2006 Angler of the year

[ricqik]

I need your guys opinion and feed back.

The rules:

There are 7 tournaments, only 6 of your best scores will be counted, so your lowest scoring tournament will not be counted.(so basically you can fish all seven and take your best 6 or fish the 6 you choose because only 6 will count toward Angler Of The Year)

The scoring rules:

9. SCORING: Only Black Bass will be weighed, with EIGHT (8) fish limit per boat. There will be a 12-inch minimum length limit per fish or the minimum size on the lake. Any short fish weighed in will not be included in the total weight and a penalty of one pound is deducted from total weight. All measured fish will be open or closed-mouth and pinched or fanned tail for measuring. Any team weighing in more than the tournament limit of 8 fish will weigh in instead the total weight of his 8 smallest fish. Once your bag is given to the weigh master it becomes official. For a dead fish, only .75 of the fish weight is counted. Points are Number of fish + total weight + Points + Bonus Points are only awarded to all teams fishing in the tournament. 1st 50 points 2nd 47 points 3rd 44 points 4th 41 points 5th 38 points And so forth… All teams finishing in the money will receive 2 bonus points.

This is how it went down last season. There are 7 tournaments. Of all the teams that fished, only 4 teams fished all 7 tournament, we fished 6 and the remaining teams fished a few here and there. When the season ended, everybody's best 6 are tallied and we ended with the highest score and got angler of the year.

The problem:

The rules are pretty straight forward, but one guy had a fit about it. He finished 2nd and complained that the rules are unfair and that he should've won. He believes it's unfair for a team that fished only 6 of the 7 should not be eligible for AOY and he should've gotten AOY because if you counted by number of wins and placed, he nudged us by 1 tournament but by the rules we outscored everyone. I told him what the rules are and everybody had an equal chance to do your best 6 out of 7. He strongly voiced that the rule be change for next coming season. I don't disagree with him but to whine about it when you know what the rules are is just plain ignorant. He wanted it in the rules that only the teams that fished all 7 will be eligible for AOY and that no one team that fished only 6 even if they out score the teams that fish all 7 by the season's end be eligible. I think he's crazy. My thinking was what if the every team missed atleast 1 tournament and the only team that fished all 7 never placed better than 2nd to the last in every tournament. That team doesn't seem deserving for AOY. I would appreciate everyone opnion.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Many leagues have dump/drop tournaments as a part of their AOY titles... The thing people need to remember, this probably isn't a profesional series. People have jobs, family that are more inportant than fishing is. We not feel it is.. but it is! Having a drop/dump tournament allows you to put your priorities where they should be.

I am not in your league, but my opinion. Scoreing 6 out of 7 is a good idea. It allows for someone to have a bad day as well. Its to your advantage to fish all 7...because then you can drop a score rather than missing a tournament and dropping a 0...I have fished leagues that had 12 tournaments and dropped 3 scores!

Congrats on your win, dont let this person ruin this for you.

[Chris Haley]

He's lucky you agreed to scoring six of the seven. I know of some clubs that would have only counted five of the seven. Allowing two for conflict nights. I think you also need to leave the rule alone!!! If a team shows up and fishes only four tournaments and wins all four, they deserve to be AOY if nobody can top that. If a team that fishes six tournamnets and gets beat by a team that only fished four, they don't deserve AOY anyway!!

How can this guy think he deserves AOY if he needed an extra tournament to beat you anyway?

[harvey lee]

I do believe he was playing under the same rules as you and they were known before the tourny started.You are the winner and he wishes to be and now doesnt like the rules as he lost out to you. Someone has to win and lose.

[Quickstrike]

Drop nights are part of nearly every league. I have fished in two different leagues the last two years and both leagues dropped your lowest 2 nights.

The way I look at it is that I fish these leagues for fun. Yet I still want to be competative. By not having drop nights you feel FORCED to attend every night and that takes away some of the fun.

We had to miss a night of league last year for our trip to algoma, and it was nice to know that we got a free pass. And for those who want to fish all weeks regardless, still hold an advantage since they get to throw out a bad night or two.

[ricqik]

Oh yeah, a little bit from each tournament is saved for AOY pot, I guess he paid for one extra tournament. I'll see how it goes as it gets closer, I may join more/other leagues too, nothing better than a AOY ego booster.

[bass-o-matic]

I totally agree with you that he has nothing to gripe about. As a matter of fact, I was the guy who ended 2nd this year in my league b/c of our 1 drop tournament. Even though the guy who beat me and I both fished all 7 tourneys, my drop hurt me a little more than his hurt him, and I was on the short end of the stick and lost AOY by .04lbs when it came down to the last tourney. Yeah it sucked, but fair is fair, and we're not going to change the rules and either should you! (You might want to change your ruling on how you measure fish though to be in accordance with the DNR, as I legally the mouth has to be closed and the tail pinched. Especially if you are posting on a public forum like this)

[ricqik]

I agree on the measuring the fish. It's usually stressed in our club that on any body of water that has a size limit, to make sure your fish is close to half inch over with mouth closed tail pinched. Thanks for the heads up.

[stmichael]

Shame, shame, shame on you...I am going to go on the other side of the fence and say you should not have won, and thus you should be put on unpaid administrative leave for a minimum of 5 years, they should confiscate all your equipment and give it to me . You obviously did not fight fairly ...I better stop...I am just giving you a hard time! Of course you should have won, the rules appear to be clearly stated. It was some interesting reading though. No matter what contest is being played out at the time you are always going to have someone that is bitter from losing. Whatever happened to give it your best shot, hold your head high for trying your best, too bad there was somebody better. Now, go back to practicing, come back next year and try again.

Hold your head high! Congratulations!