Some questions to consider for Big Pine

[GullGuide]

Hey all,
It has been decided that instead of holding a banquet somewhere else at some other date, we will be holding it during the Big Pine event when everyone is there anyways. The Saturday evening meal will be enlarged or improved upon to make it a little more special than our regular Saturday meals. Also, some type of breakfast will be available on Sunday morning.
All left over monies will be used to purchase door prizes, awards and other goodies.

Also, since everyone will be there, we will incorporate a league meeting to get next years agenda set. I will be printing off ballots with key questions for each member to answer. I will also include any issues that any league member would like to see addressed and voted on.

We will also be voting for next years league officials- Positions open are league president, league vice president and treasurer. Please post your nominations for each post on this thread so I may get the names on the ballot.

Key issues to be voted on-

1) Lakes for next year. Please post on this thread, 2 choices each for lakes. They can be the same that others post. We will be voting on a total of 4 from the pool of suggestions. Please take into account access size, species quality/quantity, and lodging/camping accommodations.

2)The panfish question. It has been brought to the leagues attention weather or not to include panfish next season. The limits next year will be lower, so panfish will take on less of an impact role than in years past. Each member will be given the choice to vote on keeping the format the way it is or to only weigh in Bass, Pike, Walleye and score Muskie.

Any other issues may be addressed and voted upon, but please post your concerns/ideas here so they may be added to the ballot. debate on this thread is welcome on all issues.
Thank you.

[GullGuide]

Position nominations-
President- Paul W.
Vice President- Chuck N
Treasurer- Scott S

Lakes-
1) Bemidji
2) Gull
3) Norway/Games
4) West Battle

[cluelessfisherman]

Could someone please post what lakes were fished last year? I know Cass was one of them. Just want to make sure I don't suggest those.

By the way, count me in for next year for sure!!! I have had a great time fishing with you guys!

Thanks,
Clueless - -

[GullGuide]

Last years waters-
Minnetonka
Cass
Leech
Tetonka
Ottertail
Horseshoe Chain
Whitefish Chain
Mille Lacs

[cluelessfisherman]

Ok - don't know how to limit myself to 2 lakes. But I would suggest:

1) Big Winnie
2) Pokegama

My partner would suggest:

1) Rush Lake (by Ottertail)
2) LOW

Clueless - -

[Opie]

I would second clueless's choices of Pokegama and Winnie. Both great lakes with lots of chances for big bags.

Also, what is the name of the resort on Big Pine that we are going out of.

Opie

[Grabs]

I have a few questions concerning next season,..
#1 Do we plan to limit it to 15 teams?
#2 Did we need DNR permits this year, and will we if we exceed 15 teams next season?
#3 Are we going to open up the voting on the lakes to others not currently involved but looking to become involved?

I'll second all of GullGuide's nominations for positions, but I would like to nominate Coryn'Tracy for official Rum Punch duties! I figure if Paul is Pres. we will need someone to keep his cup full and we can't possibly expect him to run a blender then!

And keep the panfish, it is just as much of a sport and a skill as is catching walleye, bass or pike; in fact it may be more of a skill.

How about adding a little post game wrap-up session either at the event or on-line after the event on what worked and what didn't,..it seems to me that everyone is constantly placing in the same or nearly the same spots event after event,..I honestly don't care if we place in the money or not, but it sure would be nice to see some guys improve over the course of a season. After all, learning and having fun is what this is all about!

I will add my lakes after I have sometime to consider them,...are we limited to posting 2? Gullguide is this a case of do as I say not as I do?

Opie, here is the link for that info about lodging:
http://FishingMinnesota.com/ubb/Forum40/HTML/000035.html
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[This message has been edited by Grabs (edited 08-18-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Grabs (edited 08-18-2002).]

[GullGuide]

lol Grabs,
no, I got carried away

Yes, limited to 15 teams, otherwise we need to get permits. We have thought that if demand to get in next year was great, we could start a second division, kinda like a north division and a south division and then have a championship between the two leagues somewhere, like the top 5 in each league could go to it. But we need to fill up one division completely before we would think of starting a second.

[Grabs]

Would the North vs. South divisions be determined by your home town, or the lakes that will be fished in the division,..or would it simply be a point of reference with no real meaning.

When do you plan on starting to collect money? I have a feeling the 15 spots may fill right away. I think there will be a few added boats just from the people that have been fishing it this year. As far as I know I will probably be fishing with my buddy Shawn next season, and I think there are others like Andy and Erik who probably plan to fish as a team next season too.

[guideman]

Hello all,
I would like to see more attention paid to the minimum sizes.
Drop the panfish!!
1.Leech
2.Winne
3.Miltona
4.Bemidji
All of these lakes have excellent multi
spiecies fisherys, including MUSKIE'S.

------------------
Terry Sjoberg
Ace guide service.
Beautiful Lake Vermilion.
aceguideservice.com

[Guest]

I would like to nominate:
President: Tom
Vice Pres: Paul
Treasurer: ScottS

If I had to limit 2 lakes:
1. Bemidji
2. West Battle

Panfish issue:
Does this limit crappie too? If crappies remain fair game, so should panfish.

If there's no crappies, then no panfish would get my vote...just do away with them completely then.

[Guest]

I respecfully decline the nomination. I can't commit to the league next year so I wouldn't want to be an officer and then not be able to fish. I have to wait to see what my tournament schedule looks like before I can commit.

I agree with guideman on both the panfish issue and the lakes. Dropping panfish will allow everyone time to concentrate more on one or two species of fish and make the events better as well as increase the overall size of fish brought in.

I also like the idea of having Muskie in all the lakes that are fished. It is always nice to have the option of going for the big one like Clueless did on Rush. Again, I like all the lakes that Guideman picked.

Leech
Winnie
Miltona
Bemidji

Oh, I nominate Grabs for Treasurer, he is very organized and has a nice fishhouse!!ScottS

[cluelessfisherman]

Please keep the panfish! 2 of the tourneys I could have placed differently if I would have had another perch or 2 bluegill.

This is a multi species league - keep the multi species.

Also, how about like a $20 prize for biggest fish?

I agree with guideman on the minimum size requirements - I have seen some perch and panfish weighed that were pretty small - make sure everyone has someway to measure their fish.

Clueless - -

[Guest]

Two lakes I would like to fish are...

Sugar Lake near Annandale.Its a little on the small side but has campgrounds and all the species including a good population of muskie.

Kabetogama.All the species and camping or resort,heck camp on an island.That would be fun!

As for panfish I would like to see them stay.If it is a concern that people think its too easy to get points on them then maybee just change the scoring.I think any limit of aveage fish of a certain species should be equal to another.One thing I have learned about fishing is if something is not bitting fish for something that is.I also think that it does take skill to effectively catch nicer panfish.This league tourney series has proven that to me.Getting rid of the panfish just opens up the debate that"well bass arn't really a game fish they are just green carp"or"pike are too easy to catch".Anyway just my thoughts.I will fish with or without any species.

Lets see nominations..

Grabs would definately be good for treasurer.Talk about organized he had our expenses down to the penny on a spread sheet..whatever that is!

Tom is trying to get out of his responsibilities as president so out of spite I will nominate him again I would nominate Paul but I don't want him distracted when cooking

Flyingfish for vice president.Heck he always has his feet wet at weigh in time!

[Capt'nJosh]

Some lakes that I would like to be considered next year are...

Rainey Lake
Kabetogama
Winnie
Big Stone

I would like to see the pan fish stay. Those days when we can't find a bass, pike or walleye would be even longer if couldn't play with some pan fish for a couple hours!

I agree with Grabs that I would like to see some sort of a post mortem meeting where the place takers let the rest of the group know how they put all those fish in the boat. Part of the reason I decided to fish in this league was to sharpen my skills by surrounding myself with all of you expert fisherman! OK, expert may be a little exaggerated, but you get the idea.

Now on to the nominations...

GullGuide for President!!! He has done a fabulous job of organizing everything this year!

Paul for VP

Grabs for Treasure

$.02 from Capt'n...

[Grabs]

I would like to have the chance to fish these lakes

Lake Mary - by Alex
Good sized lake, great fishing, I suggest we fish it as the first event sometime between bass opener and muskie opener, since it does not have muskies. I also have talked with a resort on the lake and they would be more than willing to accomodate all of our needs for the event weekend.

My second vote would be for
Rainy Lake - because I have never fished it and I think it would add a new highlight to the events!

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[This message has been edited by Grabs (edited 08-20-2002).]

[GullGuide]

rainey would be cool. We could take over an island and use it for our camp and base. There are a number of large capsites which would work great. just need to find one where we could all park the boats without worrying about rocks, there are a few with sand beaches, but not many.
Good idea!

[Bob O]

I would love to fish
1) Kabetogama
2) Rainy
It would be a great help to me if Kab could be the July event.

I don't have an opinion either way about panfish.

All of the nominations for officers would be excellent choices. I don't have any preferences.

I strongly support Grabs' and Capt'nJosh suggestions to have more sharing of successful techniques by the top finishers. I come primarily to learn. I don't know much about multi-species and have never been on any of the lakes in this year's events. I also have very little opportunity to pre-fish them - maybe one day at the most.

[Jim W]

Heck if Kabetogama is in the running, I might even join up this year!

I agree that the fun should balance more equitably with the competition. SOme fish for a living, some fish "real" tournaments and some just fish for fun.

How that could be balanced.....?

Divisions?

I imagine the division I am from will get a large handicap right?
Heck, I live the only County in the State of Minnesota without a "lake"!LOL

Jim W

[Capt'nJosh]

Just an idea, but we may want to post this in a new topic too. There could be people interested in next year that don't read this post because they think it is just about Big Pine...

Capt'n