i agree with you Bobber
 

from the standpoint of keeping the resource as strong as possible

and i read your original post three times and saw no mention of the word slaughter... and your thought provoking ideas are good!

i once read something about one of the bass pro tournaments which is why
i'm posting...

and that was...despite all of the care and stress additives put in the water for the tournament fish ...after the tournament...was over..
the fresh water striped bass were known to be waiting for the release of the tourney fish and massacred them and ate most of them

because they were fairly lethargic at that point... from captivity.

commercial R&R fisherman list
 

List of commerical licenses is available at Mass Fish and Wildlife
website. When I compared the names on this list to the names
of the top winners of Striper Cup in 2006 I was disgusted. Any
team from outside Mass who thought they had a fair shake against
the two phoney teams from MV and Fall River are fools. At least
last year Striped-Bass and the New Jersey boys showed that the
Commercial "teams" could be beat. Suggest you take a look
at the commericial list published by Mass F&W to see whose names look familiar.

Hey we Jersey-ites sleep sound at night! (Good-bad who knows??) Most of us live by the rules.
That said, I understand, at least I like to think that...the "islanders" for years lived by their takes...Fair? Justifiable??....I just don't know...I am no judge, don't want to be. "An honest man's pillow is his peace of mind!"

no need to hijack, new thread

Can someone tell me why a weighed fish would go to waste, as long as it was on ice or something until you weigh it? They don't give them back??

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!

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.

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

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.

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.

Seriously, I want to know. I have never weighed a fish for the cup.

To me it is just another thing to worry about at the end of the night.
It isn't really a moral thing, or ethical thing, just ain't my bag. I'm in two small fishing clubs. Both can be weighed and released as long as you have a witness, and the scale is testable w/in the club if there is a dispute.

I don't have to worry about getting a fish weighed for the cup, so it is just less of a hassle. I fish to fish, the rest is just details...

in the immortal words of The Dude "Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man. "

some people kill fish just for feeding their egos...then rid of the fish after weighing by throwing it away in the trash....if that answers your question :huh:

MikeP expressed my viewpoint. This is a MULTI-STATE season long tourney that doesn't do the damage that 1/2 % of R&R comm fisherman do in a single state. It is a pretty conservation minded event.

The problem with the original post is that it implies that the taking of ANY fish for ANY reason is morally wrong. There is your extremest viewpoint.

I'm not sure how you can interpret the original post as "extremist" in any way..... I start by saying how I'm not getting down on the guys who legally/legitimately keep fish..... how is that "morally wrong"?


If you read and think about ALL the discussion here- you'd see that I meant this to be thought-provoking for like-minded people to think about as a new season is about to beign. If ya skipped past all the discussions and went right to the end- well, then ya missed it:hs:

tournaments are important for their own reasons - good competition and they tend to put to rest whos been telling the tall tales all seasons because everythings official. aside from tournament action however, wieghing a fish (unless it is unusually large/ a record breaker) unless you plan to eat it is probably the most foolish thing guys are doing. killing a fish just for the sake of having a "certified" 30 or so is rediculous thats what should be stopped

i guess it does. it never occurred to me that someone would do that.

Tourneys
 

Not for nothing but how many of the fish that any of us weighed in were not eaten. My one fish last year and the year before were both meals. Kept them on ice en route to M & D's, and again en route home.

Striper Cup or no Striper Cup, this thread is really about waste. You could apply the same question to fishermen in general and you would find the kill and subsequent waste does happen before the ink is even dry on the weight slip in some cases. Its unfortunate, but it does happen irregardless of the species, place, or time.

I guess your right Back Beach.... I'h just hoping people stip and think before taking a fish simply to have it weighed for the contest..... because killing a good-sized bass just for that reasosn would sure as hell be a waste....

Comm vs. Rec Arguement holds no water
 

Ok I'll bite, I don't think you guys are seeing this clearly. We have had this arguement before.

If a rec angler goes fishing say on Tuesday during comm season and checks OTW website and sees that the 5th place fish so far for the month is a 35 pounder than he can cull hundreds of fish before besting 35.

The Comm fisherman for that particular time of season does the same thing except that 29 of those fish that were 34" up to 35 pounders were put in the box.

There is no difference.

OK I'll Bite too......

Same scenario 35 lb'er listed on the OTW website....I catch a 36 lb'er and of course it goes on the the beach to be entered.....I keep fishing and get a 37 lb'er now of course I'm going to weigh that in instead so it too goes on the beach......

but now I keep fishing and get that 45 lb'er, but I already have 2 fish on the beach so this one has to go back, unless of course I have a comm license, now it too goes on the beach with the other 2....and I can keep fishing and putting'em on the beach behind me.

I think that is the culling advantage they are taliking about, not culling trhrough the C&R fish but being able to cull through the kept ones

Of course the comms have a distinct advantage and it is a little unfair, we'll see how it unfolds this year with the lower surf advantage.
Either way, if I landed a 3 fish from 35-45 pounds in one night, I would probably chit my pants!

Last bite, for this arguement will go on forever.

TDF, yes you are correct but that scenario I would ventrure to say would not happen too often. However, if it did we all know what would happen. It would be the same if a comm doubled up on the last fish of the day with 45 pounders.....the small one in the box would magically dissapear just like the small one on the beach.

People have to make thier own judgement call.

I can only speak for myself.....but the small one on the beach wouldn't magically disappear.....the 45 lb'er would get to swim away.

But thats me....

:claps:

Let me ask this again--how did Team SB finish in first place last year with something like 519 points, when no one entered a 50 pounder?

Do you really think that having a 40 pounder count for 52 points isn't a bigger advantage than being able to cull through 95 fish? Out of the 95 fish a commercial gets to box every week, how many 52s are going to be there? Chances are his biggest fish out of the mix is low 40s. Did you know that a legit 54 pound shore fish last year would be the equivalent of a boat caught 72, points-wise?

Even this year, our 40s are going to be the equivalent of a boat 48. That's still a big advantage.

I think OTW recognized that as a bigger advantage and that was probably the reason it was dropped to 1.2 this year.

I think that right now, since the tournament is relatively new they are a slave to the numbers. They are going to adjust after every season to try and make everybody happy (which we know will never happen). I'm sure in a couple of years when the surf caught are given 1.1 ratio and then the boat guys win by 100 points (probably because they just happened to have a great year, and nothing more) they will be dealing with a whole new set of issues to address with adjusting the ratio.

The only fair way to do it is split'em up Surf guys and Boat Guys...but that is a whole new can of worms

Do you have a link?

Yup...Surf guys are never satisfied////:gorez::jump: