Mass Leg #1 of Fisrt Annual Striped-Bass.Com FREE Fishing Tourney!!! June 9, 2001!!! The first in a series of 4 legs in Mass and Rhody for the largest C&R Shore bass (over 40 inches in length) !!! Top prizes include Custom 9 foot graphite SurfRod with matching reel in conventional or spinning, winner's choice. As well as other prices inluding more custom rods and reels and plugs and other tackle!!! A bonus prize for largest Canal Bass is also available!

Saturday June 9, We will be meeting late afternoon, place to be determined, in the vicinity of the Sagamore Bridge where we will move off in groups to fish for the largest bass. Fishermen and fisherwomen will be grouped by style of fishing (plugs, beach&bait, jigging) and location as several groups will fish the canal. We are working details about grillin' up some food before we head out to fish.

To participate in this FREE, yes FREE Tournament, you need to be a valid member of the message boards, which again is FREE, and signup by May 26, 2001 and you need to have a minimum of 10 posts (not 1, 2, 3 , hehehe).

For additional details, please see the Tourney Page and the StriperTalk Message Boards for more info

http://www.striped-bass.com/sbtourney.shtml

OK, any questions? I'm up for trying to find a place to meet and grill up some burgers and dogs. As far as the beer? Personally, I might not have any but I wouldn't want to see someone with a light head smackin' a boulder and breaking their squash because they had a fewwww too many in an unfamiliar place ;P ... Although, I'm sure Saltheart may have an Abdominal Warming Solution with him.

OK, Any thoughts??

I guess we need some clarification of the time frame. The tourney doesn't start til late Sat afternoon? Does it end at midnight?

Just seems like we will be wasting good tides from Friday night and Sat AM and Sunday AM.

After..... maybe , but we never drink before or while surf fishing. Its just not smart.


Are we using a simple length measurement? What's the whole story on that. Overall length (current law) or fork length? Since the law requires a length minimum , everyone should have a tape measure. Some of us have scales also. I don't like the length /gerth weight estimate thing. I don't care if its length or weight but whatever it is should be actually measured , not calculated.
I think the easiest is overall length.

One last thing!! :) 40 inches is pretty ambicious. I know we are all great striper hunters :) but if 40" is the minumum , there may not be any entrees. A fat 39inch fish could be over 30 pounds and be excluded. Maybe 36" is more realistic?

We still have over 3 weeks to mull these things over. I guess the most immediate question so people can plan is what are the exact hours over which this tourney will be held?

John I agree with Saltheart on the lenth requirement. We can measure the fish and release it. I think 36" is a good starting point. I also like to start with an early morning tide included especially with the tides in the ditch that morning! Do you think we could kick this around a bit? I'll fish anyways no matter what the tourny decides. By the way I won't be leaving the ditch myself if anyone is interested, has waders and doesn't mind rock climbing.

I would say that we could meet late afternoon and have a little din-din before heading out. As far as how long to go? That's really up to you guys and gals. I was thinking breakfast at Quintals or something as a meeting point... One problem I have is if we go to 2 days, that will be hard on the people who will not have a place to stay in the area or need to travel long distance to get there. Cape traffic on the first full weekend of June would be so bad on a Friday night that we would be all miserable trying to get in. If we just do Sat PM/Sun AM, that should ease that pain a little... I was also hoping to do some scouting for fish Friday night. If we meet early evening on Saturday, does that give everyone a realistic shot with some decent tides?

Saltheart, if you remember the "work in progress" web page, the largest fish over 40 inches caught and released over the total tournament wins the Grand Prize Rod/Reel outfit... There WILL be a fish weighed in over 40 inches during the "Four Leg" portion of the Tourney. As for the Ditch prize, we can make that for the biggest Ditch fish over 36 inches....

Now originally we talked about the length/Girth method or digital scale - but the consensus was that might be too long to determine weight so we would just measure length from jaw to fork. Is that correct? Tie breaker going to fish which is also weighed with scale or does that take too long too...


Whaddaya Think?

C-ratt, No problem on kicking this around. That's what I want to do and I'm open to any suggestions...

Yes , we did discuss fork length as the least complicated and likely most accurate measure. That way there is no funny business with "pinching the tail" that i hear all the time now. Tip of nose to fork in tail.

I agree that over the season a forty inch fish is no problem. I thought there were prizes for each leg of the season long , this mass leg being the first. If we do have prizes for the individual legs , a 36 inch minimum would seem to be more realistic.

My only problem with starting late Sat to early Sunday is we miss some good tides.Friday night and Sat morning are choice. Sat AM in Particular. Some people won't be able to make it Friday night or Sat AM but then again , some won't be able to fish Sat night and/or Sunday AM. Even those who will be fishing elsewhere besides the Ditch will want to fish Sat AM. I sure hate to see that Sat AM tide excluded though.

Its a tough call.

Sunday am is no good for me have a boat chartered in Boston that day. However Friday into Saturday sounds Niiiicccceeeee. Is live bait ok??

My first thought is about time of the event. John is trying to be fair to everyone but tides do have an impact on results there so, how about as long as at least 2 members pair up between fri. nite and sun. morn. then that would work as far as verification goes. We can still meet Sat. afternoon. Here are the tide changes - current turns west Sat. at 0011 , turns east at 0623, west at 1301, east at 1842, turns west Sun. at 0053, east at 0705. These are slack tides at the RR bridge.

How about Scussett Beach for a bbque or do they charge a fee that early in the season. If not, maybe the Sagamore lot under the bridge, or the other side near the marina(large lots over there)

The fork length seems to be the simplest since we all don't have Berkley scales. Maybe for a tie we should get the girth measurement also to do the calculation.

I'd be glad to join you Canalratt1, I like rock hopping. And Chris I also will bring my bike to be mobile.

Keep up the input people, we'll get there.

What does anyone else think about Friday night too?

Either way is fine with me. I would love to fish all weekend, but I will probably only hit it for a tide or so. :(

Oh, yeah, my oldest one has been talking about "The Great Canali" like some majician or superhero or somethiong and when I asked him where he learned about the Great Canali he said that it was The Canal. Now I am sure he is growing up right...

I though that was an Italian Pastry, hehehe ;D :P [img=http://www.striped-bass.com/Images/evil.gif]

I'd like to hit it for a tide, but only if I can get together with some guys that are hitting beaches, jettys or somewhere my gear might just get me by. I'm not going out to build canal sticks just for this thing, but I would like to get in on the night for the hoot.

Maybe some guys that fish areas that might also be worked with my plastics or live eels :) can get in touch with me and clue me in on whether my stuff will be heavy enough. Shoot I'd like to be in, even if it's for a cookout and a few casts for the fun of it.

[img="http://www.rgsiroisco.com/fisherman.gif"]
Tight lines.

GS - No Problem. I may even have an extra 9 footer to loan you if you're interested. BTW - I will fish snakes!!!

Dang! Can I bring friends that will be visiting that week from N.C.??? >( I see them once a year and it HAS to be that week doesnt it...... :(

That should be OK, Jenn. But how many are there and do they fish and have gear? I'm on the fence as to whether they can compete for the prize though. No problem for your hubby as he is your fishing partner too - knowhatimean??

I also want to add that there are several couples that fish in teams that even though one posts frequently and the other doesn't, the other won't be excluded from joining up... For example, Squidmama has more than enough posts but her other half, tree-hugger, is most likely a far better fisherman than typist. That shouldn't exclude him from the tourney. If any other "regular" wants to bring his or her other half along- that's fine too.

O.K. JOHN THIS IS MY FORTH POST I BELIEVE, SO I AM GOING TO GET QUITE CHATTY IN THE NEXT TWO WEEKS SO I QUALIFY FOR THE TOURNEY. i DID POST UNDER MY REAL NAME SEVERAL TIMES THOUGH, BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER MY REAL NAME SO I GUESS THAT DOESN'T COUNT.

Frank, you posted several times more than the minimum as you were posting before logins were required. You have more than 25 posts, remember around just after thge Vineyard?? You're all set....

There are several people that have posted more than ten times but that is not reflected in their profile. The profile only shows posts since logins were enabled...

swimmer/frank
as one that forgets who I am I understand . just because your name doesnt jump out at you when asked who you are dosent mean you cant join us , antone that forgets such trivial things as there name is a good egg in my book .

Hey Swimmer...or bro...I'll ask mom what your name is tonight...Maybe she'll remember....lol
NO PAIN

no...I wished they fished...I wished they had gear and I WISH that these two events didnt occur at the same time :( :( :(

Thats the story of my life though.....hows that saying go again??? life is what happens to you when you make other plans??? yep thats it...my motto

I didnt even care about the competition thing either (as I am not a pro for one thing) and fishing for me is supposed to be an escape.....if I started worrying about sizes and all that , I dont know if it would be the same......I just wanted a good excuse to take off fishing for the weekend! :)

Wow. I would be interested in this...although, we fall into the "couples" catagory. I am the computer person, and he is the fisherman.

You guys are all going to look at him funny, when he shows up and says his name is Kate !

I think whatever you decide is fine, posts, what have you...

But, If you allow "non" users to register, I know a couple of people that would be interested as well.

BTW, I still haven't caught a fish. So don't worry about any competition from me !

That's OK, just get the ten posts in on time ;D ... If you don't want to rush things, the Rhody leg will be early July with an additional Mass and Rhody legs late summer/early fall.... But be sure to bring him. This tourney is really for those that are members new and old of this board. A way of saying thanks and meeting face to face all of these people that we see online. I would open it up if I were charging an admission but I'm just trying to put a fun tourney together for the people that come here with a few nice prizes to boot.


I think that several of us have been called something worse than "Kate" :P , especially fishing in the surf...hehehe

Slipknot you or any body with waders and in good shape is welcome to jion in, we can make one hell of a chum slick! I plan on casting to breaking fish then chunking at first light. John looks like the Social Directer (wifey) informs me that we have a Graduation party at 2:00 Saturday aternoon and I had better be there and awake! I'll be at the Ditch to around noon and would like to meet up with anybody and give them a fishing report. One good spot for a BBQ and meeting area is the Sagamore Bridge parking lot there are picnic tables behind thr bathrooms and lots of parking. Last reports on the dich are hot,hot hot! Many keepers being taken some close to forty lbs. mostly on herring but jiggers are getting their share.