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Outdoor Enthusiast

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  1. Our team has fished this tournament for about the last five years and although we have never placed in the money, we have enjoyed every event, including the week leading up to the main event. I have been competing in fishing tournaments my entire life, whether is was the LCI on Lake Champlain or as part of a bass circuit tournament series across the US, or fishing the LOC, PRO/AMs and Invitationals the last 10+ years. The one thing I can tell you for sure is that regardless of the format you can't please everyone and if you make it all about the money you're destined to have a bad time. That said, the more boats that participate, the more sponsorship opportunities their will be and thusly the more opportunities their will be for someone to walk away with a prize. I appreciate that those running this tournament have asked for anyone who is willing to chime in to give their impression/feedback on potential rule changes and also for suggestions of what we as competitors might like to see. It shows me that they care about the end product for everyone as a whole. As for the proposed rule changes...I am generally not a fan of different species competing for the same prize. I understand why coho are included with chinook but would prefer that Lake Trout did not get added to the tournament as part of the Pacific Salmon Box. As this tournament was traditionally a Pacific Salmon Tournament, I would suggest keeping the main prize structure for the main event as such. However, I do see the value in adding another species to the tournament, whether it be Lake Trout, Brown Trout, etc, but I would suggest that this species compete for a separate Big Fish prize for that species only. This would allow an opportunity for a team who completely missed the mark on Kings and Coho's to still have something to fish for right up until the very last minute. Sounds like Gambler is already willing to donate part of that prize. As for 8 rods...I am good either way on this as some view more rods in the water as an advantage and some view more rods in the water as a disadvantage. I have fished on 18' boats that run 8 rods with ease, so I don't see boat size as being a huge disadvantage for this rule. Fishing Canada...It is what it is and is fair for all. I realize some folks may have made some choices in life that prevent them from being allowed in Canada but with the tournament being a week later I personally don't believe this is really even that big of a story line. Accepting Canadian currency at par with the US dollar... Perhaps I am missing something here, but this doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Why would some be allowed to fish the tournament for a lesser valued entry fee than others? Does this mean that if I wanted to take my US dollars to the bank and exchange it for Canadian currency, it would be accepted at par for this tournament as well? If the overall cost is an issue because of they live too far away, then how is that different from anyone else who travels from Michigan or PA or further? Observer vs No Observer... Again, I have fished an assortment of tournaments across the US and having an observer on your boat is not a rare thing. However, those observers had always been screened by the tournament committee and were very familiar with the sport. Over the years of fishing tournaments on Ontario we have had a colorful assortment of observers, from those that have never been fishing before at all and couldn't tell you the difference between a king salmon and a large mouth bass, to others who fish every day and would instinctively run for a rod when it went off, getting in the way of those actually fishing. We have had observers sleep the entire time, only waking long enough to record the catch, and others that couldn't handle rough water and spent the day sick. We have had upset team members of other teams on our boat because their observer was a no show and we have had Charter Captains acting as observers for other teams who were a wealth of knowledge and shared unsolicited information about what has worked best for them over the years, whether it be specific lures, techniques, or locations. With all of that, I do believe having any observer on board is a huge deterrent from cheating for most and I would challenge that no other avenue, that I am aware of, would do as good of a job. However, I also believe that an unfit observer can actually be a huge disadvantage for a team. Whether that comes in the form of the observer puking over the side of the boat while you are trying to grab a dipsey rod that just got smashed, to a negative or awkward atmosphere created through a clashing of personalities, or an observer that got drunk and is being obscene. I do not know enough about lie detectors to comment on whether they alone are viable or not but I have fished many tournaments that state the use of them in their rules. In the end it is unfortunate that the discussion of needing such a deterrent is even needed. I fish these events because they allow me to combine my love of the outdoors with my competitive nature and comradery of other great sportsmen, not to cash a check. I wish everyone who participates in this year's event the best of luck!
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