Would any of you be interested in a side category of Canal caught fish? Saltheart and I discussed about having a seperate prize for the largest Ditch fish, any comments?

Sounds good, since there is always an opportunity for big fish at the Ditch. But with that in mind do we need to have a bunch of differnt categories? Like say Watch Hill, Napatree, the Block, the Vineyard? Isn't it only fair that if we have one location category we should have many.

On second thought I believe that we are OK the way we're set up now prizes going for fish regardless of the location with the exception of our Striped-Bass fishing fests. Besides I would need to move my platform West about 25 yards if I were going for the biggest canal fish ;).

25 yards west!!! ???? You'll be sitting in my lap! :)

You better check the foundation on your tower...If it collapses I'll be hopping right up on whatever is left :-P

Talking with Saltheart last night about adding a category for the largest Ditch-caught fish(location, not person's nickname ;P ) winning a seperate prize - like a Canal Stick....

Fishpart, I wouldn't want to complicate things greatly and not add too much location specific schtufff ... Next year I will look to add more categories to the Tourney, like a Fly division and boat division for starters... But now I'm trying to keep things manageable....

When does the tourny start and how can I sign up??

Sounds fine with me. Canal bass on the side.......

No a Canal Club for the largest Canal fish would be Excellent. I guess I'll be braking down and gettign a roof rack for my new Canal Stick :D

Gus,

The Tourney is still in it's formative stages but everything should be hammered out within the next couple weeks. Here is a link to the tourney page http://www.striped-bass.com/sbtourney.shtml
and here is a link to the previous thread on it:
http://65.2.162.230/cgi-bin/StriperTalk/UltraBoard.cgi?action=Read&BID=1&TID=4556&P=1&SID=3699

Fishpart - you need to WIN the Tournament, Canal division - so I expect you will periodically need to sneak up behind Saltheart and spook him...

Saltheart and Fishpart, You guys don't really construct pedastals on the Canal, do you?? I hope this is a joke!! I have favorite rocks and stuff but this is craziness. Oh man, I need a drink. ;)

East Tide

When Saltheart gets his 50, Fishpart will have to get a 51 pounder!

East Tide, don't bother to ask. And hey are you the guy who likes Phish? If so maybe we could trade some tapes someday down at the ditch.

East Tide,
No, we don't actually construct platforms but we do scout for the areas where rocks have been strategically arranged to provide a comfortable place to stand.

Yes everyone has their favorate rock. I always take mine with me so no one else can use it!

My favorite rock aint at the canal, and it's going to remain a secret...

When I first read this, I thought it was a bad idea. How many folks fish the canal? Would this serve only a few people. And I wasn't sure why one area or type of structure would be singled out. If a seperate tourney for the canal, what about the Vineyard, or the Merrimack River, or Boston Harbor, or Joe's Creek, Bob's pond, Fred's beach...

But, if you're gearing that prize towards that specific structure, method, etc. it makes more sense... though I'm not sure how complicated you want to make this in your first year.

I have nothing against the canal... I'm not worried about missing out, I can be on the canal in 40 minutes, which is alot closer than most of the places I fish.

I just think it would make more sense to distinguish, say, largest fish caught on a fly vs. conventional, or artificial vs. live bait, or Mass vs. Rhode Island... just my $.02.

For Pete's sake Schoolie, you don't really want to break it down into all that, do ya? If that were the case, somebody would need to make a reverse spinning reel stick for the "Nantucket Leg" of the tournament... You know, so you can fish the spinning reel upside down like all the sharpies on Esther Island:

Bill Fisher's Custom Rods for Nantucket tourists...
10' Lami glass rods with Penn 6500SS reels held like a conventional, sitting on top of the rod with the Yahoos reeling backwards.... (although, I have seen K-mart gear used like that at the canal :D

No, I don't think there should be dozens of categories. I'm just citing them as examples.

I think it should remain as simple as possible to keep things easier. If you have an excess of prizes to give away, maybe award second place... rather than singling out a body of water that a limited number of people fish.

Seriously, I don't care either way... I was just offering up my honest opinion. Hey, maybe 90% of the board fish the canal, in which case it would be a great idea.

Now, on to a more important subject, are they here yet? Me wants feeesh!

My uncle just got back from the Keys... bastard got two tarpon, both on flies. One around 100lbs., the second around 115lbs. Kind of made my redfish feel a bit smaller, even though I'm not really a big fish hound.

Come north my young finned friends... come north.

I guess we thought it was a good idea since the pole I'm making is a Heavy Canal Jigging Stick , it would make sense if it went to someone who could use it. Its stiff . I mean real stiff. :) What ever people want is fine with me. However , we do have to figure out how to asign all the prizes somehow , not just this one. My opinion is that one rod and reel combo should go to the biggest fish of the season. I don't know how many total prizes we have but another good thing would be to have a good prize for the gathering weekends. Probably like a June and October ones and maybe a mid season one if we have enough prizes. We're looking for suggestions.

SM, no wonder you're jealous - tarpon on a flie and over 100 lbs. WOW. I got 48 herring down the street today and vacuum packed them with some kosher salt too. That should keep them fresh. Not exactly fishing but more like netting bait. I think the stripers are starting to head up this way, soon.