Controversy

[Ron Vroom]

We usually have a contest on each trip. The rules are this: $1.00 for the first fish; $1.00 for the biggest fish (in length): $1.00 for the most fish. The conditions are that the fish must be landed and a legal keeper under the regulations (any species that can legally be kept. Here is the controversy. On a recent trip only 1 walleye was caught (a legal keeper). Does the guy who caught that fish get $1.00, $2.00, or $3.00 from each of us? My interpretation was that he gets $1.00 from each of us. My rationale is that he only gets $1.00 for the first fish. He does not qualify for the "biggest" or "most" which are comparative terms requiring at least 1 more fish to be caught. If he did not get the 2nd fish, he could not win the "most" category, but the "biggest" category would pay off unless they were of equal length. My argument is that with one fish he did not catch the "most", he caught the "only" fish. He also did not catch the "biggest", he caught the big fish. I will tabulate the responses and settle this controversy based on the results.

[goldengopher01]

You owe him $3.00

[Big Bobber]

The way our group keeps score, he just won $3 from each person. He trully outfished everyone else, getting the first, biggest and most.

[Wanderer]

Pay up. He won all three.

[castmaster]

I too dont see what the controversy would be. He had the 1st fish, the biggest fish, and hte most fish. Your buddy is now a dollarionaire.

[bigbad401]

Yep, he won all three from what I see. Pay up!!!

[PierBridge]

You ALL owe him $3.00

Fixed!

You could in the future change the rules that were set originally by our Fishing forefathers.......But I wouldn't recommend it as they are very anal on change!...

[TDH]

You owe him $3

[Hardyboy]

you each owe him 3 bucks and i dont see a gray area. id give him [PoorWordUsage] about it while i was digging for the 3 bucks but hed get the 3 bucks. I think you should owe us each a buck for even asking !!!!

[Grum]

I have the same deal with a friend of mine. Unless you both agree on the specifics the way you explained it before hand, you owe him $3. While your at it you might want to clear up the fowl hooked or snagged clause along with what species is a "rough" fish or minnow too, lol.

[Crm7290]

Give him four! He got you dinner if he kept it!

He wont all catergories. if you really take issue to 3 bucks next time set the rules to specify that it only counts if multiple fish are caught

[jdog]

that is kind of a no brainer you guys owe him 3 dollars heck i think you owe me three dollars for having to read all that

[Twins Guy]

i think there is an argument to be made that he caught the most fish in addition to the first fish. afterall one is > zero. but i think you should stick to your guns and not pay out for the biggest fish. you cannot compare the size of his catch to no fish. so he may or may not have caught a big fish but it was not the biggest.

love it...

[harvey lee]

$3

[Deep]

Pay up, he took it all.

[Ryan_V]

Agreed, pay up!

[traveler]

WOW! 2 pages of responses with 100% agreement...never thought I'd see it:)

I'm not gonna be odd man out....pay the man 3 bucks and learn from him!

[snoozebutton]

... which are comparative terms requiring at least 1 more fish to be caught.

One is greater than zero, pay up.

[jwhjr]

$3

[Iambjm]

If it was you that caught that walleye would there be a controversy? Pony up $3 bucks!

[merkman]

So... who paid for gas?

[Deitz Dittrich]

if your that bitter, or that sore a looser.. pay him 300 pennies for all I care.. LOL

[GotALunker]

um...I'm broke...can I borrow $3?

Yeah...you owe him $3.

The "comparative" is still in play. He caught 1, you and your other buddies caught none.

End of story.

Next time, make sure everyone is clear on the rules.

[DTro]

Controversy? Nope

$3

[Big-Al]

Pay the $3.00. Plus another $3.00 in interest for not paying up immediately. The only controversy here is you.