Inspired by the recent video posted by John Finney at Carp Quest on YouTube, I am currently brainstorming some ideas for a little friendly competition among friends next year.
I would like to drum up some interest in a Honor System Carp League in 2015.
It would work something like this:
- Sign up to participate in the league.
- No cost to sign up.
- The participants would establish a list of venues by popular vote.
- The frequency could be once a month or twice a month; again established by popular vote.
- League participants would fish specific venues on specific weekends.
- Fish could be caught on either Saturday or Sunday of the specific weekend.
- Fishing could occur anytime after midnight on Friday and before 8 p.m. on Sunday.
- We would make a post on the CAG Facebook page for Southeast Michigan Carp League Results on Sunday evening and then post our single big fish picture and weight in a comment under that post.
- The pictures would have to be posted by 8 p.m. on Sunday night of that weekend.
- No posts would be accepted with a timestamp after 8 p.m. Sunday.
- The closing post on that weeks main post would be the tally of the final results.
- I'd keep a running total of the results on this page as well, so it would be easier to read without scrolling through a bunch of Facebook posts.
- The league could run for a specific number of weeks: 4, 6 or 8 as a example and then crown a champion.
- There are a couple of ideas for scoring (revised today based on a suggestion in the comments below): 1) best 3 carp caught, 2) 10 pts. for biggest carp each weekend, 3) 1 pt. for every pound of carp netted, photographed and posted during the weekend time frame.
I'd be open to other ideas for improvements on the above guidelines and feedback on whether anyone might be interested in participating with me.
If having a league with running totals is too much of a commitment, we could just do one off weekends and have individual weekly winners. Or we could do some other variation of the above that I haven't thought of yet.
Here's a list of possible venues I am thinking of that have plenty of access as an example:
- Ford Lake
- Belleville Lake
- Mill Pond Park in Saline
- Huron River in Flat Rock
- Sterling State Park
Again, I am open to other locations. The qualifier is that they would need to have plenty of shoreline access so we'd be assured of fishing access no matter when we went to fish. This would also be an attempt to level the field and make it fair for all as much as possible so you can still catch fish if the "honey hole" area isn't available.
Another alternative is to make all the locations eligible every single weekend. That way if one location is not available, you could move to another one. That would also allow for fishing more than one venue during the weekend as long as only 3 fish are scored.
Here is a summary of my initial thoughts on how the score keeping would work:
Another alternative is to make all the locations eligible every single weekend. That way if one location is not available, you could move to another one. That would also allow for fishing more than one venue during the weekend as long as only 3 fish are scored.
Here is a summary of my initial thoughts on how the score keeping would work:
First off I just wanted to say that I really enjoy your blog. Being a carp fisherman in Michigan really limits the amount of relevant fishing information one can find on blogs/forums, but yours has proven to be not only an informative tool but an interesting read as well.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to post a comment just to let you know that I would be interested (just to help you get a head count of possible interest in the idea). Also, since you mentioned a few things 'by popular vote' I just wanted to give my opinion on a few of the ideas you had. Just to be clear, I'm not trying to change your vision for this, I just wanted to give my opinion to give you an extra perspective on it.
First off, I like the idea of specific venues. Not only does that create a bit of an equal playing field, but it also gets people to share some of their favorite fishing spots. I know this is not a popular thing to do in the fishing community, but I fish catch-and-release only and I would happily share some of my carp fishing hotspots if others would do the same and I think this is a good way for everyone to pool their knowledge of good carp fishing locations.
I like the idea of fishing specific venues for specific weekends but I was thinking that maybe instead of one specific venue for a weekend, there could be a list of 2 or 3 venues that are permitted for a specific weekend.
One reason I bring this up is because of scheduling. If I only have a couple hours to fish one weekend, and the venue for that weekend is Sterling State Park, it will kind of limit my fishing time because Sterling is over an hour from me. However, if the venues of Ford Lake, and Mill Pond were also available I could make it to one of those in around 15-20 minutes, which makes it much easier for me to participate in league fishing for that weekend even on a strict time constraint.
I also think that choosing from a pool of venues could add to the excitement. It makes league participants choose between possibly fishing a known spot that they've fished before or trying out a new one. One thing I learned last year is that choosing a good fishing venue (which occasionally seemed like a roll of the dice) was one of the most important decision I had to make each weekend.
I also think that spreading out the league fisherman over more than one location could lead to decreased pressure on the fish in that venue and lead to everyone catching more fish overall.
The idea for scoring is kind of where I am torn as to what the best way to do things would be. I know that you traveled to a tournament last year so I have to ask, how did they do scoring there?
The idea of scoring by weight sounds the most attractive to me (10 pts for over 10 lbs, 20 pts for over 20 lbs...etc) Just because that leads to a lot more fish on the line actually being worth something. Knowing that even a 10 pounder is going to bring in some points will bring some excitement to hooking a smaller fish throughout the season. Also, I learned last year that even some small fish really have some fight in them, so this increases the concentration on trying to land every fish you hook up with.
I would even be into a direct weight to points conversion if others were into the idea (I agree most of this should be up to a popular vote). In this weighing scale, a 12 pounder is worth 12 points, a 19 pounder is worth 19 points and so on and so forth. This way catching a fish that is 19 pounds, doesn't just get you 10 points since the fish is closer to that 20 pound/20 point range anyway.
I do think that biggest fish for the weekend/month/season (one of those) should mean something though, Possibly like a 10 or 15 point bonus.
Sorry about such a long comment but I am really looking forward to the season and I think that you're really on to a good idea here if we can get some people together to participate in it. Nearly all of it comes down to the honor system but if done correctly, I think this league could be a lot of fun.
Looking forward to more posts!
-Alex
Also, I work with excel spreadsheets regularly, so if this idea does end up taking off and you need any help with spreadsheets/scoring, just let me know and I would be happy to help.
ReplyDelete-Alex
Alex,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the time to prepare such a detailed and thoughtful post. I appreciate the suggestions and feedback. I also appreciate the offer to help with the Excel spreadsheet.
Most of the tournaments I am aware of and have participated in score the biggest 10 fish, biggest 6 fish, etc. If you had fish of 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 your score would simply be the weight of those 5 fish. That really is the simplest way to do it, but I'd prefer to make it the biggest 3 fish for our league purposes. That would allow beginners and those with more experience to compete on a more even playing field. A novice wouldn't need to catch 10 fish to be competitive. I am also happy to allow folks to choose from 3 venues each weekend. Right now you and I are the only league members, but it's still pretty cold outside. Maybe interest will pick up with a little warmer weather.
Alex,
ReplyDeleteThere is a very active carp fishing presence in the Detroit Metro area. There are several in the club who fish every weekend it's not snowing, freezing temps or thunderstorms, etc. It's a great group of guys. You can find someone to fish with every weekend if you want.
We have a couple of out of town tournaments scheduled this year. One in Saginaw and another in Holland. They are affiliated with the Carp Anglers Group. You can find out more about the club by clicking on the flashing banner at the top of the screen. If you decided to join, tell them you heard about it from me.