Official 2012 AOTY Thread

Quit yer whinin' and do some signin'. Im in with my 40 as of right now.

+2 on that...But you kno, Ill see ya on your $100 side bet! Wat species you have in mine Bud!!!???

Im very happy with the updated and improved AOTY rules and Im looking forward to donating TO it ALL YEAR LONG BABY! whoooooo AOTY 2012 HERE I COME BABY!

I'm entering this year for sure.

So, can my spear and shooting line count as my hook and line?

 

Just kidding.

I AM gonna keep track of my biggest shot fish this year though, one running thread with hawg trough shots, points per fish etc...will just be a little thing I do for me outside of AOTY.

Maybe I'll get some other spearos to do a little side bet with me...I got a nice 3 piece Pole Spear I salvaged for a prize, and Hotplate has a Samurai Sword he found, and Andy has a cool wooden plaque he made 

All attempts last year at any friendly competition between us average joe divers pretty much failed (the one License to Chill event was great, but then....), so I'll post something up and see if anybody else is interested.

I know the feedback I got before was to let the mods decide how to do it, or just go to the Triton X or BABL etc events....

For me personally, I often can't make the one day dive events, so like the idea of my being able to use my dawn patrol or after work sessions to engage in friendly competition.

I'm gonna be shooting and eating the fish anyway, so don't see the competition really changing my harvesting practices.

Think requirements will be you have to sign up for AOTY (to help the site!) and then you can "compete"....prizes will be small but cool!

I like the concept a lot of having a trophy fish worth about 200 points. Makes a ton of sense. So a Trophy MonkeyFace is about 26-27 inches IMO, so I think they should be about 7.5 points per inch.

 

Sorry for the threadjack...

Thanks Allen and AOTY committee for all your hard work.

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Thanks for all the work you guys put in to this event !
It'll be my first year participating, mostly for fun, but hopefully this is the "excuse" I need to get out there more. 
Just paid, so I'm in ! 

I like the changes to rockfish.  The changes to Pacific halibut just shows how this tournament favors bay area folks.  Are there any AOTY board members from the real northern California? 

The changes to Pacific halibut just shows how this tournament favors bay area folks.

How?

-Allen

It is easier and more common to get a 200pt wsb.  Now my halibut I caught this year wont even score 200pts.  It is usually a longer paddle to get to pacific halibut as well as it can be much harder to land and secure one compared to a dead sea bass. 
We have shorter more strict seasons up here as well as rougher weather.

Again does anyone from the real northern California have any representation or authority in NCKA?    Nope

I thought so.

 Well as a matter of fact 3 of the committee are from norcal if you want to know.  Im only assuming you mean north of san francisco. I encourage you to sign up as the salt specie in your area are known to be larger than in most other coastal spots. I also encourage you to expand your vistas and include some freshwater specie in your bag of tricks. Like Mako told me 2 years ago............. if you dont like it please dont play. Its going to be fun this year. Dont miss out!

On an interesting side note Terrys pac hali from GS5 was caught out at the bouy and was 48 in length. Or 204 points with 2012's point values. Darius' pac hali was cught right in front of the light. In both cases not a very far paddle at all.

It is easier and more common to get a 200pt wsb.  Now my halibut I caught this year wont even score 200pts.  It is usually a longer paddle to get to pacific halibut as well as it can be much harder to land and secure one compared to a dead sea bass. 
We have shorter more strict seasons up here as well as rougher weather.

The way we look at it, we created another species from which you can pull from.  The median pacific halibut entered in AOTY would have scored 178.5 points.  That's well above the average for all species and above the average for the current points leader (Bird with a 170.89 average).  It appears to me like we created an opportunity.

Glass half empty, meet glass half full.

Again does anyone from the real northern California have any representation or authority in NCKA?    Nope

I thought so.

I'm not really sure what that has to do with anything ...

-Allen

I am working on my freshwater mojo, but so far it seems like I left it in Texas.  I tried to get a fat Clear Lake winter bass off jumbo minnows, but no love. 

Im sure I will sign up soon enough considering I have the highest 6 fish average and started the tournament almost half way through the year.

For me, Northern California doesn't start until Sonoma county.

Im not done yet for this years AOTY.  At least I hope not. 

On an interesting side note Terrys pac hali from GS5 was caught out at the bouy and was 48 in length. Or 204 points with 2012's point values. Darius' pac hali was cught right in front of the light. In both cases not a very far paddle at all.

You have a valid point, but for the norm it is rare to catch them in that close.  That given, the biggest halibut caught up here this year were caught while rockfishing on shrimp flies.

On an interesting side note Terrys pac hali from GS5 was caught out at the bouy and was 48 in length. Or 204 points with 2012's point values. Darius' pac hali was cught right in front of the light. In both cases not a very far paddle at all.

You have a valid point, but for the norm it is rare to catch them in that close.  That given, the biggest halibut caught up here this year were caught while rockfishing on shrimp flies.

Damn, I forgot Eric Stockwells big pac hali also. Thats 3 in close.

Well to clear to it up more, are club boundries start from monterey county all the way up to the oregon border, all of that being truly NORCAL! Weather your a avid freshwater fisherman or salwater, or from Cali or Texas, Do you got wat it takes to catch Big here in Northern Cali? Keep in mind, California is tuff fishing compared to other states and coast. Your just proving to be one helluva fishermen if u can take top ten with this kinda tourny!  And thats just the beauty of it, your front door could be right on the ocean, or right on the river, but that dont mean nothing if you cant produce, and produce BIG! Lets just stop hearing excuses and put in already, either play or dont, It doesnt matter to me cause I let my fishing do all the talking anywayz and by looks of it for a loooooong time now, it talks well! Ricci/aka Fishworks....Btw, so wasup with that sidebet!?

Well said Ricci! Love your enthusiasm bro. 

Rob, I have no doubt you will adapt to the rule mods and do well. 

Big Jim, can I enter an ab in DOTY? I wanna try and beat Craig in the ab dept. 

FWIW,
I have entered the AOTY the last 2 years and all my salt points have come from areas way North of me (Shelter Cove and Trinidad), and each year I have been very competitive. From where I stand the advantage would lean more towards the northern boys who have a better shot at most salt species as well as Salmon and Steelhead. 
Also,
To me at least, The AOTY is more about being a well rounded fisherman and making the most of your time OTW ... Thus far in 2012, I have hit the water 14 times in my yak ... I am currently in 8th place overall in AOTY ... and my catch is verry well rounded in both fresh and salt species. I may remain in the top 10 or I may get bumped in the little time remaning, But I will leave knowing that I have accomplished the goal of the AOTY Compitition for two consecutive years by making the most of the OTW time available to me.

Thank you to all those involved in AOTY, Keep up the awsome work.

See Ya Soon,
Eric / Yakhopper

Donation made, and I'm really impressed with the work that has gone into the program, kinda surprised that people are still finding things to stress over, just looks better to me each year.

This year I might even enter a fish or 2 to get up off the bottom of the list. And the individual species prizes however large or small gives more peeps a shot at honorable mention. Woo hooooo

Thanks for making a fun and interesting way to contribute to the site.