A different perspective on the Striper Cup...

[BigFish]

Wish I could cull through my 95 fish a week haul and weigh the biggest for a tourney! I wish OTW would make that rule against comm's and enforce it!

[The Dad Fisherman]

Originally Posted by BigFish

I wish OTW would make that rule against comm's and enforce it!

Unfortunately the fact that S-B won the tournament last year, will actually hurt the chances of that rule being made....at least any time soon.

If a team of comms won the tourney 3-4 years in a row you may see them finally make this rule, but now they have the argument that a team of Non-Comm Surf Guys won the tourney as a basis for their case. In order for them to make this rule they will need to look at the tourney after a few years and see that the winning teams/individuals are really skewed to the Comm Side.

[bobber]

I'm guessing the "islanders" who won both the truck and the boat were pinhookers that entered fish into the contest..........

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by BigFish

Wish I could cull through my 95 fish a week haul and weigh the biggest for a tourney! I wish OTW would make that rule against comm's and enforce it!

Don't you think that having a 40 pounder shore count as a 52 pounder boat kind of leveled the playing field last year? I could be wrong, but I think the NJ surf guys finished in second--in any event, no worse than third.

We didn't weigh in a single 50, but our ten fish total was over 500 points. The "shore handicap" is something I wouldn't trade even up for a ban on commercials. Our 40s are still going to be worth 48 points this year even with the lesser handicap.

And the Bass n Brew guys enter fish both before and after the commercial season. Their top gun won the September monthly the first year, I'm pretty sure.

Did they bitch about our 33% bonus? Maybe privately they did, but they went out there and fished their nuts off anyway without a peep on these forums, and they were gracious to us at the awards.

[Rockport24]

I think you guys hit it right on the head with the commericals in the tourney, the surf handicapp has helped a lot to level the playing field and I agree that there is no way they are going to do anything about it now that a team of surf guys won.

Of course people are going to take issue with a "kill" tournament and I think the reality is that people do in fact kill some fish that they otherwise would not if a tourney wans't on the line. As many have said though, it's nothing compared to the entire quota, etc. Personally, I would prob keep a real trophy fish anyway, tourny or not. that's just my preference.
and if it's a pin you're after, the do have a catch and release category for which they award pins.