2008 AOTY Rules and signup are online!

[Bill]

A sure sign the end times are near! I have my stuff together enough to announce this ahead of time! 

Remember you can not enter fish that are caught before you pay so if you plan on catching fish January first you should signup now! The new AOTY site for entering in fish will be online January 1st.

There are a few changes this year that everyone should be aware of.

- Possible inclusion of panfish (see poll - http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php/topic,11021.0.html)

- We are moving to an all prizes format. I am working on prizes right now and I know we will have some great ones.

- I removed the prizes for individual species

- Now 1st - 10th places will get prizes!

- I increased the price to $40 to cover the additional prizes awarded

Sign up here - http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?page=31

[scwafish]

Any thought to changing the rules about measuring/photos that were discussed earlier?

[Bill]

Yeah but I have been unable to find a supplier of measuring sticks. I have a place I can make them locally but it will be a bit of work.

If GWKC wants to sponsor us then we can change it right now 

[Hojoman]

Sometimes I see someone posting a picture of a measured fish, BUT the picture doesn't show the entire fish, just the tail. You DO have to show the entire fish, right?

[Grizz]

Was there any thought of splitting it up to freshwater and saltwater divisions?

[Bill]

Hojoman, I think you will see pics of the entire fish for most of the entries, you can put up to 3 pics of your fish on the page, the first one ulpoaded is the one that shows by default. Clicking on the entry will show all 3.

Grizz, no thoughts of that at least for next year. One of the goals of AOTY is to get people out and fishing for things they would not normally fish for. Even though I am not eligible for prizes I still compete and it drives me to fish freshwater more often than I would be inclined to otherwise.

[scwafish]

I will be looking for measuring devices tomorrow!  GWKC will work on this.

IMHO we should have 3 mandatory pics.  A pimping on the water pic, a whole fish on the measuring device, and a close up of the final measure. The first year was LOOSE< this year was better, as it gets more competitive we should try and get it even better.

[Bill]

Thanks Sean!

These are the ones I was looking at:

http://www.checkitstik.com/c/pages/products.php

I think the big question was how long they should be. Balance between measuring larger fish and carrying it around.

[Abking]

Don't you think you'll lose some people by dropping the individual species prizes?

Let me answer that for me:  yes. 

[Bill]

Sorry to hear that Abking. I am trying to break you of your rockfish and salmon addiction 

[Abking]

Wah!   

I see the value, Bill, but I'm not coming to your little intervention!   

I'll probably sign up - can't help myself...   

[scwafish]

Bill-I will check into some different things. I really like Shimmys "Hawg Trough".  It fits in a hatch ez, light, ez to read and cheap.

[Abking]

Ab-Kin says, "if ya git one that hangs out the end of the hawg troff, you arta git a prize - it shurdent arta matter iffen ya caught a panfish or not!"   

[scwafish]

Yeeeeee ha! Ab-you better stay in.  You live in a winning location for almost everything.  If you need any help on the freshwater side, PM me.

[Mahi]

I like the checkitstick idea, but do they make them big enough for dino's?

Fortunately I kept all of my AOTY fish whole in the freezer, just in case of controversy. 

If you decide to add pan fish, maybe you should also consider adding star fish, as I seem to catch a lot of them at Elk.

Other than that, I like AOTY just as it is!