LOC Summer Derby!

[Sarah Chilson]

Good evening!

 

I just wanted to say hello and introduce myself. I am a part of the family owned business that runs the LOC Derby each year. We are gearing up for the Summer Derby, which starts this Friday, and I wanted to remind anyone who might be interested that you can register online at our website, www.loc.org. Each derby has a guaranteed payout structure  (it isn't based on the number of entries) so you know what you are fishing for right from the start. We have weekly guaranteed prizes as well and reduced registration rates for youth participants, though they are eligible for the regular prize structure, which is a good way to get the kids involved! 

 

The rules and regulations are located on our website and I would encourage you to read those prior to registering. I am happy to answer questions regarding the rules & regs, participating weigh stations and current registration outlets. I look forward to meeting some of you on Lake Ontario and at the award ceremony in a few weeks!

 

Happy fishing,

Sarah Chilson

VP, LOC 

 

 

 

[whaler1]

Summer LOC has always been one of my favorites.

[Sarah Chilson]

Summer LOC has always been one of my favorites.

Awesome! Good luck out there!

[Finders Keepers]

Hi Sarah, our team has always been a fan of the LOC events! However, we have often wondered why the LOC hasn't put much effort into growing the event with sponsorships, like the Great Ontario Salmon Derby currently does? We'd also like to see a higher payment curve into the lower placements - while this would eat into the current profits from the events (which is significant), this would be offset by increased interest generating more entries as well sponsorship support that could be acquired (especially with an event of this size and sustainability given its history). Just some food for thought...

[Sarah Chilson]

Hi Sarah, our team has always been a fan of the LOC events! However, we have often wondered why the LOC hasn't put much effort into growing the event with sponsorships, like the Great Ontario Salmon Derby currently does? We'd also like to see a higher payment curve into the lower placements - while this would eat into the current profits from the events (which is significant), this would be offset by increased interest generating more entries as well sponsorship support that could be acquired (especially with an event of this size and sustainability given its history). Just some food for thought...

Hi there! I am glad you are a fan, it is the loyal participants like yourself that make this such a fun and successful event for the region. In regards to our sponsorship efforts we do have a number of sponsors currently but that is always something we are working on improving to make the event better for all of you. I am not sure of the behind the scenes at the GOSD but at LOC it is a true small family business. Dave has been running this event very successfully for many years (basically on his own), but there are only so many hours in a day when you are one man. Priority one has been to keep things running smoothly and put out a consistent, well run event, with guaranteed prizes...all of which he has done.  I recently moved back to NY and I am helping him (he is my dad) to make things even more exciting and rewarding for participants which is why your feedback is incredibly helpful! In regards to the prize structure we are always reviewing how we can make it the best for participants AND maintain the good reputation we have of publishing guaranteed prizes prior to the events. Not knowing exact participation levels each year prior to publishing the structure is always a gamble for us and keeping things running each year while keeping our word regarding payouts is always our goal. I really do appreciate you taking the time to comment and give me your feedback. We do this derby for you guys so knowing how we can improve the experience for you is important to us. 

[bottom-feeder]

​recognizing those of us that fish alone would up the participation some

[whaler1]

Yeah that would be great, as would being able to register as a boat.

[final flight]

You are right. For an older cable steer boat there are not a lot of options available. Been researching them as I know someone who just purchased an Islander with power assist cable steering and not alot of economical options available.

[final flight]

Yes yes yes on the fishing solo,

[Sarah Chilson]

Hi guys!

 

The rule that requires a witness is really to protect the participants in two ways. First, we want to make sure that it is a level playing field and that no one participant is doing anything that might hurt the integrity of the contest. I know 99.9% of our participants are honest and follow the rules...it is that .01% that we want to protect you guys from. We have been doing this long enough to have seen some really shady attempts to cheat; having a registered witness helps to prevent some of that. Second, we want to make sure people are safe out on the water and having a witness requirement promotes safe fishing practices. 

 

To address the boat registration comment...that would be easier to do if LOC was a short weekend tournament versus a month long derby. It certainly makes sense for the 2-3 day tournaments to have boat registrations; it just doesn't work with our format. It becomes difficult to set fair rates for boats for something that goes on for 30 days. It also then becomes impossible to know who was actually on board which goes back to the witness piece I mentioned above. 

 

Thanks for the questions!

[hawkeye625]

We fish all three every year and am always curious how many entries there are. My invoice number for the spring was over 21000. Are there that many people entered?

Sent from my SM-G930V using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Silver Fox]

Unless the witness is not a part of the regular crew, it won't be unbiased. If one cheats, all of the crew would be in on it, which makes a witness of that fishing team not a good one.

I agree on scraping the witness program.

Still, dave does a great job in keeping on top of things.

[whaler1]

Would be nice if the weigh stations had the option of being open later. 8 pm is tough.

To Scotts point, Dave does a great job with the derby.

[Sarah Chilson]

We fish all three every year and am always curious how many entries there are. My invoice number for the spring was over 21000. Are there that many people entered?

Sent from my SM-G930V using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Those are auto generated numbers on the invoices and do not reflect registrations though that would be an awesome number! We have a mix of season passes and day passes so it is hard to say exactly how many unique individuals register for each derby. Here is an article that outlines general participation numbers and from how many states they hail from. Thanks!

 

http://www.newyorkupstate.com/outdoors/2016/05/loc_derby_the_biggest_fishing_tournament_series_on_lake_ontario.html

[GAMBLER]

Bring back the lake trout division in the Fall derby.     People want more chances to win a prize.  By cutting the lake trout division out, we lost 20 chances to place! 

[Sarah Chilson]

Unless the witness is not a part of the regular crew, it won't be unbiased. If one cheats, all of the crew would be in on it, which makes a witness of that fishing team not a good one.

I agree on scraping the witness program.

Still, dave does a great job in keeping on top of things.

I understand that, BUT it does give us one additional person to polygraph and we feel that is a good way to weed out the bad apples! I agree, Dave does a great job, and I am not just saying that because he is my dad/boss! 

[Sarah Chilson]

I have to jump offline for a bit, I will pop back in tonight and answer any additional questions that come up. Just wanted to leave you with this that Dave sent me from on the road....

 

"Get ready for some huge kings to be weighed in the summer LOC Derby! How about this monster king salmon caught out of Wilson yesterday by Todd Garzarelli - a 32.5 pound shark! He was fishing with the Lone Wolf, Capt. Dan Evans."

 

[Sarah Chilson]

Bring back the lake trout division in the Fall derby.     People want more chances to win a prize.  By cutting the lake trout division out, we lost 20 chances to place! 

Hi Gambler! Thanks for bringing this up! So to address your point...We feel really strongly about supporting the locally owned, small businesses and the best way to draw in people from out of state is to highlight the salmon division. We get participants from over 40 states and many of them come during the fall derby and that is due, in part, to the fact that we increased the grand prize to $25,000. Attracting anglers to our Great Lake is a very important aspect of our business. People will come from out of state for salmon fishing specifically; it is a big draw. They will need hotel rooms, camp sites, charters, bait & tackle, supplies, food, ice, etc. so it is a great opportunity to get people fishing in the region to show them everything we have to offer. We have doubled the payouts for the salmon and award $15,300 in dailys. This is also the time of year when salmon are the largest, makes for some incredibly exciting fishing. Cutting the lake trout has allowed us to do all of this and it has proven to really have a positive effect on the local economy. I hear you though, of course we want people to place and win money...but we have other, more broad/long-term goals that will benefit everyone in the long run and we want to do our part as a small business to strengthen the local economy...tourism is a great way to do just that! 

[GAMBLER]

If you want to show them EVERYTHING you have to offer, you would show them a world class lake trout fishery along with a World Class salmon fishery! 

[thumbburn]

I agree with gambler..... And the salmon fishing has been off the last cpl years....

Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

[Sarah Chilson]

If you want to show them EVERYTHING you have to offer, you would show them a world class lake trout fishery along with a World Class salmon fish

Touche! 

 

Maybe we can revisit this in a few years if we have participation growth rates that would financially support an additional division. For now, the salmon is a big draw and working well but I will keep this point in mind, thanks for the feedback! 

[GAMBLER]

The states surrounding the great lakes and Canada are slowly getting away from salmon stocking.  Keep that in mind when you do not have a division for one of the biggest staples in the fishery.  On tough salmon years, people target lake trout.  If the lake trout bite is the only game in town, are people going to buy derby passes when they can only have good fishing for a species that is not part of your derby? I think not... 

[Silver Fox]

Also in the fall, many of the top 20 spots in the salmon division are on the east end. The south central region(which is very large) would love to target the Lakers. I DO have clients that don't bother getting a one day pass because of this reason.

I would love to see the entries in the years previous to getting rid of the laker division and after.

[TOP SECRET]

Hi Sarah, thank you for reaching out to this community! My wife and I have enjoyed fishing the LOCs for years!

One rule that I would like to see changed is having to weigh a fish in by 8pm and not being able to weigh it the next day. This rule only hurts the honest fisherman, as a cheater will just hold their fish and weigh it the next morning anyway.

Also, I've sent two emails to LOC about the Veterans tournament we are having at the end of July and have not heard back. Is there a better email I should use or if there is a phone number I should call, can you private message it to me please?

[dvdegeorge]

Sarah thanks for taking the time

Prize structure and payouts need to be addressed.

A lake wide derby with the number of participants should do much better than paying out $50 for placing in the top 20 out of thousands of entrants,the cost to enter is $40 so a winning actual prize of $10 is ridiculous. I realize you know exactly how many entrants you average each derby and season but those numbers are never released because then people will do the math.

Dave should make money doing this after all it is a business and is time consuming,but a larger payout will yield you and he more entrants and a bigger profit in the long run.

You are at a point where many potential entrants are skipping the derby because they deem it not a good enough prize structure.

Thank you for your consideration