Official DOTY 2015 results

What a great year of diving and competition!!!!

Last night saw MULTIPLE lead changes until the dust settled and Matt Lopez aka DamaniJ became our official 2015 Diver Of The Year!!

Matt put in a TON of time chasing fish up and down the coast, and taking newer DOTY players out with him to get them hooked on the madness.

Matt finished with 3194.25 points, had four 200 point (trophy sized) fish, and also had the biggest Kelpy and Copper of the year.

I am super stoked for Matt and will be honored to present him with the grand prize Kraken 13.5 at the awards ceremony.   

Only 4.75 points behind Matt was Adam Sauve aka Adam415 with a score of 3189.5 points, and five 200 point fish including the biggest Verm and Monkey (31.25 inches and biggest in DOTY history!!).

In third place we had Kris Cortez aka LiveAlohaKris with a score of 3158.75 points and five 200 point fish including biggest Sheephead at 30.25 inches.

In fourth we had me  Jim Russell aka BigJim with a score of 3137.375 points, and five 200 point fish with zero biggest fish but second biggest Halibut, Sheephead, Grassy, and Monkey. Always the bridesmaid 

In fifth we had Steve Arsenault aka lorikay2 with two 200 point fish including biggest Olive, and biggest Perch.

From 6th to tenth we had:

Deke in sixth with four 200 point fish including the biggest Grassy in DOTY history at 21 inches; Sean Otter in seventh with four 200 point fish including biggest Greenling and Blue; Bloodbath in eighth with four 200 point fish including biggest Black; Yowlie in ninth with two 200 point fish and Nick F in tenth.

Huge congrats to all the winners and players and to ALL of our awesome sponsors!!!!

Thanks again!!!

 

Sincerely,

Jim

WTG DOTY players, incredible harvests!
Always interesting to see what really is going on underneath our plastic.

Down to the wire, 4.75 points between 1st and 2nd place yikes!

Congrats Matt for the win and to all that participated.

Thanks Jim and to all that contribute to put this together. 

So fun following this all year.  Amazingly close finish.  Congrats to all....

Great year to all who participated. 

I tried to hang onto 10th but Deke came from like 326th place to 6th place in a couple days. Best move up the ranks that I have seen.  Way to go Deke.  Well deserved. 

Thanks Jim! Tough go this week being sick with some sinus and chest issues and also dealing with normal back pain issues.  I definitely did not go at it like Nelson did last year but felt I had to give it a solid try but also wanted to get Deke fired up for next year by seeing how high he could place this year. Luckily at end of year I just needed some big grass rockfish and perch to help me out and never had to dive deeper than 35ish to get the job done.  3 sudafed and afrin ever hour kept me from getting a sinus squeeze luckily!

The best part of this year is when I look at all the fish I shot I can tell you where and who I was with when I shot it.  This has been the most rewarding year as far as dive buddies and meeting new people in the diving community go.  I am stoked to be able to pick up a camera next year and take some great pics and footage of everyone else slaying it.

Kind of different but here is my list of dive buddies and where we were at this year.  I was surprised how easy it was to remember each fish not because it was my biggest fish but because of the great company I was in!  I've dove a lot of different places and we have some amazing people up here who are willing to punish themselves to spend quality time on the water together.

Kelpie: Charlie, Kris and Aaron – Monterey County Adventure
Cab: Kris & Rob L. - Mendo
Ling: Kris - Mendo
Verm: Kris & Rob W. – Monterey County Big Jim Bday
Perch: Deke, Jim, Adam, Nelson and Duane – Monterey County DOTY cram session  & BigJim Sheep mission
China: Steve - Mendo
Ab: Kris & Parviz - Mendo
Monkey: Steve – Great beyond, Carmel
Grassy: Deke - Mendo
Black: Thomas - Mendo
Greenling: Deke - Mendo
Sheep: Duane – Monterey County
Blue: Steve – Great Beyond, Carmel
Scallop: Rob L. - Mendo
Olive: Kris, Trevor G. Batt & Ron – Monterey County Big Jim Bday
Halibut: Adam, Charlie, Aaron – Don’t you want to know....Monterey, Marin or Sonoma, not sure where it lies exactly 
Copper: Adam, Kris, Dan M., DJ – Carmel

Thanks again for all the awesome memories fellas and Jim, DOTY and AOTY guys for all the hard work!

Matt

Huge Congrats to the Winners, and whoever else participated!!!
Lots of super impressive fish & abs (11" ab holy moly)!!!

so are the AOTY results official yet?

Congrats to all that participated! 

Hey how can you say its official, u didn't ask me if I had any last submissions!   Next year im going to try to get at leat 5 species 

Congrats to Matt!! and all the rest too!

I still have 13 days to post the WSB I shot yesterday.....

I still have 13 days to post the WSB I shot yesterday.....

Nah buddy you're not getting ahead of me this year 

Jim's rules void the written rules as he said they are final.  Plus I already have 9 species to post today for the 2016 kick off.  Let's do this. 

I still have 13 days to post the WSB I shot yesterday.....

Nah buddy you're not getting ahead of me this year 

I just couldn't bring myself to shoot a MFE. They're so cute!!! . Oh, and a halibut, halibuts are cute too.

Too much fun! Congratulations to everyone who participated. It's great to have a focus out there while diving and Doty keeps it interesting.

Great job everyone; from the participants to the moderators of the contest!