I could never belong to an organized club that would have me as a member .

I dunnoh - I think we very much parallel and in many ways are in fact a "club".

We hold meetings, once a month or every other month on Tuesday nights at Hooters (tell me how many "clubs" are adventurous like that :humpty: ).

We have members that directly participate in legislative & fisheries issues. And a few of our members sit on various "boards" and projects. Speaking for just a few like me, Basic Patrick, Flats, Basstime... etc.

We have past and present Presidents of area fishing clubs as members. Members here that hold officer level positions in several New England clubs.

We have "registered members"

We have club "Tourneys"

We have club Bar-B-Ques

We have a sense of community that few clubs can even approach

We don't have annual dues but we do have voluntary donations, raffles, and fundraisers.

We support MANY clubs. We foster various events from other clubs. We encourage local participation in individual local clubs.

We have "How To" and demonstration get-togethers all the time. We share knowledge and we nurture many new to what we do.

We are decentralized in that since you can access our "club" from your home or work you can be a member from Maine or Maryland. We are cross region.

We have members that are involved in all aspects of the marine and fisheries trades, plug makers, retail outlets, guides, Charter Boats, etc.

And we have a VOICE, one that is and has been listened to. From rallying with other clubs on particular issues and political fights, from direct contact with state legislatures and I've corresponded with the Governor.

We HAVE been asked to participate and field teams in many other intra-club tournaments. This – the MDA - just happens to be the best one.

We don't have annual dues, we don't have by-laws that sometimes can bog down a club, (we have more fights than clubs but less cheating in our tournaments - none in fact that I'm aware of - go figure).

I think there are a lot of the particulars that make us a "Club"
So in many ways with the exception of a formalized committee and corps of officers, we are a club. While not formalized with these officers we do have moderators that could be construed in some ways to be officers, we have people that offer advice, always listend too and most often applied. Sure, we don't follow Robert's Rules or have a constitution but we do have a flow of ethics we try to adhere to (usually) and we do try to do things with common sense. It’s just that our method of communication is different. Instead of sitting on folding steel chairs at the Elk’s Hall or a Tackle Shop, we meet online and are in very frequent communication. It can even be said that in many ways we are a “SUPER” club.

Definition of a club as pertaining to this context:
1. A stout heavy stick, usually thicker at one end, suitable for use as a weapon; a cudgel. (ooops – not this one :smash: )
2. A group of people organized for a common purpose, especially a group that meets regularly: (example) a garden club.

So I disagree in that we are not a “Club” and should be excluded from this event. If we are excluded, I would certainly like the opportunity to present our "case". I think we should be encouraged to participate in this event and others as well. In harmony so to speak, amongst the surf fishing clubs in the northeast...

Whatever the case (and I do agree with John) ... I'm going to HAVE SOME FUN WITH SOME GOOD PEOPLE ON THIS SITE AND TRY TO CATCH SOME FISH.

Ain't that the point of fishing?

I alway thought it was to see who has the bigger one ?

No, it's who can urinate the furthest and fastest after a standing start in your waders....

My needlefish is bigger than yours. :bshake:

I never thought about that John , sounds like a good competition for a fling ! LOL

um ben Im sorry but stereotyping says you dont !

I agree, we are a club. So there:laughs:

i'll be around :)

again

John, count me in. What do our numbers look like, compared to them?

john, i think you bring up all good issues, but i still think this is not a club. wht don't you start one from this site? you have a growing populus of people, more and more each year. you have some good sources of knowledge from various areas, some holding key positions. you have a good source of niche anglers too, some in rods, some in lures, some in ruber, etc. you have a wide open audience (the internet) and it is easily seen by any w/o the need to post. some use the site to see how their product is doing or to look for possible people to send their product to and use as testers. why don't you make a next level to s-b where you have a real board, committees, organized events, monthly meetings, etc. create a voting for these positions and let people vote. make an advanced area to the membership of it and another forum just for those members. make dues to be part of this voice. then, you can be more than just an online forum to people like DEM, nat'l seashore, noaa, etc. follow? create a monthly or qtrly newsletter.

as far as this being site being part of the mda, i still disagree. you see, i could pay the $50 and fish for myself and be my only "club" member. i could get 2 other guys or maybe 5 next year. what constitutes me from not doing that, but s-b from being allowed to? and i'm not just picking on s-b either, because any one could do the same. maybe wendy's down the street wants to have a team. one of the goals of this tournament is to get people involved in their club's and to recruit possible new members. many of the members on this site are already affiliated w/ other clubs. so, fish for them or get them to fish for this tournament.

How can a past tounnament winner (S-B won 2 years ago) get excluded in following years??

If one of the purposes of this tournament is to try and gather membership for the different clubs.....but you exclude people who don't belong to a club......Who do you recruit? Everyone there is already taken.

Isnt that exactly what Habs did last year?????? Didnt they have like 4 guys?

RIJIMMY, It was TEAM HABS CUSTOM PLUGS , Had like 9 TO 12 guys FISHING. Have to get the TEAM Together Again I guess, Its all GOOD CLEAN FUN and it Raises a few bucks for the M.D.A....................Dave does make some good points..........

ok, boys and girls. i just heard from the chairmen, mr. mckeough, and they decided to allow the grandfathered "clubs" of previous years to participate. this means team s-b, team habs, and the other one, which i do not know right now. what this may mean next year i am not sure of. so, let's see if s-b can weigh more than 1 FISH this year. so, don't sing it, bring it!

dadfisherman - the prupose of this tournament is to have a challenge among clubs and the beneficiary is the mda. how do you recruit? you come down and see or meet other people that are in these clubs. talk to them, see what they are about, and maybe find out how to get incolved. you ask how do you learn about a club, well, open the fisherman or on the water magazines and look at the clubs listed in their. many have websites of list where they meet. search the internet of even this site as some are listed as sponsors or have members listing their clubs in their avatars. i know some clubs bring literature about their clubs to the shop or the andrea for people to take in they want to get incloved in that particular club.

I have been real busy the past week getting work stuff done before I start my vacation and have not been online much. Yes, I received an e-mail from Jim the other day and we are particpating again this year. The main item, and this may apply to everyone, is that we have a roster done before the torunament begins so people can't weigh fish under different teams at different times and so forth - makes plenty of sense to me. We'll see how next year goes.

Seawolf - I've thought a bit over the past few years on how S-B could spin off a club with boards and presidents and meetings and dues - specifically in a surfcasting club. But I have nowhere near the time these days to be able to manage that or participate on any reasonable level. If I pick up one more hour a week on anything I'll be divorced... But while the thoughts of a pure dedicated offline club intrigues me, we already do have an online "club" for many lof the reasons I mentioned earlier. And while S-B being it's own subset of a club I don't feel it should supplant existing local clubs that do a good job. Down the road?? Who knows but for now our online club offers a lot to people without taking from local clubs.

Quote:

so, let's see if s-b can weigh more than 1 FISH this year. so, don't sing it, bring it!

I felt guilty weighing in that fish too.


OK - I'm going to start a thread in the next few days for an online list of anglers and then to PM me you real names so we can submit a roster...

Thanks!

John

ok, managed to get the saturday off. will be down there late fri nite/ early sat morn. will leave after the breakfast sunday.

I am going to try and fish this tourney this year.

I would love to participate in the tourny this year for s-b...My only hesitation is that i have never fished Rhody:smash: I know, I know...I am a ditch man, and south shore MA surfcaster :smokin:
I am a MSBA, maybe some of my fellow brothers :buds: might give me a little direction as to where to wet a line..We shall see.. Just joined that as well, so haven't done much bonding:cheers:

I'm sure the SB team wont leave ya hangin' alone:D

I'm in John.

I'm game too.

I'll be there giving it another try!

Im fishing saturday night hard. But as of right now im not sure if i have a ride to weigh the fish in. Is there a limited number of slots on the roster for the team?

Chef - not so much a limited number of entrants just that the tourney organizers want to know who will be (may be) particpating in advance.

Will you be in Gansett waters west to Naps?

Thanks,

John

If I get anything I'm obligated to weigh it into a different club than S-B... sorry John :D
But I'll be out and about that weekend, not sure if I'll do 2 all nighters (prob. not) but look for me anyways, as Basic Pat knows, I'll be the guy with the duct taped Korkers:D

No prob - hope to see you out there. I'll be fishing with the duct tape wrapped around my head :smash:

you can make me a definate -

Is there a meeting place/time - ? -