Tournament Participation in 2008

[Anthony of the ARK]

With the fuel prices on the rise and no end in site, and what I call the "Blue Marlin scandal" from the WMO that to my knowledge has not been resolved.

What do you guys and gals think the numbers in terms of Boats participating
in the major summer tournaments on the east coast.

do you guys think there will be around the same number of boat participating, do you think that there will be a lot less or even no boats fishing?

I think alot of the big battlewagons will, but what about the midsized boat who arnt that efficient, and dont have millionaire owners or professional crews. I know we ran over 80 miles every day last year during the WMO.

What do yall think?

[pitch bait]

I will be there if I have to take a loan for the entry fee and fish in an outrigger canoe.

[Squidnation]

Thats a very interesting question Anthony. When you really look at it, for most tournaments anyway. The ones that will lose are the big boys anyway. Aside from the lucky single fish in the WMO most tournaments are won by a small percentage of boats over and over again. Us peons may pick at a money winning wahoo, dolphin or tuna but usually the 80/20 rule shines in tournament fishing on the east coast. time and again 80 % of the tournaments are won by the same 20% of the boats. So why will this hurt them. Well - the ones being effected by the fuel crunch are mostly the weekend warriors that contribute to the pot that the big boys will take. So those guys are gonna get hurt by the having the little guys drop out. BTW - a little guy is not just a small boat. In this case it could also be a 50fter that hasn't got a clue.

I see record lows this year but I will still be there contributing to the pot

You really want to stir the pot and maybe get some more entries from the masses. Then take that 100 mile limit in the WMO and cut it in half. Now that would be a hoot and might just sway a few of the contributors.

[catchemup]

I know we will be fishing all the tourneys out of OC. The boss and I were talking this weekend about this exact thing. More people may be putting their money in the tuna calcutta and fishing closer than running for the billfish. I would make it interesting if they did cut the distance back. Then again I love running 99.5 miles to get on the bite.

[Anthony of the ARK]

Thats a very interesting question Anthony. When you really look at it, for most tournaments anyway. The ones that will lose are the big boys anyway. Aside from the lucky single fish in the WMO most tournaments are won by a small percentage of boats over and over again. Us peons may pick at a money winning wahoo, dolphin or tuna but usually the 80/20 rule shines in tournament fishing on the east coast. time and again 80 % of the tournaments are won by the same 20% of the boats. So why will this hurt them. Well - the ones being effected by the fuel crunch are mostly the weekend warriors that contribute to the pot that the big boys will take. So those guys are gonna get hurt by the having the little guys drop out. BTW - a little guy is not just a small boat. In this case it could also be a 50fter that hasn't got a clue.

I agreewith you 100% uncle b, what i met by the battlewagons was those 20% of boat whos owners and crews take it very serously, and fish the tournaments almost no matter what. And the smallers guys who really know what thier doin and love fishing these things, will still be there.

I think we might see the competitive aspect increasing a whole lot.

Maybe the shark calcutta will go up also

Kayvan, i heard from a little Cusimano that you guys were chartering this year.

Need a Mate? im gonna be free lancing as much as possible this year.

[hotshot1]

I'm entering my first this year, probably wasting my money, just entering not getting in the calcuttas. I don't think the number of entries will be down but the calcuttas will be. It still cost me the same to fish, the 500-1000 for the entrance is not that bad I don't think I will be throwing a lot of money into a pot I have very little chance of winning. The fun of being in the tournament is enough for me, Tred Barta will be in his glory this year.

[TheBigI]

My bet is entry will be way down for a couple of reasons.

The economy is in the crapper right now especially the real estate business. I am willing to bet a majority of the boats fishing these tournies are owned by guys in the business, including contractors, suppliers etc. Also the stock market outlook is not looking to pretty into the summer.

When you combine this with fuel prices people even the richer ones might just say it's not worth it this year.

[JMiner]

I'm entering my first this year, probably wasting my money, just entering not getting in the calcuttas. I don't think the number of entries will be down but the calcuttas will be. It still cost me the same to fish, the 500-1000 for the entrance is not that bad I don't think I will be throwing a lot of money into a pot I have very little chance of winning. The fun of being in the tournament is enough for me, Tred Barta will be in his glory this year.

If you can afford the cost of the tournament and love fishing you are not wasting your money. As long as it is a kill tournamnet you have a shot at running over the right fish. You still have to boat it but I assume you have fished for some time before entering a large tournament. enter, have FUN and if you get that fish it is something you will never forget.

[hotshot1]

I have a decent amount of experience but going against people who make a living out of fishing I am way out of my league. if I can get lucky and catch that one fish to win the tournament I iwill be happy. It's kind of like a poker tournament, sometimes the Bracelet is worth more then the winnings I am fortunate in business that I can play and have fun, I just don't see sending 5000+ into calcutas worthwhile. I will likely enter some smaller ones but the big calcuttas I doubt it. I If i have success leading up to the tournament things might change.

[ocalex]

im really curious about this as well, with the economy being down, the market sucks, fuel prices sky high it owning a boat looks like a terrible idea on paper. Both the blue marlin scandle and what hasnt been mentioned is the new circle hook ruling and it doesnt look like a good year for the WMO and tournaments in general. As far as the circle hook ruling goes if i understand it correctly its required that one uses circle hooks wether they are targeting marlin or not if marlin are a targeted species for the tournament. This can have two downfalls. First off those who refuse the idea of circle hooks or who are not confident enough in using them to put thier money on the line. The other is the people who fish the WMO every year for the meatfish divisions. With rumors of some boats dropping out it could make "the big contenders" think that it will not be worth thier time because the money will go down causing a chain reaction. The weak dollar, bad economy, fuel being more expensive, charters costing more all equate to not as many charters being booked, few more boats falling out there. Only positive thing is if all these boats drop out i might have a chance