First off let me say I'm sorry to all of you for bringing back up a topic that has clearly been beaten senseless, and clearly has alot of emotion behind it!! I will fall on my sword here and say this all came up because of me, those of you wanting to kick my ass for this ill see you at the first tourney, take a number!!! lol
This all began over a few "beverages" between Dan and I while working on his boat. He half assed said to me "hey I've been making tons of baits and jigs and everything, what do think if we offer to make a couple prize packages for Johnny and Smoke to raffle off to the guys, maybe some other people will pitch in something to raffle, and we can see if we can raise enough money to buy a good tourney scale, the totes, and inverter we need to run it!
Now Im an easily excitable guy, especially if I see an idea the I feel has alot of merit. Needless to say, I jumped the gun and spoke with several of you, including Johnny privately about our idea and how it could work which is as follows;
-Obviously have the raffle, the required equipment would be procured, we thought a scale and tote/inverter package that could all be stored in the totes we weigh out of for easy transport/setup and handoff. (Any excess money raised would be held over for finals prize package)
-Now with the shared tourney load this year, we felt it could be left up to the discretion of that particular tourney "Director" as to what style of weigh in works for that particular pond, since they best know the logistics of the location. Sometimes an off the water weigh in works best! In terms of those who think we need one scale for every event in the interest of accuracy, I disagree, even if we use a different scale and its off, if we are all using it, its off for everyone!!! Plus I have never nor will I ever question the intergrity or honesty of anyone in this group, I know how you all roll! Sometimes you win by an ounce sometimes you loss (Smoke knows exactly what I mean by this!) In the end this is still supposed to be fun!
-Now for the part that Im sure is gonna upset some, please no one take offense to this, like I said 1st tourney Im open to shots!!!
In my looking back at last year it seems to me that a good portion of the (and I could be wrong) tourneys were weighed out of water. I didnt fish in all so I may be wrong, perhaps those of you with a better memory could fill this in:
Nippennicket: off
Billington: off
Flint: off
Pembroke: ?
Watuppa : On i Believe (didnt attend)
Upper Mystic: off
Concord: off (Important to note latter)
Boone: On (Clearly an on the water and one of my favorites!)
Attitash: ?
Norton: ?
Monponsett: ?
Manchaug: ?
Dudley: on (Sorry to respond to you here Chuck, although I do agree with you on water is less stressful to the fish, this was an on weigh, the pictures of you and John are on shore! If they were weighed on water that means they were then brought off water for pictures, this could have been done off water from the start in a much timelier fashion, resulting in less stress for the fish!! I do agree however that a properly run on water results in less stress and is better, if done in a timely fashion.
Nashua: on
North: off
Wallum: on
Finals: on
Like I said I hope others can help fill this in so perhaps we can all see the spread of on to off water weigh ins.
The final thought behind all this is one thats rather simple and maybe to much for some. Dan and I, and others, all thought that the reality is probably none of us is ever gonna fish in the pros, every sunday this is our pros!! Part of the fun of this is fishing against all off you and then seeing what everyone got! There is nothing like getting beat by a monster fish, despite the pain, we all get to celebrate the beautiful specimen of the trophy we are all after! We didnt want to change any of the casualness or real informalness, just enhance the end experience for all, which is why i can refer to the concord river tourney, off water weigh-in, the basstards took it, but for me the most memorable part was that his family was there to see him win, they may not admit it but I know it felt good to have their family their when they weighed in and won! Now obviously, we are not gonna have screaming fans at the ramp lol, but I do know that for me at least seeing what you all caught is one of the main reasons why i attend.
All that being said I am a yes on this and I believe you all know why now, again I sincerely apologize for bringing up a dead and clearly sensative topic. I'm hoping I can speak for Dan and myself when I say the raffle offer still stands, but we are both perfectly content with things exactly how they are! We just really enjoy fishing with you guys and wanted to find a way to give something back to MAFF and all of you! And for those of you snickering at our tourney jerseys for next year, Im with team dojo on this one, if im gonna get yelled at by my significant other for living in a "fishing dream world" i might as well enjoy it to the fullest!!!
Ohhh and those of you lining up for shots, I had hernia surgery on the left side.... if we could avoid that thanks.... that means you chuck, you already took a shot at me i believe!!!!
Thanks again and cant wait to get on the water next year!!