Right now I'm not going to participate but I might change my mind . I would love to win a VanStaal because I don't know how long they will have those as a monthly surf prize but I think I'll just take pictures and release everything and be satisfied with the many VanStaals I already own.

I would like to join the team this year.
can you enter the striper cup solo?? Or do they only have team divisions?
I could use a new Van Staal.

Bill are you talking about yourself or the Striper Cup? There were a bunch of really large fish, 50 plus lbs., caught in the boat division last year. Not by our group but by some of the others.

You do not have to be attached to a team to fish. you can go in as a solo angler if you want.

Steve,
Fishing with JoeP (who carries a camera and scale) is trending me in that direction... keep a few gut hooked etc.. for the table and release as many as possible....

I'm with you on that! :love:

Me, I was following you around. Those large were early season fish right part of the same push that had the 75 and 70+ out of Jude?
Can't say that there were a lot of large during commercial, most of the Westport fleet struggled off of Nomans through the end of the season.

You didn't think I was going to show you my good spots did you? You would need night vision for that.

There is only one spot up there. doesn't matter light or dark.

:smash: :bshake:

Thats a late season, fall time spot

Thats what MacoJoe told me

Bryan, I think that is the best way to do it. I'm getting to old to lug dead, big fish a mile just to get a little bit of glory which is fading at best. I'll never win the cup because I can't stay with it nightly anymore like I used to . So why kill 30 lb. fish?????? I'll bring my camara and a scale. I released a few good ones last season and it felt good.

My sentiments exactly. Although I had fun competing for a few years, it really comes down to the guys that can stick with it daily/nightly who have the upper hand. It actually gets more stressful for me as I feel like there's a need to produce big every time out. Reality is I can't do it at that level for more than a few nights at a time, so its gonna be a fun thing this year. I'm planning on getting my oldest son into it this summer too.

oh really, it's about rules???
WOW, TDF, you are brilliant.

can't a guy talk about the esoterics of a question without
being accused of snivelling?? i have absolutely ZERO problems
with the RULES,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,i compete each year, i killed only one striper
for the entire tourney, and i LOVE the challenge for The Cup.

my point was merely from an "it would be interesting if,,,,,,,,,,,",
and "since they do not why couldn't we, IFFF we wanted/agreed/thought it was necessary to
configure our TEAMS that weigh, SIMPLY for the chits and giggles of it. you know to add our own wrinkle to the contest~~~~~~IIIIFFFF, we so desired.

to each his own, and i will be IN!!
tons of fun and the party at the brewery ain't too bad either.
good luck to ALL ~teams, individuals, surf, boat~ it's ALL fishin'!
:wavey: :bl: :bl: :wavey:

Before I have a serenity now moment....do you happen to read your PM's???

Just curious pretty sure I sent you one last night saying that I wasn't aiming the response at you, it just happened to follow your last response.....it was just a general response because the striper cup gets beaten up every year.....like clockwork.

Serenity Friggin-Now :wall:

serenity
 

Serenity.... how disappointing. It had all the makings of a good ol' fashioned mid-winter, shack nasties, dope slapping , verbal beatdown too.....

Taking the High Road.....

I think you are entitled to whine even if you enter. I also condone complaits of elected officials regardless of whether or not you vote.Cripes,you can even second guess Belichick.Just bring back the yoyo and we'll call it even.

funny SHEEET, as always, Chris!

and spot awn. although the chances of Duncan
making a return to The Cup are slim to NONE.
:bl: :bl: :bl: :bl:

pm read and sent! no blood no foul, bro.
celebrating the differences is what makes this place

SOOOOO SERENE! yer views are always welcomed,
whether we share them or not~~~it's all GOOOOD!!
:tooth: :deadhorse: :tooth:

I always thought that they(OTW) end the tourney way too early, especially for surf guys. Oct. 15 or 30th would be more like it. Mid sept is too early. Other than that the rules are OK

I agree, Steve, but isn't it designed not to interfere with the MV derby? Still, not everyone up and down the coast fishes the derby, so they could have some overlap.

Nope, it's designed to keep Harpoon Brewery as a major sponsor.

They want the awards ceremony as close as possible to October 1 because they want it to kick off their month-long Octoberfest promotion.

And looking at this from another perspective--OTW already gets enough unjustified criticism--much of it coming from parts south of New England--for sponsoring a "kill" tournament. Keeping it going through the bulk of the fall run probably won't do much to appease these guys. :hs:

Makes sense to me Mike! that's what happens when you get into corporate sponsorship! although I like Harpoon beer A LOT

yeah OTW gets a lot of flack, but I think overall the striper cup has brought a lot of excitement into the sport and it certainly has started enought thread on boards like this!

In. I don't plan to fish as hard this year but I say it every year. I'm sure once the time starts rollin closer, the wife will be bootin me out the door to "defend the title". Just hope to catch one large for a monthly winner and a shot at the truck. Last year took too much of a toll on me mentally and physically to keep goin night after night for so long.
We better have a team. I am proud to fish for our "club" and this great fishing community. I've been asked to fish for a couple of other teams this year but take pride in what we have here.
Lets retake the cup.

If we can win it this year, would 2 firsts and a second in three years make team S-B a dynasty?

I'm sure gonna give it hell this year.

Yup--if you want to award the kinds of prizes that OTW does--you need to keep the major sponsors happy.

They give you about $400 worth of gear for a weekly. Quantum Cabo reel, Quantum rod, $100 gift card from Boaters' World and a RonZ kit. The reel was a little on the small side (I think it's a Cabo 40), but it holds 290 yards of 10# Fireline and goes nicely on my schoolie rod.

Liberal Idea
 

How about we stop beating the crap out of the spawning stock before it's too late?

I won't be registering again. Ever. I'm a soul plugger from here out. It's about the experience for me. Not the kill.

Jon

aGREED!

but they ARE gonna give the nifty schwag
to somebuddy, why not me? :laugha: :laugha: :laugha:

b/c my decision of what fish to kill and release is not dictated by a free reel...

If you ARE going to kill a fish on occasion it might as well be one that pays well.If you don't wish to play so be it, but this type of rhetoric has an elitist smell IMO. I am humbled by the integrity of such noble men.These seem like the words of folks who boast of their philanthropy.Perhaps we should have a front page of all the names who refuse to participate to give the heathens something or someone to aspire to.

WoooHooo...I'm a Heathen.

Heathens have more fun anyways....:humpty:

:btu:amen

I just did a quick count and there were 370 fish over 30lbs weighed in during the striper cup last year. I'm going to guess, for every fish over 30lbs weighed in there was 2 under thirty weighed in so we can estimate that there were about 1150 fish weighed in. Now I'm guessing at least half of those fish would have been killed regardless, so that puts it 575 fish weighed in just because of the Striper Cup. In my mind this is just a drop in the bucket in terms of the kill of large fish, particularly for something that takes place over 5 months. And, looking at this in a purely scientific perspective the number of fish killed for this tournament is insignificant. I think there are far greater problems facing stripers than this tournament.

I wish they could figure out a way to count c and r fish like they do in bonefish tournaments.

Actually, here is a reply from OTW to one of the teams involved when the to kill or not kill discussion was going on:
"As far as numbers of bass weighed in each year, in 2006 under 550 fish were weighed. In 2007 & 2008, under 650 fish were weighed in each year. Keep in mind that this is over the coarse of a 5 month tournament with upwards of 3000 anglers involved each year.

Hope this helps clarify some things."

Don't you think more than 90% of those fish were going to die anyway. Art

Art thanks for the clarification, my numbers were just guesses assuming the worst scenarios. The actual actual numbers you provided, just further prove what I'm trying to say - That this tournament is just a drop in a bucket compared to the problems facing striped bass.

IM IN! :buds:

There were more 30+ fish killed the last several years in one of those day-long pogie blitzes in NJ, the Great Gamefish State, then in all 3 Striper Cups combined. By far. Most of the guys fishing for the top clubs won't weigh in a fish under 30. No one with any savvy is going to think that they will win a weekly prize with a fish under 25 lbs so I think that your guesstimate of total fish weighed in is on the high side.

And many of the guys fishing for the top clubs are Mass pinhookers, so those fish are dead anyway.

BINGO