people who would split cost with me it would not be a big deal. as you old coots know, young people dont fish anymore so im in it all alone...unless my wife drives the boat. theres no way i can get my lazy ass friends who dont even like fishing to fish the heck outa a tourney. guess thats why im missin out. ill figure something for this year. even if i gotta fish with you old coots itll do.

[muskybob]

Ya just might learn a thing or two from us old coots, even if it's only to respect yer elders

[L&M]

as you old coots know, young people dont fish anymore so im in it all alone...

even if i gotta fish with you old coots itll do

Truly Amazing only words I can think of off hand.

[kingslamon22]

better than chrome dome right?

[Silver Fox]

Didn't Legacy just say to post on the "open Seats" board? No disrespect, but it sounds like you'll do a tourny only if it's in your backyard pool. I don't think anyone can help more than they already have. Good Luck.

[kingslamon22]

i didnt mean to offend the older generation. old cood is friendly terminology. ill address the older generations as asked. i mean no offense. scott i plan on it. my last post said so.