2008 Tournament changes - 2008 Changes - Geraldton Walleye Classic

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7/4/2008 1:09 PM

	bandit
4 posts

2008 Tournament changes

Modified By bandit on 7/4/2008 1:11:01 PM)

Good To You All,

Well by now everybody is planning for next years GWC! Figured out what went wrong and how to improve to beat the Nephin/Friday team next year.

One team that could not participate this year was the Bill Arnott team (a local favorite that could of given the winners a definate run for their money) . Bill's father sadly passed away, our thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family in your time of need Billy, and hope to see you in the Nakina Bass tourny.

This is quickly becoming the major stop in the circuit to attend, the high level of competition and organization is at the top to say the least.

With this years changes in the start and new location, proved to have some concerns attach to it. I have heard from a number of people that we're overall satisfied with the set-up, and I also was overall satisfied. The take off could have gone faster with multiple boat take-off's allowed (5 boats at a time would be o.k.) But to stand on the shore for approx 45 min is rediculous - this takes way too much time off the last place team!

The other topic I received comments on was this is catering to those with big rigs!, which in my opinion is very true. This started out being the Kenogamisis Fish/Game Walleye Classic, now its being pulled away from that and is being formed to be the Geraldton Walleye Classic - part of the walleye tour. Not only are we moving it away from the Fish & Game grounds but we are also making it favourable for the big boats with 200 hp outfits.

Weigh-ins were also way too slow, again for the big rigs with good live wells - not a problem. But for the little competitors this can play havoc with trying to keep your daily catch alive and weighable at the end of the day.

Overall - Hats Off to the organizing team, was well run and organized! Parade was a big hit - Damn near the biggest parade that Geraldton will see this year! and only to get better next year as the public will now know to attend it to get the goodies that the multiple of people were throwing out to the crowd and kids.

And to those of you who want to complain about something, all you have to do is get INVOLVED, and become part of the organizing team - I'm sure they can use all kinds of volunteers.

Can't wait to try and kick you butts again next year!

Have fun and be safe on the water for the rest of the year

Bandit

7/8/2008 9:57 PM

	Freddy
1 posts

Re: 2008 Tournament changes

Some nice points bandit but I have to disagree with some of your comments...First of all, in my view, thr tournament was a great success...the move to town was excellent which opened up more room for everyone including the public..the parade was a big hit !! I dont see how I can agree with your comment about BIG BOATS..the boats dont make the fisherman, its the fisherman who makes the boat whether a 25hp or 200hp...I do agree with the take off concern...many tournaments I attend with large fields have different set ups, but the one i agree with the most is different take off flights...for example boat 1 - 40 take off 5 seconds apart at 7am...41-80 take off 715am..81 -110 take off 730 am...all of the boats would return at different times Example..1-40 return 4pm...41-80 return 415pm..81-110 return 430pm..this would also alleviate waiting times for weigh ins and everyone would have equal fishing time with staggered starts..Stop picking on the guys with the big rigs...us little guys like to fish and like I said it dosnt matter about your motor , its the guy/gal fishing that counts..maybe my suggestion of staggered start and return times might help your concerns..Just my two cents...good luck on the lakes everyone !!

7/15/2008 3:56 PM

	Cory
6 posts

Re: 2008 Tournament changes

Thanks for the input Gentlemen,

The organizing committee anticipated there being a couple of hiccups with the change in venue. We were actually quite impressed with most of the outcomes but do intend on addressing a few of the problems.

The start was a little slow. We have already discussed this and expect to improve it for next year. A staggered start is one option. I personally have fished many events which start this way and am not a fan for a number of reasons. But it is still one option we will investigate. Having more than one boat start at a time is also being discussed however this can be very dangerous. We will definitely investigate all options and come to a consensus on a solution.

The slow weigh-in is partially attributed to there being 110 teams. It does take time to weigh this many teams. We did fix some of the slowness problem after day one by bringing the bags to the anglers before the dock and found the weigh-in sped up quite a bit. Our weigh-in is actually quicker than many events I attend with far less participants. One event I fish you can wait upwards of 2.5 hours to weigh your fish. I think that next year this should be less of a concern.

The tournament is as much a Kenogamisis Fish and Game / Sno Club event as it has ever been. The directors of the tournament are also executive members of the fish and game / sno club. Any profits go towards the operation of the club. All finances are done through the club by the clubs book keeper. We moved the event from the club house for a couple of reasons. The parking at the club was becoming a safety concern. Many anglers were parking on the hwy and crossing through traffic. We had the OPP come and discuss this problem with us the previous two years. We had to find a solution to this problem. Obviously parking is not an issue at the current location. We also felt that moving the event would help attract more spectators. This was very obvious, even with the less than desirable weather; more people from town were checking the event out. I think next year will be even bigger. More spectators/ higher profile make our event more attractive to potential sponsors. We are able to offer a dinner (over $3000 cost to the club) due to sponsor help. The Greenstone region has many generous individuals and businesses which offer our event support and should be given a big thank you and shop in their stores.

The tournament is in no way trying to cater to the faster boats. Catering to faster boats had no bearing on our decision to move the tournament to town nor does it have any bearing on any of our changes. We try and cater to all participants and feel this is reflected in the number of teams which participate each year. If you look at the top ten it is quite obvious that the size of your motor has little to do with your ability to catch fish. Only two of the top ten had a motor over 115 hp. Five of the top ten had a 75hp or less. If you think anything bigger than a 20hp is a large boat, well then 95 percent of the field is in larger boats and we cannot help solve this problem. The problem of people getting bigger faster boats has been around since before our tournament started. Ed Dekelver for example left the start line after 9:30 and still managed to be in the top five after day one. Start time didn’t seem to matter to him. My partner and I caught our three largest fish in the afternoon. Start time was not an issue. I do agree that having a faster boat does provide more time for fishing but the tournament can’t do much about this.

We feel the 2008 event was a huge success and we hope to build on these successes and make next year even better. Please continue to offer your suggestions and criticisms as they help us improve our event.

Thanks again,

Cory

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