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Date: August 14, 2006 at 17:20:25
From: ken, [pool-64-222-62-251.prov.east.verizon.net]
Subject: From the main board; about fishcounters and such.


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Date: August 14, 2006 at 17:09:46
From: ken, [pool-64-222-62-251.prov.east.verizon.net]
Subject: Re: Fish Counters re-visited





You are absolutely correct Mr. Canalyaker. :-)

Fish counters never enter tournaments not because they are against them but because they would be exposed.

We do have a tournament trail board that is there to talk about the pro's and con's of tournaments.

There are pro's by the way.

The biggest one is that it would expose the pretenders
and their methods as impotent. An honest tournament monitored with checks for a level playing field would purge fly fishing drones in a half a heartbeat. Including home boys and faux celebrities.

The most productive methods and tactics and strategies and the best flies and casting methods and presentations would win if it was run as a monitored tournament which means no industry involvement, no club involvement and no good old boy involvement and
no honor system which insures that the dishonest drones will win.

I would like to see it for the simple reason that fly fishing has to be rescued from the marketers and the celebrity spokespeople and the writers.

When some 18 year old kid or a sixty year old guy with a Medalist reel and a Fiberglas rod can out fish every body including the local guides, which is what would happen almost every time, in five three day tournaments in a row at locations along various parts of the coast and making a good living at it he/they should be setting the bar on what works best in fly fishing for stripers not a industry grifter celebrity who doesn't dare compete or a part time outdoor writer who fishes once a month with a guide.

Grass roots fly fishermen who know how to fish should be respected for what they know!
What's wrong with that?
Honest tournaments with strict rules and felony indictments for cheating would make that a reality.

Fish counters are fish counters.
What has that got to do with anything.
They are not even on the radar screen.

I can hear it all now.

"I was on the beach and the fish showed up so I made a cast with my new super delux tuning fork graphite atomic powered super 2nd generation XPQTVW-111 x the friggin thing broke at the butt!
I was two miles down the beach but my partner was catching and I couldn't leave because I had to witness and sign his catch.
Then some sand got into his 900 dollar reel and it jambed up but if that hadn't happened we would have beaten everybody. Piss me off!
That old guy with the Fiberglas rod and the medalist were just lucky we had equipment failure and; that kid who came in second place was just in the right place at the right time. The other thirty guys who did well shouldn't have beaten us either cause back home I catch fifty fish every day."

What happened the second day with the next partner sir?
We did real well but we had a flat tire on the way back to the weigh in and we got stopped for speeding and we got back too late and our fish were disqualified."

And the third day?

I drew this guy who didn't know anything but he won the draw and the spot and so we used his truck. He went past the out of bounds line and some guys who were monitoring the tournament spotted us fishing there and they reported us. Guess you got to to pay attention to the rules but they didn't have to squeal. They could have just told us to move but they said it wasn't fair to everyone else."

And what about you sir?

"I couldn't cast in the wind very well and my partner could so he didn't want to leave that spot and it was his time to pick the spot so I had to just keep measuring his fish for two hours before I could pick the next spot.
He didn't have any trouble with the wind at all. I guess all those casting lessons were a waste of money.
He didn't catch many fish either but I had to sit there.
He was using a heavy line and I used the line on the label of the rod blank. My instructor told me not to use anything but the line on the label so I listened to him.
Never going to do that again.
Three days and two fish but I sure did learn a lot at the weigh in. Boy some of these guys sure can fish."

And you sir?
"I had if all figured out Big fish, big fly, fast sinking line and get down and get dirty. Catch them thug stripers right in their face. Rack em and stack em. And I loaded up on weighted Stuffed animal flies and nearly broke my arm with that thirteen weight rod. The firsts day I draw this weenie guy he won the draw for the spot and I had to fish where he wants. He goes to this small tidal river he catches 11 fish that were, "measures," and I have to sign off on them. I didn't even get a hit and he wouldn't give me any of his weenie flies."

He says that this is a tournament he was trying to win.. NO flies for me! Next time I am going to bring more flies.
I could have cut those flies down with my knife if I had thought of it. I guess I could have taken the lead off them too but..."
Next time."

What about the next day?

"The two guys I fished with on the next two days were fishing like I wanted to but we didn't do much one fish one day and two the next but that first guy placed 13th and won $1800.00. Pretty smart guy I guess.
The fish he was on moved because word got out and a bunch of other guys got in there first the next day and squeezed him out.
You have to stay fifty feet away from the other teams. If you don't they will report you and your catch gets disqualified.
Man these rules make it hard but..
I like it some how.
If I could get good enough to place in the top thirty I could cover expenses and if I could win I would able to cash in one of those $35,000.checks!
I am not going to use one of them floating lines though."
I am going to catch thugs or nothing not those weenie fish.
I learned a lot too. Kinda cool."

It sure isn't snobbery but I think that NP Elitism is killing the sport.

We need some fresh air and grass roots realism to clean hose. For that reason alone I think that honest (big money) tournament competition is good for
Salt water fly fishing.

It would smoke the pretenders and their pretentious horseshit out and it would give good fly fishermen a chance to show their stuff and get strong rewards if they have the goods.

Opinions are opinions.
That is mine.
I would like to see a big purge in fly fishing and tournaments would clean out the dead wood pretenders in one season.

Anglers would be setting tackle priorities for the industry not the other way around.

The fish would be making the decisions about what works and the money that people could win if they had what works available to them would force the issue to the forefront - not the advertising media and the grifters.

I think it is a grass roots movement thing that needs to be done.

If you think so too or think otherwise post your opinions on the tournament board. Maybe we can get something started.

No one has to fish in them but the option could make fly fishing a bit more grass roots democratic and less pretentiously aristocratic.

Now in closing.

This is a discussion that is open to anyone
except
people who want to harrass others.

Personal opinion is good.
Personal attacks will be deleted quickly.
It is not a threat to anyone personally to talk about these things openly.

We talk about things openly here on this site.


No posts on the main board just on the tournament board. IF you post on the main board I will delete it and not move it.

Rules are rules.


Posted with TalkShop version 2.71-8

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