2015 AOTY Prize Kayak

Let me ask you all this. How many people go to a tournament, pay the entry, pay for camping, food, etc., and know they most likely will not win? The answer is a lot. Probably most. Yet they still do go and spend the time and money. Why is AOTY different? They spend more on 1-2-3 weekend tournaments than they do all year in fishing for AOTY, but want the benefits of AOTY prizes for little to no effort. Spend the $40, less than any tournament you can go to in overall investment, and just have fun with it like you do at all these other tourneys. You might even get a big fish trophy a long the way. Come out at the AOTY awards and have fun and support the people that did well. Top ten, big fish, AOTY winners. I went to 2 AOTY awards far from my house before I got serious and just had fun with a great bunch of people. I think this is a fair question. 

Holy crap!  I solute you, BigJim, for brave enough to open up this big-o can of night crawlers.

AOTY committee (past & future), I really really appreciate what you do!!!

Although it's nice to win stuff, I believe that its all up to the committee to decide what they want to do w/ the kayak (or everything).  If JimBig & other committee members think it's best for PIF to raffle out the kayak, then they should.

As long as the rule is stated, then it's up to the players to play or not.

I kinda agree w/ increasing the fee to gather more stuff so that more people can get something to draw in participants.
$40/year to support PIF & NCKA (AOTY) isn't much (~$50?).

This is just my humble opinion, so please don't take any offence.

Either way, I will pay & play again next year.  It just too good to pass up AOTY!!!

Naoaki

 

When I look back at the past winners, I remember the BEST that NCKA has to offer.  I have no idea what they won.

Chuck, Sean, Allen, Patrick, Jim, Adam, Bird ... you guys are the best fishermen I know.

And Craig, you are the second best fisherman I know.   

-Allen

& Pepe
You forgot the best kayak fisherman I know...

When I look back at the past winners, I remember the BEST that NCKA has to offer.  I have no idea what they won.

Chuck, Sean, Allen, Patrick, Jim, Adam, Bird ... you guys are the best fishermen I know.

And Craig, you are the second best fisherman I know.   

-Allen

& Pepe
You forgot the best kayak fisherman I know...

Damn!  I did.  WTF!

-Allen

SaltyJim, I think you'd actually be surprised how I voted for this poll.  I'm not at all saying that we should do the raffle.  What I'm saying is that the guys who run the event should be allowed to choose whatever format they feel would increase participation and the money raised.  The goal of AOTY today is to raise funds for PIF.  So the goal should be to raise as much $$ as possible.  That can either be done with higher entry fees, more participants, or both. It can't be done with less participants and the same $/person fee.  I do believe that the decrease in AOTY participation the past few years is due to a little bit of:
1. Apathy. 
2. Sniping and whining. 
3. Lack of opportunity. 

I think the real goal of AOTY should be: 
Get more people the enter more fish.  There should be incentive for people to want to fish and want to enter fish, regardless of point value.

Generally speaking, we're lucky that we're kayakers.  The cost of building a kayak to a manufacturer is pretty low, which allows them to support events such as ours with prizes that are of such high retail value.  The goal of the sponsors is to sell more kayaks.  The more people who participate, the more word spreads, the better it is for the manufacturer. 
We shouldn't be so focused on who is the best, but more focused on how do we represent the kayak fishing scene and how do we attract new and better fishermen.

Adding some backstory comments here ...

We created "the AOTY committee" because it is damn near impossible to drive to consensus on threads like this.  It would be nice if you stated your opinions (both for an against here) but leave it at that.  No need to debate with the goal of driving a decision.  Just present your opinion.  Let the committee debate and drive to consensus within the committee.  Trust that they will act in a manner that they think is best for the competition.  Don't like what you see?  Volunteer for the committee.

-Allen

1 kayak for AOTY champ, 1 kayak for DOTY champ, and 1 kayak to be raffled. Keep the ticket-per-species rule.

Seems like we could use some of the proceeds from entry fees to purchase 2 kayaks for prizes...maybe even straight donations.

Problem solved and there would still be thousand$ going to PIF. Guarantee it would increase participation!

Assuming we can secure 2 more yaks for prizes...WHO would not vote for this option?
It seems like a win-win-win situation to me. And it's only September, so we have plenty of time to solicit the prizes.
Should I just move forward with this idea and start calling companies & writing letters or what?
Problem solved.

1 kayak for AOTY champ, 1 kayak for DOTY champ, and 1 kayak to be raffled. Keep the ticket-per-species rule.

Seems like we could use some of the proceeds from entry fees to purchase 2 kayaks for prizes...maybe even straight donations.

Problem solved and there would still be thousand$ going to PIF. Guarantee it would increase participation!

Assuming we can secure 2 more yaks for prizes...WHO would not vote for this option?
It seems like a win-win-win situation to me. And it's only September, so we have plenty of time to solicit the prizes.
Should I just move forward with this idea and start calling companies & writing letters or what?
Problem solved.

I can't imagine anyone having a problem with that..but I am SURE someone will. 

As long as the yaks are donations and not paid for I would support it 100%.

To put more reg. fee $ into prizes (besides the $ for plaques) is something I am not sold on...but that is something we can talk more about in the private PIF and AOTY forums.

Thanks for volunteering to help out with this PK...I'll shoot you a PM/text to discuss this and some other stuff.

 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

I will put in a request to Wilderness for a boat. I can not do that till the appropriate  time when I am asked to. That is Nov or Dec. If we have three by them I will back out from asking. I can only do this on Wildys time frame. I will do what I can do. The 3 boat option IS the best one and I hope we can make that happen.

I will put in a request to Wilderness for a boat. I can not do that till the appropriate  time when I am asked to. That is Nov or Dec. If we have three by them I will back out from asking. I can only do this on Wildys time frame. I will do what I can do. The 3 boat option IS the best one and I hope we can make that happen.

Awesome Rob!!

I will do the same with JK. They have a similar time frame for requesting products for events as well...

Thanks buddy!

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Thank you so much, BigJim, Pat & Rob (& everyone else helping the AOTY)!!!!!!!
Hopefully everything work out, and we can put this behind then enjoy the AOTY!

Maybe we should just do AOTY without any prize kayaks at all, and just have the Piscean Plaque, bragging rights and fun be the prizes?

I personally would be totally cool with that.

Sincerely,

Jim

the way it used to be, before corporate america got involved.....ahhhh the good old days.

I found out after 3 years of AOTY that I didn't want to chase all those fish around anymore. I'm just a stupid fisherman, now chasisng stupid rockfish.

I found out after 3 years of AOTY that I didn't want to chase all those fish around anymore. I'm just a stupid fisherman, now chasisng stupid rockfish.

Ditto! 

With the occasional striper and halibut thrown in. 

I found out after 3 years of AOTY that I didn't want to chase all those fish around anymore. I'm just a stupid fisherman, now chasisng stupid rockfish.

Ditto! 

With the occasional striper and halibut thrown in. 

LOL !!!!

Ditto. And limited to several sentences. On a good day, a paragraph or two. 

Alex

Good thing that we have some talented people running this show, it was the decision of the committee to raffle the kayak so don't be upset if you win AOTY and do not get a kayak this year.

if you guys who are sponsor do not get 3 kayaks next year maybe raffle some other items with much lower price like shirts or even stickers.