Future AOTY Suggestion: Total Species Points

I was pretty happy the other day after landing my 1st keeper Striper for the year the other day.  Not only did it make awesome fish tacos    it was also a species I hadn't logged yet.  When I got home I logged the fish, then hit refresh on the leader board to see how far it would move me up....

...nada...WTF..

Sure enough it logged but wasn't showing.  I figured I might reread the rules to see if I had missed something.  Sure enough I had:

7. The biggest fish from each angler's top ten species will be used towards the angler’s total points.

Doh!  So this got me thinking.  One of the reasons I did AOTY this year was to try and catch all the species on the list.  While I don't think I will hit that mark this year, it will be my goal for next few until I do!  Given that, why not have a side score for all your fish?  I am not suggesting replacing the current ruleset, but if possible, have an additional Total Accumulative Species (TAS) score.

If it is possible, maybe add a sort function or leader board for TAS.  This could then either be a side prize or just a bragging rights kind of thing.

Just a thought!

Why not have a total point system for every fish you catch all year?     Go catch a bigger striper. It does seem that stripers are the most difficult to get on the leader board. Most of the Delta ones are not that big anymore. Bring back the flounder! 

I won't even target Stripers for AOTY. Too hard and time consuming to try and find a 35-40" fish to make it worthwhile. Study the points and figure out what will make the most points to fish for.

Rob,

Totally agree on the "strategy" required to maximize your points but is that the intent of the AOTY?  To see who can game the system best or is it to encourage people to get out into different fisheries that maybe they wouldn't normally try?

I know that the top 5 currently in AOTY would also be the top five in TAS.  To me that actually validates that TAS may be a better demonstration of overall local fishery knowledge then current AOTY leaderboard criteria since it removes the "gaming" aspects of the current system.

Some of the top five or ten would not be there if it was all points total. Some of us can't fish every day and specifically set our trips up to maximize our chances of catching the right fish at the right time. To me the intent of AOTY is to catch bigger fish than everyone else and beat them into the ground. Not fish as many days as possible and catch a thousand fish compared to the guy who can only fish one day a week. If you want to count every fish, join KayakWars. Learn how to play the game and you will be in the top. There are two months to go and I am definately  not finishing where I am now. It is the time of year to catch big fish again. The points will shuffle more than you can imagine in the next two months. Watch your back.

I've caught well over 250 fish this year. How bout you? Where would that put me?

I see you hot on my tail, Aaron! 

I agree it w/b cool to see how many species each angler caught (or the TAS from all species too). For example, I think Bird caught all 20 last year...and I know Salty is close to getting all 20. And a feat like that s/b recognized!!! 

I almost didn't enter my last fish because it was a 14.5" trout. Worth a measly 108pts. BUT...I thought to myself, I'm going to enter it anyways! Hopefully it's not still in my top 10 on Dec 31. But this is the first time I've logged 10 species, so it feels like a minor accomplishment.  (but it screws up my quest to catch all my fish from just 2 locations)

Thanks for bringing up your question Aaron.

I'm looking forward to seeing responses from people on here because currently in DOTY we have all 18 species count towards the diver's total points...been thinking about whether or not we should stick with that for next year or switch to just points from top 10 like AOTY...or ?

http://doty.ncka.org/leaderboard/list

 

Sincerely,

Jim

...been thinking about whether or not we should stick with that for next year or switch to just points from top 10 like AOTY...or ?

Top 3! 

...been thinking about whether or not we should stick with that for next year or switch to just points from top 10 like AOTY...or ?

Top 3! 

LOL!

Now that's just crazy talk...

Here is an excerpt from a message I wrote a few weeks ago...numbers are different now because everybody in the top 5 has submitted new species, but the concept is still the same:

Switch from all species count to only top ten count like in AOTY?

This would cut out some of the "luck" factor if someone gets a Calico or other rarer species and their competitor doesn't....as far as I can tell there is no hunting technique used for Calicos except putting in lots of time in the water in Monterey and Carmel...not really fair if a diver in Mendo has all the same fish as a diver in Monterey who gets a calico eventualy after diving every weekend in Carmel.

I did some quick calculations, but I'm not the best at math so please forgive me if I made a mistake... 

The current Top 5 are:

1. Fuzz               3015.375 (177.38 avg)
2. BigJim             2406  (160.40 avg)
3. Rick                 2335  (166.79 avg)
4. NorcalSlayer   2319  (165.64)
5. Nelson Kwok  2213.875 (170.30 avg)


If we scored it so only the top 10 entries count the standings would be:

1. Fuzz                1920.625 (192.06 avg)
2. NorcalSlayer    1832.875 (183.29 avg)
3. BigJim              1801.5     (180.15 avg)
4. Nelson Kwok    1778.5    (177.85 avg)
5. Rick                  1765.375 (176.54 avg)

Not a big change, but still enough to add a different look to the whole thing...

Not sure...some of the fish I am most proud of don't even show up in my top 10, so am not sure what that does to the motiviation to hunt and find new species, which has been one of the coolest parts about DOTY for me...

Anyway, I'm not advocating for anything for AOTY, but like I said am very curious to hear everybody's opinions.

 

Sincerely,

Jim

I think DOTY should only be armed with a short stick and a goggle only over one eye!  Leave some fish for the rest of us topsiders!

I guess I didn't see the All Species favoring semi-pro fisherman    I am a minor weekend warrior at best so I am not advocating this from a "I can spend more time on the water than you" perspective.  And I would also say not all fish aka every fish you catch, only your top catch for each of the listed species.

IMO, and I recognize this is just my opinion, the perfect system would be:

TAS of what I would consider "common" local targets + a 1 "exotic" entry.  Currently AOTY I think everything fits the "common" category except Pacific Halibut.  The exotic could be any fish landed with a point per unit length determination of 200/State Record in inches.  That way Pacific Halibut could count, and so could Carp, or even Pikeminnow.  If no state record is kept for that fish, the AOTY Panel / Judges assigns the point based upon entry and a post to this board requesting point determination.

This way in Jim's Calico scenario, the locals can still hit their local target fish but not have an extreme advantage over those who live out of the region who may have a different "local exotic" they can target.  The "common" species list are exactly what you just thought in your head.  Fish that are a combination of salt and fresh local species that everyone targets when fishing local fisheries.  Specialty fish should be relegated to exotics as determined by the AOTY panel/judges.

Not sure how the coding would work for the "exotic" or if it is just a pipedream.  I would also be perfectly happy with a side TAS score or just a ranking of # of species caught.

Just a thought!

Man,
If I could get points for ALL the fish I cought this year

I think AOTY should devide total points by how many days fished.
This might get a better idea of an anglers ability, rather than who has the most time OTW.
Than again .... I still enjoy it the way it is.

Well ya got my attention so I looked at your striper pic. Thats the worst picture for AOTY ive seen for awhile. Is it really that hard to take a decent picture of a dead fish?

Well ya got my attention so I looked at your striper pic. Thats the worst picture for AOTY ive seen for awhile. Is it really that hard to take a decent picture of a dead fish?

A few of the pics that would pass on his list. But most, ???