I just heard that this weekend's tournament was cancelled. Don't get me wrong, I had ZERO intent on participating as I feel now is not the time for a kill tournament and it should have been put on hold some time ago, but it's odd to cancel it this close to the tournament date (6/17-6/19.) I have not heard the reason yet, perhaps someone here knows the deets.

Huh. Yeh, the Kill Tourney needs to back seat a while. Curious what the reason will end up being.

Do miss the good old days of the MS/MDA.

Our club has held firm on not participating over the last few years. Nonetheless I too miss those great weekends and breakfasts not so much to fish but the camaraderie gained. Over the 20yrs met a fine group of RI club members.
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Our club has held firm on not participating over the last few years. Nonetheless I too miss those great weekends and breakfasts not so much to fish but the camaraderie gained. Over the 20yrs met a fine group of RI club members.
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Yep. loved ending up at the Andrea on the Sunday of MDA

Our club has held firm on not participating over the last few years. Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

I fished both tourneys from the start up until the CSA as a whole decided to refrain from participating but still to this day get crap about "leading the charge" to kill them from some of the fall organizers. I had a ton of fun fishing them over the years and miss the camaraderie and competition but there comes a time when you need to put what's best for the fish ahead of all else. The blind opposition to even try a catch and release or length option still baffles me.

Couple of my old Canal friends told me that this week's minus tides have been absolutely dead. Mid-June, these tides were always "can't miss". :(

Couple of my old Canal friends told me that this week's minus tides have been absolutely dead. Mid-June, these tides were always "can't miss". :(

I wouldn't say absolutely dead:hihi:

Lack of club entries is what I heard. Not enough participants to make the awards breakfast worth it.

Lack of club entries is what I heard. Not enough participants to make the awards breakfast worth it.

Makes sense. I also heard that the Weekapaug Surfcasters recently disbanded.

Makes sense. I also heard that the Weekapaug Surfcasters recently disbanded.

My friend Noel Nutini was the president of the Weakapaug Surfcasters. He died a few years ago and it started to fall apart after his passing.

Remember Noel. I joined in 02. Wonderful bunch of surfcasters. Met Don & Charlie . The meetings always seemed to have great food.
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Remember Noel. I joined in 02. Wonderful bunch of surfcasters. Met Don & Charlie . The meetings always seemed to have great food.
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Noel was a great guy who I met at IBM in 68.

The writing has been on the wall for YEARS to make the tournament based on length not pounds, for multiple reasons:

* Length format allows you to upgrade your catches throughout the weekend (nothing worse than killing a fish early in the night, only to catch a much larger one soon after)

*Length format gives people the option of releasing a fish, as well as giving an angler the option of keeping it IF THEY CHOOSE. (somewhere along the line, it seems the organizers have confused "length format". with 'catch and release". In a LENGTH FORMAT , No one is forcing you to let it go... it just gives people the option to do either... everyone wins)

*How many bluefish have we all killed , that we had no intention of ever eating, just to bring them to the scale?
PLENTY ... be honest with yourself. Easier to measure it and throw it back...

*Pounds/kill tournament makes ZERO sense with the new 35" max slot.
Having an angler catch a 47 inch slob that doesn't count, and a guy with a 32" bass gets the "biggest bass" award? From a competitive stand point, this makes no sense, and isn't even worth participating. Im not busting my a$$ all night in search of the "most-medium" fish.
If I'm losing sleep, I'm out to succeed to the maximum... Not have the rules penalize success.
(Imagine running a race, and you're disqualified for running too fast simply because the rules say so)

Lets be honest guys... YOU ALL HAVE IPHONES NOW.... (We all have the ability to take a quick photo of a fish with a tape measure. If its not a perfect pic, who cares... there should still be some honor system where we believe each other.)
if this tournament has even the slightest chance of surviving and keeping participation high, it needs to be length-format... not pounds/ mandatory kill.


These fish need a break... Will this one kill tournament send bass the extinction? not likely... But clubs like ours should be the ones that lead by example and demonstrate the ability to adjust our actions and habits based on the current status of the fishery. I fished this tournament for the last 15 years, and it was always something that I looked forward to for months... the group effort, the extra push... the breakfast meet up and the anticipation of who won. I no longer fish the spring and fall tournament for a few years now, but would eagerly participate again if the minor format-adjustment were made.

Say what you want, but the points I've made make a lot of sense, and are difficult to find fault with.

I would love to hear some thoughts and opinions from anyone who has participated in the past...

*Who USED to fish it, and hasn't lately, and why?
*Who still participates, and would still participate if it were length not pounds?
* What portions of my previous post do you agree and or disagree with?

I would be most interested in some thoughts from anyone involved in organizing/running the tournament.

Thanks.

Hi Pete. You know where the club stands on this format. If they decide to go c&r , the club would consider participating. It was a fun tournament getting together with other clubs and your own members for the weekend.
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Absolutely. Thanks for Responding Billy.

Disappointing that no one has any input on this topic

(But maybe that's how we got to this point in the first place.)

Wouldn't the biggest fish be 35" Amen for the regs. greatly needed!!!

Wouldn't the biggest fish be 35" Amen for the regs. greatly needed!!!

I think you missed the point of my message...
I am in favor of a tournament in which entries are measured by LENGTH.... not pounds, which requires fish to be killed just to participate.

When you have a length-based tournament, fish of all sizes can be entered, without bringing them to scale.

I covered all of this in my first message.