DOTY 2012 UPDATE

We (fuzz, Rick, me) have been working with polepole and are hopeful that we will have a DOTY website (complete with rules, points per inch for each category, prizes etc) ready to go very soon!

BUT, I know there are people out there already slaying fish and want to make sure they know what the rules are going to be for 2012.

The points per inch for each species/category is NOT ready yet (this is harder than you would think, but fuzz is working hard on finalizing this), but the categories and the rest of the rules should be good to go, and I wanted to share with you all what we have hammered out so far.

Really hope a lot of you guys join and that this is a fun, friendly competition where can keep track of our PB fish throughout the year, and push each other to hunt species that are outside of our "comfort zone".

Here is what we have right now...we will be providing pic examples of good and bad submissions of both fish and abs so you can see what is acceptable and waht is not.

1.   All entries (fish and abalone) must be taken while freediving without any assistance (no other person can touch spear or abalone iron throughout entire process).
2.   Diving can be from shore or from kayak or dive board. No motorized vessels or mothershipping or SCUBA.
3.   Photographic evidence of fish/abalone (total length) against a measuring device must be provided. Pictures are required to show the MOUTH CLOSED of the fish on a Hawg Trough or similar measuring board. This is in accordance with DFG measuring standards. Multiple pics can be submitted to show mouth closed and touching end of trough (if need be due to rigor mortis making squeezing mouth shut necessary). Any entries not in compliance are subject to a penalty of reduction of size or DQ of entry for flagrant and/or repeated offenses at discretion of DOTY committee. See pics provided for examples of good and bad submissions.
4.   Abalone can be measured with ab gauge/calipers/hawgtrough and knife (see pics for examples).
Ab measurements will be rounded down to the nearest quarter inch.
For example:
8.9" ab --> entered as 8.75"
9" ab --> entered as 9"
9.1" ab --> entered as 9"
9.2" ab --> entered as 9"
9.3" ab --> entered as 9.25"
9.4" ab --> entered as 9.25"
9.5" ab --> entered as 9.5"
& so forth
Keep your PB shell.
In event of tie at end of year, shells will be calipered as a tie breaker.
5.   The pool runs from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012. Fish/abalone taken prior to payment of entry fees are ineligible.
6.   All fish/abalone entered must be taken south of the California/Oregon border and north of the southern border of Monterey County.
7.   The pool covers the following categories: Lingcod, Cabezon, Greenling, Blue Rockfish, Black RockFish, Gopher Rockfish/Black&Yellow Rockfish/China RockFish, Kelp Rockfish, Grass RockFish, Copper RockFish, Vermillion RockFish, Olive RockFish, Calico Bass, MonkeyFace Prickleback, Halibut (California and Pacific), Perch (all kinds), Sheepshead, White SeaBass, Red Abalone.
8.   Only current members who joined NCKA before 1/1/2012 are eligible to compete for prizes. New members who join NCKA after 1/1/2012 can compete for free, but will NOT be eligible to win any prizes...just bragging rights. 
9.   The biggest fish/abalone from each diver's categories will be used towards the diver’s total points. Entries in all 18 categories will count towards each diver's total points.
10.   Entries must be posted within 2 weeks of being taken and photographed. No "hoarding" of entries.
11.   ALL DFG rules must be followed 100%. Period. Any breaking of any DFG rules will result in the entry being disqualified and public ridicule.
12. If you don't like the rules and don't want to play, don't! Diving is fun, and this is meant to be fun between friends as well. We all have bigger and better things to argue/stress/worry about.
13.  AOTY is DIFFERENT than DOTY. Hook and line fishing is DIFFERENT than freediving/spearfishing. The rules for both contests are DIFFERENT. Discussion of rules is encouraged, and will be considered and evaluated for use in future year DOTYs. NO CHANGES to rules will take place for 2012 DOTY.
14.  Three man 2012 DOTY committee of fuzz, Rick and BigJim have final say over any and all issues/arguments/controversies.

Points for each category are as follows:

White SeaBass: x points/inch
GreenLing: x points/inch
Cabezon: x points/inch
Perch: x  points/inch
Halibut: x points/inch
LingCod: x points/inch
MonkeyFace: x points/inch
Blue Rockfish: x points/inch
Black RockFish: x points/inch
Gopher Rockfish/Black&Yellow Rockfish/China RockFish: x points/inch
Kelp Rockfish: x points/inch
Grass RockFish: x points/inch
Copper RockFish: x points/inch
Vermillion RockFish: x points/inch
Olive RockFish: x points/inch
Calico Bass: x points/inch
Sheepshead: x points/inch
Red Abalone: x points/inch

Bottom line: if you want to compete, pay via the AOTY paypal button, then go out diving, take pics of your fish on a hawg trough and post them up on this thread for now...once the website is ready we can transfer submissions over there, and calculate the points for each submission at that time as well.

 

Sincerely,

Jim

What about a wolf eel?

What about a wolf eel?

I got your wolf eel right here buddy!
 

Sincerely,

Jim

Thanks for setting this up dude!  This is gonna be fun.  Lets keep it fun!

To get things started, here are my first set of submissions from 2 Jan 2012!

I truncated down to lowest quarter inch measurement since the hawg trough lines are spaced at a 1/4". Is that a rule or do we measure to 1/8" increments? Is there a bonus for breaking state records? 

Olive: 23"
Rubberlip: 19"
Ling: 34.5"
Blue: 15.5"
Kelp: 14.5"

Nice job, Chris. Yes, measure to 1/4 inch. If you keep that up you could very well win it. Now I'm going to have to strategize how I can get my point totals to overcome that big perch and olive.  And now I'm not going to show you that double-eel crack I found 

I wasn't going to enter any of my fish, which weren't of any substantial size, but halfway through filleting I decided to throw the remaining ones on the trough, even though I know I'm going to shoot bigger ones later on. I guess there's always the chance of injury and getting land locked for a long period of time.

In retrospect, I probably should have gotten a picture of my blue, which was 16+, but I guess I'll just get another one down in Big Sur later on. A big ling will come when the females move in shallow in month or two. I need to go up north to upgrade my dink "Carmel" red, too. 

Ling: 24.5"
Red: 17"
Olive: 15.75"







Pardon the half filleted red 

Hey is that a relief cut in the red

Good idea on keeping the shells.
but why the no new members aloud to join the tourney?

Good idea on keeping the shells.
but why the no new members aloud to join the tourney?

We had a fair amount of debate about this one...the consensus was that for at least this first year of DOTY we wanted to keep the competition for any prizes restricted to members who already were participating in the site. New members are welcome to join at any time and compete  (for free!) but will not be eligible for any prizes...just bragging rights! If the new members like NCKA and DOTY, they will be welcome and eligible to compete for prizes next year.

I do not have a lot of experience with competitions nor with the larger diving community, but after a lot of debate this was the format that was decided upon.

I will let the other members of the committee chime in with their thoughts on the subject.

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Looking forward to this....good luck with the rules and record keeping details.  Your hard work is appreciated and I support all your decisions.....so far!

Looking forward to this....good luck with the rules and record keeping details.  Your hard work is appreciated and I support all your decisions.....so far!

Thanks James!

We made a lot of progress on the website today...I think you guys will like it, and it should be ready very soon.

 

Sincerely,

Jim

ps...wait until you see the DOTY 2012 banner artwork made by our very own Porky!

    

Sweet! Good news! And +1 million for the hard work you guys are putting into this!

Sent from my DROID RAZR

Cant wait too see the site, thanks for the effort!

haha, thanks Jim, but its basically the existing layout, with a new twist

Good idea on keeping the shells.
but why the no new members aloud to join the tourney?

Essentially, the reason for not allowing new members to be eligible for prizes is to prevent people from joining, not contributing, and just competing for prizes. "Mooching" off the site, so to speak. There were pros and cons for both sides-- allowing new members to win prizes vs not-- but we ultimately came to this decision, and it should work out fine this year.

Thanks for the quick answer seems reasonable