Actually, I appreciate this discussion. The way the rules were initially written, we would not have submitted a team. Over time the rules were tweaked to be better and a lot more conservation minded. As far as Tourneys go, this one got pretty good (at least a lot better) as people spoke here and in many other places, and OTW listened and proved that by significantly reducing the potential amount of fish entered.
Once the rules were changed for the better I asked what those in the forum felt about S-B entering a team. The response was generally positive to enter the tournament.
When we did, we also selectively chose as a group to consider fish of only 30#s or better to weigh in as a team, Sure, we could have weighed in 17#ers but chose not to do so. Persoanlly, I could have entered some decent size fish but did not because of out little side rule and the fact that it likely wouldn't count in the end (and a 29#er from shore does not a 30 make). In a nut shell, I have kept zero extra fish in this tourney than I otherwise would have kept due to my self imposed 30# minimum. I probably kept a couple less fish over the year as I didn't want to drag TWO fish back to the truck
(and wifey was a little tweaked that I did not bring home more fillets).
A lot of other clubs are factoring this 30# limit as well in the club tourney.
As for the amount of bass that S-B (or the whole tourney) would weigh in -v- the amount coming in if not for the tourney I don't think is significant. All of Team S-B's fish last year was LESS than the equivalent of a good 3 hour window of fish caught on Narragansett Bay, or ONE commercial Rod & Reeler's take in Mass in ONE day.
Simply put, the weigh-ins for this tourney as it is written now is not significant compared to single events that will happen countless times all over the coast on a multitude of days.
It could be even that with OTW's tightening of the rules that a better appreciation and understanding of Striped Bass conservation may have been made to the masses.
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Hybrid Mode
