With the Summer here now and the heavy water traffic that we run into, not to mention the prime morning fishing hours we miss at the start, is it a possibility to move up the start times of the tourneys to say.... 6am or earlier?
We're fisherman and we're used to being up early and all travel a good clip on a regular basis. There may be some issues with permits and such, which is why I ask and thought I'd just throw the earlier start time out there and get other people's thoughts or ideas? If I'm crazy, than its not the first and certainly won't be the last time being called that!
i would love to fish on the early bite but just don't think it would work.
i'm going to get with smoke and see what we can come up with for next season, we might run a couple different style tourneys, some smaller some earlier some bigger, we might really change things up and have teams. more to come!
What are the earliest start times we can do? I am only guess but each town is different right? I think starting earlier is WAY better, this summer I have started fishing between 4:30 and 5am and caught the biggest fish of my life before 7am, which is when we start, so I am sure WE all are missing the bite. When you have to be in the truck at 5am to get to our tournys and hour and a half away whats an hour earlier??? I wouldnt mind getting up an hour earlier to catch bigger fish! And if travel is an issue, we are all friends here why not put up a team thats from out of town for the night? We all can stay at SMOKES house!
We can stay at Smoke's house. I friggen love it, LOL!
Seriously though, if you're a fisherman, you're used to early hours. Travel time is what it is. If you don't want to travel, then stay home. It doesn't make you a bad person. I like the idea!
There are some safety and boating regulation issues with starting way early, and some towns may not grant permits before a certain time. It should be able to find some that do, though. Take a look at http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/pab/pab_schedevents.htm for a list of permitted Ts through the state for this year. Some of those places have early starts. The ones that are town regulated would probably be the bigger challenge.
Seriously though, if you're a fisherman, you're used to early hours. Travel time is what it is. If you don't want to travel, then stay home. It doesn't make you a bad person. I like the idea!
In my opinion, statements like this have no place in the discussion. You may not personally have any outside obligations to consider for taking another hour and a half out of the night, but plenty of people do. Telling people to stay home because they don't share your opinion or situation is the kind of crap I don't expect and hope not to see on MAFF.
It would be nice to have a mix of starting times in the summer. Start some on the early side, some what we are doing now. Variety is nice, and lets everyone participate at least some of the time. It might even be nice to do one real night tournament if the safety part can be managed.
There are some safety and boating regulation issues with starting way early, and some towns may not grant permits before a certain time. It should be able to find some that do, though. Take a look at http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/pab/pab_schedevents.htm for a list of permitted Ts through the state for this year. Some of those places have early starts. The ones that are town regulated would probably be the bigger challenge.
Seriously though, if you're a fisherman, you're used to early hours. Travel time is what it is. If you don't want to travel, then stay home. It doesn't make you a bad person. I like the idea!
In my opinion, statements like this have no place in the discussion. You may not personally have any outside obligations to consider for taking another hour and a half out of the night, but plenty of people do. Telling people to stay home because they don't share your opinion or situation is the kind of crap I don't expect and hope not to see on MAFF.
Easy there Michael. You may need to read the post again and think about it. I wasn't telling anyone to stay home because they did not agree with my opinion. It was just that, an opinion. I didn't single anyone or any group out. I wasn't putting anyone down. I wasn't implying that nobody has outside obligations to consider or anything even remotely close to that. God knows I have had my share of circumstances where I couldn't fish the tourney when I wanted to. I've only backed out of one tourney after committing and know, stuff happens. If I personally offended you, it wasn't intentional, but I'm not apologizing for giving an opinion that was not mean spirited or anything even close to it. I even said it "doesn't make anyone a bad person" if they can't make an earlier time! Thought that covered it all, but I guess not? But if you think that anything I said was out of line and don't want to see "crap like this on the MAFF board", I don't know what to tell you. I guess anyone who doesn't agree with you should call your opinion or topic you bring up crap as well? Wait, let's shut down the board entirely! C'mon man!
Start times are start times and guess what...if I can't make it or don't agree with them, then I go or don't go, pure and simple. Several others have stated at the ramps that they woul love an earlier start time, which is why I asked it out loud. They even responded on the topic here too. I simply put it up in the forum for discussion, because it's been discussed in person multiple times, although not everyone could attend every time to hear it. I really thought that's what the discussion forums were about, discussing things?
Last edited by pocketfisherman on Wed Jul 20, 2011 3:20 pm; edited 1 time in total
It would be nice to have a mix of starting times in the summer. Start some on the early side, some what we are doing now. Variety is nice, and lets everyone participate at least some of the time. It might even be nice to do one real night tournament if the safety part can be managed.
There are some safety and boating regulation issues with starting way early, and some towns may not grant permits before a certain time. It should be able to find some that do, though. Take a look at http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/pab/pab_schedevents.htm for a list of permitted Ts through the state for this year. Some of those places have early starts. The ones that are town regulated would probably be the bigger challenge.
Seriously though, if you're a fisherman, you're used to early hours. Travel time is what it is. If you don't want to travel, then stay home. It doesn't make you a bad person. I like the idea!
In my opinion, statements like this have no place in the discussion. You may not personally have any outside obligations to consider for taking another hour and a half out of the night, but plenty of people do. Telling people to stay home because they don't share your opinion or situation is the kind of crap I don't expect and hope not to see on MAFF.
By the way, I thought your first two paragraphs were well written, made excellent points and contained outstanding information. I was a little floored by your closing statement, but I'm a big boy and won't lose any sleep over it. See you on the lakes brother Michael. Whatever time that may be!
Easy there Michael. You may need to read the post again and think about it. I wasn't telling anyone to stay home because they did not agree with my opinion. It was just that, an opinion. I didn't single anyone or any group out. I wasn't putting anyone down. I wasn't implying that nobody has outside obligations to consider or anything even remotely close to that. God knows I have had my share of circumstances where I couldn't fish the tourney when I wanted to. I've only backed out of one tourney after committing and know, stuff happens. If I personally offended you, it wasn't intentional, but I'm not apologizing for giving an opinion that was not mean spirited or anything even close to it. I even said it "doesn't make anyone a bad person" if they can't make an earlier time! Thought that covered it all, but I guess not? But if you think that anything I said was out of line and don't want to see "crap like this on the MAFF board", I don't know what to tell you. I guess anyone who doesn't agree with you should call your opinion or topic you bring up crap as well? Wait, let's shut down the board entirely! C'mon man!
Start times are start times and guess what...if I can't make it or don't agree with them, then I go or don't go, pure and simple. Several others have stated at the ramps that they were love an earlier start time, which is why I asked it out loud. I simply put it up in the forum for discussion. I really thought that's what the discussion forums were about, discussing things?
The tone of the quoted paragraph read like "get up early and get over it" to me. Maybe I'm off on that, if that's the case then you have my apologies. It was not personally offensive, no. I am just wary of people making statements that imply that "real fishermen" should have no problem with getting up at a certain hour, or shouldn't care about conditions, etc. One of the things I love about this site is the lack of attitude and preconceived notions. I feel strongly about preserving that feeling, and I would hate for people who attend our tournaments or read the board to feel like they are perceived in a certain light for not wanting or being able to get up at 3am and drive for an hour and change to be at the ramp an hour before a 530 start. Hell, even the pros pretty much don't put their boats in until 6am!
But, like I said, I am certainly willing to entertain the idea that I read something into your statement that was not there =) I guess I just feel we can have a productive conversation about whether we start earlier or not without the "we should be used to early mornings" line, because it immediately invalidates some positions.
No apology necessary on either side. I love this site and group of guys, for all the reasons you mentioned! Looking forward to some outstanding fishing and competition moving forward! Whatever time we start
If last weekend is any indication, my alarm goes off at 4 and I drag my ass bad enough that I am not on the water until 6.30. Still not sure how I spent an hour and small change getting dressed, dropping a few things in the boat, and hitching the trailer
