RISAA Tournament

[The Dad Fisherman]

I would think that in a tournament like this the bottom line would be get as many people to fish as possible. That way you raise as much money as possible for the Charity its for. excluding people just takes money away from your original goal.

and, also, couldn't you use tournaments like this to foster interest in Clubs to grow your membership. People show up, meet people, talk and get interested in an organization and end up joining.

Its seems like a win-win to me...just don't get why you would exclude anybody.

[Iwannakeeper]

The only reasonably explaination for not wanting a club to participate is fear.

All others fear the fishing power of striped-bass.com!!

[zacs]

bummer. I don't belong to any clubs.

I will fish anyways, and have my own tournament, and award myself prizes in all categories. And afterwards have an awards ceremony and get all plastered by myself and go pass out in my bushes.

WOOOHOOO

[spence]

I reward myself before my personal tourney, this year first prize was a new surf top

-spence

[reelecstasy]

Originally Posted by spence

I reward myself before my personal tourney, this year first prize was a new surf top

-spence

LOL, me too on Friday..the new Simms surf top

[JohnR]

Club Tourneys can be funny but the MDA, which this one is modeled after is a no sheet awesome bragiing rights tourney, It really does more to fish and less on the fund raising then perhaps it could. The MDA Tourney last year raised 1200-1300 or something dollars if I remember right among all the clubs that particpated. I think much of the money raised was by people buying the raffle tickets. I know I donated a half dozen real nice plugs for the raffle table and a couple clubs donated things and a couple shops donated a reel. Again, went to a good cause.

I really would have liked to get us into the RISAA tourney but we were never invited (we have been invited to other regional tourneys, officially and unofficially) but I missed the dealine. I looked several times on their site but their were no details. Was not a problem when they wanted to push the show, plenty of links there. Anyway....

Well, in a nutshell, I received an e-mail which I will apply to tonight or tomorrow about whether or not we qualify as a "club"

Perhaps we will create a "club", elect Clammer as President, have an E-Board, charge $1 annual dues, and have out meetings at Hooters on Tuesday nights once a month in the off season

Thanks and good luck!

John

[likwid]

New England Surf Fishermans Association.

[SeaWolf]

john, again, this is not so much an sb.com issue as it is a tournament chairman issue. i will give sb.com credit as they have several members that keep involved and advise others here about issues. some even are on advisor panels, which is great. however, being that this and the fall mda club challenge are just that, club challenges. take sb.com out of the equation for a minute. you are the tourney chair or weighmaster at a shop. someone comes in w/ a fish to weigh in for a club. they ask the member, "who are you fishing for?" they say sb.com. great, now prove to me you are a member? one of the key parts that is hardly checked is that people are up to date/in good standing members of their particular club. it's easy when you are a familiar face at a shop you weigh in at, but what if you are not and are fishing this tournament? how do i know you are part of that club? you don't have membership cards. what's to keep the same person from later weighing in a different fish for a different club? how will i know? i personally am not involved with the rules for the risaa club challenge. that is risaa and bob mueller. i am giving my viewpoints from a tournament's chair position, which i am for other clubs.

ok, next issue. you invite sb.com into the tournament. what's to say website x cannot enter it? how about website w's ri forum if they want to enter it and their parent website is already entered into it? how about if i want a group of my friend's that all happen to fish rods i built for them want to enter. are all these still clubs? why can't they be? they paid the fees to enter. what if i want to fish for myself as a club. can i if i pay the entrance fee? do you see what and where this is going? originally, once a club signed up, all members of that club are eligibile to fish. there was no sign up. but, some are members of several clubs. how do you keep track of what club they fish for or if they enter fish for different clubs? so, they started to keep track of names of participants for that club so people couldn't fish for 2 or more clubs during the tournament.

now, as far as the majority of the participating clubs entered into the fall mda tournament not being true clubs, i argue that point. i'll give you a couple, one being sb. in more recent years this has been addressed.

ok, money. the entrace fee for the tournament and raffle prizes are all donated towards the charity. also, if people or clubs wish to give extra, they can make that donation as well. sure, it's all for a good cause, but it is also a club challenge.

now, off the serious note. fear? this has nothing to do w/ fear of sb.com. my reasons were said above, but go back and do some searches and see how many people said the same things about fear as some are saying here. then, go check the people that actually weighed fish for sb during those year. yes, sb won it one year, but i believe only 3-5 people even weighed fish! it's easy to talk behind the keyboard, but few have been able to step up to the plate and back it up.

now, onto the whole club issue. i'd be curious to see how many of the members here that want to fish for sb.com are actually members of another club. so, why would you not fish for that club? why sb.com? some clubs are in need of new blood and members, fresh with ideas and enthusiasm. why not get involved? when clubs start dying, as some have or are showing trends in that way, how are lobbyist going to use rec groups for their backing? does website x.com mean or hold any value to someone like asmfc? is sb.com affiliated with any other organizations? i said this last time john, and i'll say it again, sb.com could be a very important and vital voice in support of fisheries and other issues, but they way i see it right now, it's just a message forum. again, i stress, try and look at this as someone would who is outside of sb.com. then, ask the same questions.