Other than in the ocean, I have two rods out all the time. Trout trolling, always. It just allows you to cover more of the water column with two different depths while trolling. If I'm somewhere that minnows are legal, I have a (minnow, grub, etc.) out, and casting with the other rod. Even in bass lakes where live bait use is not allowed, I'm drifting a small jig on one side and casting. I've had many times my jig is 15' below me, dragging in grass and it still gets hit? The amount of times my lines get fouled up is pretty minimal. And it's worth the dozen or so trout doubles I'll get every year. Nothing more exciting than getting in both fish on a double. I love the double in net pictures. 

Probably the only time I have gone to one rod is when the fishing is just so off the hook, it takes too long to reel in the second line and clean off the lure after catching on your other rod. I've had it a few times, when you start paddling, cast out, put the rod in the holder and hammered. Over and over again. One rod in those cases is enough. Those are rare days though.

it really is just a matter of time. There were many folks that felt this way when Hobie pedal drives first came into play in tournaments.

Of course, there are many who stand by the paddle yaks. Props to them.

Most of my fishing crew have been paddling over 30 years so when the young guy of the group got a hobie we of course gave him shit. I refer to him as a "Recreational Pedal Boat Guy" not a kayaker.     He of course gives us shit when we want to come in when it's getting windy or we don't want to go on the long paddle to get to a new spot, etc. Good fun. Having said that and as much as it pains me, I still have to call our pedal brother a kayaker because he's using his own power to propel himself. Once a motor goes on a yak it becomes a small power boat. I mean they actually have to register it as a boat. So my issue is less with the fishing advantage in AOTY, but just that a PB guy in a kayak angler tournament isn't putting in the same physical effort as those of us who actually kayak.

As someone mentioned though, we aren't playing for prizes and it's free now so...

As for age adjustments, hell no. Kayak fishing is one of the few sports a 65 year old can compete with a 25 year old. I'm 55 and I fished about a month and a half at the end of the season last year, managed 6 species, a couple big fish and a solid rainbow. If I ever got off my ass and got back to the ocean I could possibly be competitive. And one of the most impressive AOTY winners I can remember, was Otobepelagic. I can't remember his age at the time, but he was into his 50's at least and submitted one of EVERY SPECIES! That's an impressive fishing year.

"Even though pedals are human powered it is definitely an advantage over paddle power."

I guess I agree as far as trolling goes, but that's about it. If you look back at the AOTY winners, a lot were paddle guys (kayakers)    with solid scores. And the all time AOTY score is from a paddler.   

I have a nice spotted bass from 1/7 waiting to be entered. Does the 2 week rule apply or is there a grace period for January?

On species, I could see separating crappie from other panfish and giving a little less to crappie and a little more points to other panfish. Tons of 15"/180pt crappies out there. And it would be nice to see Sac Perch, red ears or huge bluegill targeted as an alternate for panfish points.

I've wanted to separate the panfish category for a while. I think the largest non crappie was a 14.75" SP, so set the "trophy at 15 or 15.5" may be? 13 to 13.25 points per inch? You have to catch a toad BG to get some points and even a SP would need to be big big. I think crappie points are okay for now. There are some 180's fish, but it's been years since there's been a 190+ point fish entered and not many of those.

Poopsmith for the win! Nice work getting out there and getting the variety. It seems like in the last 10 years it's been getting harder to get all the species and finding size (at least for me), so you did a good job building a solid bag for your top 10. Makes me want to go out and fish! Congratulations to the other top finishers getting out there and getting some nice fish!

I like the idea of seperating crappie & other sunfish into 2 categories. Should we do that next year?

You know I'm in. It would give me a significant reason to hunt the illusive Sac Perch! From memory I think Chris Mayes had a 14.75" SP. I'm not sure there has been a larger non crappie submitted? So if you based a 15" fish as a trophy, you could give 13 or may be 13.25 per inch for panfish? 195 points or 198.75 points for a 15" panfish? You would still need like a 12.5" panfish to really be helpful in a serious AOTY run. Just a suggestion.

Quote from: The Kraken on February 21, 2023, 11:30:44 AM

So, I’ve brought this up before, but has the committee thought about re-balancing the freshwater species to match the salt water? Once the flatfish was added, we now had 9 SW to 8 FW and the 4 anadromous. I’m not sure what it would be, I always liked going after both SM and spotted bass, but I guess it was too hard for the committee to tell them apart, so they merged them?  I’ve fished other online tournaments that separate crappie and have a sperate panfish category. That’s fun hunting larger blue gills and sac perch. I think the biggest non crappie submitted was Chris’s 14.75” sac perch, so set the PPI at 13.25 where a trophy catch would be 15” for 198.75 points? Or make it real tough at 13 points per inch and you would need a tank BG/SP at 15.25/15.50” for trophy points? Those would be a better quality fish than a 17” crappie.

For those living out east like me or the valley folks who may be only get to the north coast a couple times a year, at least having an equal number of FW species can give us a better chance of being competitive. Anyway, just a suggestion. And I want a reason to hunt the lazy fighting sac perch!   

Hey Scott! The committee talked over these subjects 6-7 years back. Combining the smallmouth and spotted bass categories wasn't something we really wanted to do, but we were kinda forced into it. Lake Berryessa kicked out a lot of hybrids, so anglers were submitting fish as smallmouth bass when they looked more like hybrids. It was a great strategy, because you'd get the length of a spotted bass but the points of a smallmouth. But it ultimately wasn't fair to the other anglers, and put the committee in the position of trying to put the hybrids in either the smallmouth or spotted bass category (it was a no-win situation). Seems like we don't get many hybrids entered into AOTY nowadays, so maybe we could separate the two species into their own respective categories again?

The panfish/non crappie category was also discussed. It never really got much traction among the committee, but maybe things would be different now. Give those Sac perch a whirl! They're incredibly different to target compared to the other panfish, mostly because they don't school and are pretty timid.

Chris I still haven't been able to find a sac perch on your lake! You would think by now I would just luck into one.     Almanor has never given me much love, but everyone around me kills it! Cursed!

So just checking if you will be doing AOTY in 2023? There hasn't been anything about this season posted regarding changes or if you are charging again, so just wondering if you will continue this? I didn't fish much in 22, but it was fun posting fish when I finally caught something. I'll be in for AOTY 2023 if it continues.                                                                           

I haven’t caught any Kokanee salmon. I am thinking to go try Stampede lake near Truckee. Appreciate any info regarding where to launch kayak and where to troll, etc.

I don't think you will have a problem catching koks there now. I went out yesterday and they were hitting all morning. I fish shallow so usually by 8 the koks quit biting, but all morning they hit. I switched to spoons looking for holdover trout and I still caught koks. The boats that launched with me were all off the water by 10 so they limited early. Most were 12-12.75" but I got a couple at 14."