Striper Cup

[Sea Dangles]

OTW has told me personally and via email that they will never have seperate divisions.Something about cameraderie yada yada.I can never envision a handicap system where boat and surf guys will be satisfied with the handicap.Even last year was waay too much as is indicated by our top fish all being surf fish in spite of a banner year from the boat guys.Chris Meaghan is a great guy and runs an awesome tournament but seems to be missing the point here.I'm sure he has sponsors to appease as well as other outside pressures to influence his decision making so like it or leave it. My impression is OTW doesn't show much love for the boat guys. If they ever did decide to make different divisions perhaps the accomplishments of many hardcore anglers would have more merit.Fortunately decisions and impressions aren't based on hypothetical scenarios such as the ones Bassdawg presents.

[Back Beach]

Originally Posted by Sea Dangles

I can never envision a handicap system where boat and surf guys will be satisfied with the handicap.Even last year was waay too much as is indicated by our top fish all being surf fish in spite of a banner year from the boat guys.

Even with the above said, I still feel like the team portion is as fair as it can get. The distribution of big fish is different every year and last years big hitters may or may not repeat their successes in 2009. A big part of fishing success depends on what shows up in your local waters.
I wouldn't change anything about the tourney at this point, except they need a system that will update the standings more quickly and avoid unnecessary kills. I personally took two big fish last year that could have been released as they didn't factor into the tourney.

[JohnR]

Agree with the above but I do like the 40 inch minimum for adults. That 36-39.9 range ain't gonna do anything and the rare 40" fish weighing 30 pounds is just that rare other than in claims on the Internet. To sweeten the anxiety how about making it so you can only weigh in two fish per calendar month. That'll add some sleepless nights

The point ratio for the shore fish is probably about accurate as it will get.