OK…as many of you know, we’ve been considering organizing a BTB fly-fishing tournament. Well, I’ve finally gotten some draft rules written, had a couple of people who know waaay more than me about tournaments review them and make comments.

Now it’s your turn! Follow these links to take a look at the draft rules, and an example tournament information sheet/entry form. Tell me what you think - good, bad or indifferent. Would you be interested in participating? What do think a reasonable entry fee would be? What do think of the scoring system?

I’m thinking we would have one or two in San Diego, one or two in LA/OC, and possibly one in Oxnard or Ventura.

And for your troubles….I will be drawing, at random, one name from the people responding. The winner will receive a Cam Sigler Line-Through Teaser rod (I’ll have some more info on the rod in our History Quiz post, which will be up tomorrow or Friday).

Don’t think you need a teaser rod? Maybe you won’t be flipping flies at a marlin, but it’s also a great mooching rod, and tosses light iron or medium leadheads (1 oz - 2 1/2 oz) really well. Match it up with a Penn 545GS or a Torium 16/20. Packs easily into a rod tube with your fly rod, so it makes a great backup rod for that trip to the East Cape or Cabo.

Here’s the link to the BTB Fly-Fishing Tournament Rules

Here’s the link to an Example Tournament Information Sheet

Thanks!

P.S. Here are some photos of the teaser rod, in case you’ve never seen one before:

I have never fished in a tournament before but would be very interested in participating.  The rules seem very detailed and I think that is fine.  A $50 fee per boat up to 2 anglers seems fair, maybe more depending on where the money goes.  I like the idea and would probably participate in at least the San Diego tournament.

To me it looks really good. Reading the rules it looks like, unless there is a strong bonita and barracuda bite, the tournament can be won on Calicos. Also this makes it wide open for kayak’s especially at LJ and OC.

Randy

I have a question about the slams?  Will the slams be completed by the boat as a whole or by each angler?  Also it sounds like you can have multiple slams scored for the same type of slam.  I think this may be the only area that may need more details.  Other than that the rules already drafted seems well done.  As posted $50 per angler seems like a good starting point for an entry fee.  This looks to be a cool tournament.

Shane

sschung - 06 December 2007 05:27 PM

I have a question about the slams?  Will the slams be completed by the boat as a whole or by each angler?  Also it sounds like you can have multiple slams scored for the same type of slam.  I think this may be the only area that may need more details.  Other than that the rules already drafted seems well done.  As posted $50 per angler seems like a good starting point for an entry fee.  This looks to be a cool tournament.

Shane

Hi Shane,

I intended the slams to be by contestant, not by boat, but a boat slam could be an option.

In WON Bass Pro-Ams, both Pro and Amateur in the boat get the same score for the day, which is the 7 heaviest keeper fish, regardless of who caught them. However, they require 2 people per boat. I think they used to allow a Pro to fish by themselves but they were limited to 5 fish.

Under the BTB rules, any “boat level” scoring would favor bigger boats with more fishermen, since we are only counting fish over the minimum size, or slams. I was trying to avoid favoring bigger boats. In this format, board fishermen or kayak fishermen could compete at about the same level as boat fishermen. Or, you could charter a boat that carries 2, 3, 4 or more contestants to reduce the cost.

I’ll rework wording of the slam scoring. Somewhere in there, it said that any fish can only be counted in one slam. So if you counted a YT in one slam, it could not be counted in a different slam. I guess that opens you up to a bit of gaming strategy, i.e. would I get more points counting a white seabass as part of Slam A or Slam B. I didn’t actually run the number, but I think it works out that you’re always better off counting a premium fish (YT, halibut, WSB) as part of a higher-level slam

Sooo…..  If I have 5 bass, 5 bonito, 5 barracuda, 1 yellow tail and 2 halibut it would count for 5 slams (2 3B slams, 1 3B Plus Yellow Tail slam, and 2 3B Plus Halibut Slam) for the boat?

Shane

sschung - 07 December 2007 03:53 AM

Sooo…..  If I have 5 bass, 5 bonito, 5 barracuda, 1 yellow tail and 2 halibut it would count for 5 slams (2 3B slams, 1 3B Plus Yellow Tail slam, and 2 3B Plus Halibut Slam) for the boat?

Shane

Using the scoring process described in the rules, if one person caught all the fish, that person would score:

5 * 10 points for the bass = 50
5 * 10 points for the bonito = 50
5 * 10 points for the barracuda = 50
1 * 20 points for the Yellowtail = 20
2 * 20 points for the halibut = 40

2 * 30 points for 3B slams = 60
3 * 60 points for 3B+ slams = 180

TOTAL: 450 points

This is for the person that caught the fish, NOT the boat.

Another example:
Example Scorecard

John, Looking at the scoring, it makes more sense to target Calico’s because 2 calicos equlat 1 yellowtail. Obviously the best place to fish would be LJ or Pukey point, you have access to all species.

Randy

Oops! I forgot to mention - the cutoff for the drawing will be January 15, 2008!

John,
After reading the rules, I also agree that calico’s could be the winning fish in numbers. I also like the idea of having multiple tournaments SD, LA, Ox/Vent. It really opens it up for some great fun, all in all that

John, maybe those slams ought to be worth a bit more. In the Redbone series, the goal is the slam. The overall winner is the one with the most slams on the day. Yes, I have seen it go to an angler with only one slam. However, the Champion angler is the one who has the most points at the end of the day—they are often the same person because the different species in the slam account for different amounts (bonefish 200, permit 300, poons 200). In the few billfish slam events I have been in, the points were almost tripled for a slam because of the rarity and the value. Heck, if you had a blue and a white, it was worth chasing down that sail because it could vault you from tied for 8th place to top spot. If the slam is just incidental, then no big deal, but slams are always a big deal and should be. Multiple species in a single day are really not that common in most places—not counting reef fishing or bottom fishing.

I guess it comes down to would you rather promote a fly fishing event here and just get everyone out and fishing (Which is what I think you are and should be aiming at), or do you want to start testing skill and put lots of pressure on the event. Hell, the ones in the Keys I’ve been involved with are pressure cookers and it sucks to be around. Having said that, I still think you should offer a bit more for a slam just because of its rarity. Hell I think I got one with you that one day, but all year my clients have only had a few and maybe only 3 on fly. Its worth celebrating when it happens.