Striper Cup 2007

[Back Beach]

Yes, I know its early to think about it, but I was thinking about it Sunday as I encouraged one of my buddies to participate this year who didn't last year. What are people's thoughts on the 2007 Striper Cup? What will you base your decision to enter the tourney on? Will you sit on the sidelines and say its not fair , or will you jump in and compete?

[JFigliuolo]

Originally Posted by Back Beach

Yes, I know its early to think about it, but I was thinking about it Sunday as I encouraged one of my buddies to participate this year who didn't last year. What are people's thoughts on the 2007 Striper Cup? What will you base your decision to enter the tourney on? Will you sit on the sidelines and say its not fair , or will you jump in and compete?

I'll sit on the sidelines... Not really interested in it.

[chris L]

me too !

[Mr. Sandman]

Waiting to see what they do with the rules this year. If they keep it the same as last year I'll pass. It largely favors comm boat fishermen at the moment, and they need to address a number of other issues that were brought up during the event...

[Roger]

I continue to have no interest in a kill tournament.

[Sluggoslinger]

I plan on entering and if I get a big slob then I might weigh it. I might join the S-B team if I can... we'll see but it seems like fun and when I poked my head in the harpoon fest, I wished I had done it last year.

[JohnR]

I had a chat with someone from OTW a couple months back and he said that they appreciated the candid and honest commentary coming from this site. Some changes are being looked at but time will tell.

The good news is that last year before the toruney started there was a lot of, err, discussion, that they listened to and made some appropriate changes for the better. Using that as a baseline I'm fairly confident they will take an honest look at the tourney and tweak things a bit for the better this year as well.

[The Dad Fisherman]

I'm going to do it this year....Probably gonna fish for PISC this year

[Back Beach]

Honestly, I would like to see a dedicated surf division for the overall, and give the 5 leading surf guys a stab at the grand prizes too. As for the commercial guys fishing, they really have no advantage IMO. The one fish a week thing takes care of that pretty well. Keep everything else the same.Will still fish it if they don't change anything as it gave me a little extra incentive last year, not that I need incentive.

[MartinD18]

I have it on very good authority that there will be a surf division this year. Plus some other interesting changes that should level the playing field in a lot of ways, both for individuals and clubs.

[tattoobob]

I'm not joining

[NIB]

I had 4 fish weighed 146 lbs..
12 lbs off the leader.. to come in third..
No mention or anything.. I got these 4 pins i don't know what to do with..
I busted my but to put them numbers up..
I was in the top five basically since June..
In my book what I did was as good or better than any of the one hit wonders who where able to post a fish from a boat for the grand prize.
Yea sounds like sour grapes..
I should have been better aware of the format..
I doubt next yr i will go thru the same thing Killin 4 majestic beauties for nothin..
There was some talk of a local club being formed to compete on a more competitive level Jersey shore surf casters..
I might feel obligated to kill some stuff for them...

[DZ]

Originally Posted by NIB

I doubt next yr i will go thru the same thing Killin 4 majestic beauties for nothin..

NIB - I respect and admire you for saying that.

DZ

[keeperreaper]

I will most likely join but like BB I would like to see a shore division also.

[RIJIMMY]

its not my thing. but I respect those that do join. Every year I have a tough competetion between how I did last year, with how I am doing this year. That is enough to motivate me and saisfies my need to "win".

[riverrat2]

I have no problem with the comms fishing the tournament. Was anyone in the top 5 a comm guy anways? I've said this before but I couldn't see any comm guy weighing a large fish verse selling it. I would never consider weiging in a 40lb fish to get a pin rather than 120$.

[Back Beach]

I was never involved in clubs or contests in my life. My drive was always in catching fish to sell, which I don't do very often now. About five years ago I entered my first vineyard derby and had a blast. As for the Striper Cup, I wasn't going to enter last year, but finally did in early July. Like I said, fishing is fun, but incentivizing it for me gives me something to focus on and give a little bit extra effort. It got me out on the water many nights when I would have normally hit the snooze button. Bottom line is I love competition, and America loves a winner.

[Bigcat]

Not intersted in kill tournaments.

[Krispy]

I agree w/ NIB, the format needs work. If they make some of the changes that BackBeach outlined I would be happy to enter.
Right now its skewed, it sucks to be a top 5 competitor and get nothing or worse beat out by boat guys who are always gonna place. You cant compare 150lbs from the boat vs the surf and its not right to have to compete w/ them.
As for comms, I dont think it makes a difference

[Backbeach Jake]

Originally Posted by JohnR

I had a chat with someone from OTW a couple months back and he said that they appreciated the candid and honest commentary coming from this site. Some changes are being looked at but time will tell.

The good news is that last year before the toruney started there was a lot of, err, discussion, that they listened to and made some appropriate changes for the better. Using that as a baseline I'm fairly confident they will take an honest look at the tourney and tweak things a bit for the better this year as well.

They listened, agreed and changed some rules. In a more conservation minded direction. That's good for me. I'm in.

[Mike P]

Two things is all they need to fix.

1) Separate divisions for shore/boat. I'll take my chances against a shore bound commercial pinhooker

2) Freeze club entries 30 days into the tournament, to prevent someone from staring up a club just for the commercial season.

As far as the "kill" aspect of it goes, I'll bet there were less than 500 fish entered. I did a rough count of all of the 30-57 pound fish entered and it was right around 300. Many clubs had a "nothing under 30" rule for their members. That's for a tourney that stetched from Maine to NJ and ran almost 5 months. Compare that to the numbers entered in the MV Derby, for one month, and I think you'll see that the OTW wasn't the "striper slaughter" that some people on other websites think it was

[Backbeach Jake]

Maybe 30# should be the minimum, then. Sounds as though this Tournament is close to an ideal. I entered nothing last year , but I'm proud that my fellow members and others fished as conservativly as they did, you don't need to kill every fish in the Ocean to have a good time.

[Slipknot]

I entered it last year and I let my largest fish of the year swim away alive, naturally it was the week after the contest ended

They should have it last longer into the fall definately.




It seems more for boat fishers than shore. I think the changes they made last year were fine and a good idea, maybe it will last longer this time around. I'm still not sure I'll enter or not.

[piemma]

Originally Posted by tattoobob

I'm not joining

Me either. Enough with these tounaments. Just an excuse to kill fish (which in principle I am not opposed to as long as the fish gets eaten).
I have done this long enough and am old enough where I don't feel the need to prove anything to anyone. Got enough trophies to start a store. I fish because I love to fish not to win an award.

[Flaptail]

What they need to do is have the tournament start earlier and go until November 1st, then they need to have a moratorium period that coincides with the MA. Commercial Season then start again and have a distinct division for surf and one for boat or give the surf guys two points for every one of the boat guys points like the Scheafer did.

99% of the commercials boat fish and with the advantage of taking multiple fish each day that skewes the whole deal in thier favor. Not fair.

I will enter again though I will not kill a mere 30 pounder for a pin, I didn't last year and won't now, 50 plus to over 60 maybe. ( I should be so lucky) I could use a new truck.

That is all, you may continue the debate.

[Nebe]

what flap said.. daddy needs a new truck, but other than that, i dont need a stinkin pin

NIB would have won the shore division

[Goose]

I like the competiveness that the striper cup draws. If I fish it might as well be for S-B but the real reason I'm in is personel satisfaction. After last years experience fish under 40# doesn't do much if your after say....angler of the year or biggest fish. If I enter won't weigh fish under 40#, not like I catch alot anyway but thats what I like about the Striper Cup...its another incentive to target cows which in turn will make me a better fishermen and closer to my personel goals.
It seems to me there is a few people that think they're saving the planet by constantly reminding about the whole ''kill thing'', you could be more effective by standing ouside fish houses with a peta sign instead, your just a yuppie gene away. Are they spending that same time pushing to change laws? I wonder.

[fishonnelsons]

Great point about the commercial guys when "in season" Flap - to cull through 30 fish 3x a week versus the regular Joe is a big advantage for them.

Agree with the minimum pound entry thought, as well as extending the dates for the tourney. When I saw the end-date of the tourney and when they were having the Beer Blast, I couldn't understand it as ALOT of fish are caught thru Oct. and into November, depending on location. Maybe they thought it would be unfair to more northern fisherman - Maine - if they left it open til Nov.1 or so as there season normally ends before that?

[Rockfish9]

I fished the schafer tourney back in the day... I was younger then, back then all my fish were sold...Now I look at things differently, through older, wiser eyes... but.. to each their own....Everyone that fishes bass should experience the feel of a tourney at least once.

I havent knowingly killed a bass in 10 years now, doubt I ever will again, money and competition takes away from the thing I love more than anything else in the world....

[Back Beach]

Originally Posted by Flaptail

What they need to do is have the tournament start earlier and go until November 1st, then they need to have a moratorium period that coincides with the MA. Commercial Season then start again and have a distinct division for surf and one for boat or give the surf guys two points for every one of the boat guys points like the Scheafer did.

Good suggestion for the point system. I disagree with people's argument versus the comms because I see it this way: A mass commercial last year could take 95 fish a week legally, but not all at once. It went 5-0-30-30-30-0-0 for the week. If a person weighs a fish Sunday, they are all done for the week. Who is to say the next day you won't take a larger fish and be kicking yourself? I would say at most you only have the "advantage" for one day if you are commercial. Plus, remember, Rhody has a commercial season too, but the season is not well defined as far as dates go. It has a start date, but often times they reopen the season later in the year if there is quota space left. This means you could have staggered commercial seasons, which could impact the entire time frame of the tourney. Here's my final take and I'm leaving this thread for dead.

1. Make the point system more equitable for surf versus boat.
2. Lengthen the tourney from May 1 to at least mid October.
3. Don't fret over the commercials; I would rather beat them out on their own field anyways. Their advantage is negligible at best.
4. The more high liners in the tourney, the better. It gives the tournament more merit and prestige, which was what the schaeffer tourney had, meaning it meant something to win it.