2014 AOTY

Wow this is getting so serious it doesn't sound fun anymore. How the hell I am supposed to reduce my impacts on catch and release fish while trying to press them on a board, close their mouth, and get a photo?

I was just looking to donate some money to a good cause and enjoy a friendly competition.

The AOTY is still a good cause and a great way to stimulate friendly competition.  Since not every member knows every other member, rules are needed to ensure that everybody is measured against a common scale.

All of these types of rules are based on complaints.  In order to keep it simple and keep the complaints to a minimum, we've gone to the "mouth completely shut" rule.  It eliminates the subjectiveness required for "mouth relaxed" and prevents any complaints about lower jaws being hyper-extended.  You wouldn't believe how much discussion time was spent on the "fairness" of entries in 2013. 

Some of the Complaints Registered by Contestants:
Hyper-extended Jaw
Pinched Tails
Cleaned Fish / Cut gills (Increased length)
No picture that shows both ends of the measuring device
Fish doesn't touch the end of the Hog Trough
Not using a Hog Trough
Paralax errors that add length
Closed Water Body
No picture of kayak in the image
Wrong Species (Selected to Increase Points)
Guided Trips
Unfair to travel to states other than your home
No PFD
Assisted Catch
Mother Shipping
Assisted Transportation
Native Fish (Out of Season or in closed waters)
Contestant doesn't work full-time
Contestant is a Pro-Staff
Contestant is a Guide
Too Hard to follow rules while fishing from a kayak
Approval of catch too slow

It's hard to please everyone all the time.

-Spot-

Well then my complaint is people complain too much! Oh crap now I'm one of them. Look what you made me do

Well then my complaint is people complain too much! Oh crap now I'm one of them. Look what you made me do

It's a slippery slope!

Spot listed a LOT, but reality is, that's just scratching the surface of what people whined about 2012 and 2013

Anyone measuring fish now needs to take note. Mouth shut... Completely.

Wow this is getting so serious it doesn't sound fun anymore. How the hell I am supposed to reduce my impacts on catch and release fish while trying to press them on a board, close their mouth, and get a photo?

I was just looking to donate some money to a good cause and enjoy a friendly competition.

+1 on the catch and release.
I'm worried that since I mostly C&R I may not be able to get qualifying pictures.  Not complaining there needs to be rules to make it fair. I'm just on the fence about participating now.

+1  on C&R
still participating, I see this as a great way to learn how to fish for species I would otherwise never try for.  I would really like to catch 10 different speicies of fish this year....not so sure I want to eat 10 different species though.

C&R on small fish, under 30 inches is fairly easy. A rubber band around the tail and head helps and frees up hands to close mouths.
C&R plus good pics of fish over 30 inches is hard and almost impossible when you start nearing 40 inches.
Guess we should just kill the big ones.

But this is a very small problem as I only know of two such fish that have ever been entered in AOTY. Both mine.

Sent from my Motorola Flip phone.

I know almost all of you have yak fished much longer and measured many more fish than I.. So excuse my noob question.   If both lips are pressed against the base of the trough (opened or closed), how is it physically possible to increase the length of the fish?  I get that if only one lip were pressed, then the length could be enhanced.  Again, I haven't caught all of the species, therefore I may be missing something. Not complaining at all, just curious.  Remember the WWII quote (or was it WWII ). "Loose lips sink pics."   

"Contestant doesn't work full time."

Haha.  That is awesome.  My hat is off to whoever lodged that complaint.

"Contestant doesn't work full time."

Haha.  That is awesome.  My hat is off to whoever lodged that complaint.

Then you'll really enjoy the fact that this was noted by more than one person.   

  If both lips are pressed against the base of the trough (opened or closed), how is it physically possible to increase the length of the fish?

On several species, when the jaw is open, the lower lip sticks out far beyond the nose of the fish (Bass, Rockfish and any other fish where the hingepoint of the jaw is below the point where the lips meet.)  As well, it's possible to deform the lower jaw to stick out even farther.  This happens to fish on a stringer.

-Spot-

Maybe we should have a AOTY complaints thread so that we may mock the people that make some of  these complaints. 

I don't enter AOTY to win, I enter to challenge myself, even if I don't agree with some of the rules/species that go along with it.

You guys are just lucky that I work full time and still manage to be broke.  Otherwise I'd dominate you all

On several species, when the jaw is open, the lower lip sticks out far beyond the nose of the fish (Bass, Rockfish and any other fish where the hingepoint of the jaw is below the point where the lips meet.)  As well, it's possible to deform the lower jaw to stick out even farther.  This happens to fish on a stringer.

-Spot-

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Thanks for the clarification Spot.  Looking forward to a great year of fishing. This was the first time I have really targeted greenling.  That's what is cool about AOTY. I have no delusions of winning or getting even close, but my goal is getting 10 different species-at least five of which I've never caught from a yak.

Hey I'm not complaining about mouth closed. It's a solid rule.

I have a full time job and.still put in 20 hours a week..!its going to be a challenge measuring fish since i catch and release. But 40 is cheaper than any derby you take place in Throughout the year. Im excited to test my abilities and show that im new to kayak angling but i know how to catch. Fish

My philosophy on AOTY rules and compliance by contestants has been to only worry about my entries and not bring up issues with others entries during the course of the contest.  Did I see entries I didn't agree with?  Sure, but it's the judges call and I shouldn't get involved.  Rule changes and clarification are best discussed during the two week period at the beginning of each year before any catches have been posted.  A time period we a currently in......

A bit late on this one (sorry), but here's an update as to where we are.  We have a few rules clarification for the year.

1) We are going to enforce a mouth shut policy on entries.  There is just too much unclarity otherwise.
2) All measurements will be rounded down to the nearest 1/4".
3) We'll take sturgeon off the list.

Expect updates to the main page in the next few days.  As in the past, we will allow entries from the 1st 2 weeks of January, but you don't have to pay until January 14.  This gives us a chance to transition over the system, but allows you to start fishing for AOTY.

-Allen

Another year another AOTY rules upgrade.  As I wrote earlier I agree with all three changes.  I think it's a good thing.  Hogwash you might quickly mutter.  Keep an open mind and allow me to explain.

My stats for the year. 
One fish denied. 
One warning that my photos needed more detailed images of the tail measurements.  Point taken and complied with. 
One of the dreaded "so do you have anymore photos of that fish" PMs. 
My initial reaction to all of these was, "why am I being picked on"?  After some reflection and study of my photos with a little rules clarification guidance I realized I was doing it to myself.

After thinking about this situation I came to another realization, it's not just affecting me it's also affecting the judges.  The judges are spending way to much time on the issues involved with the validity of entries.  Debate and pm'd or emailed opinions from the peanut gallery seem to slow the process further.  The judges could be spending their spare time with family or fishing not debating how closed a fishes mouth is!  Which is why I think rule changes 1 and 2 above are good ideas.  It will allow the judges to make quicker decisions.

To further help expedite the judging process I would like to suggest another rule change/addition.  I think it would speed judging and provide a more accurate measurement if the fishes tail was required to be touching the measuring device at the mark being listed as the length of the entry.  Some entries in the past would have the points of the tail a good distance away from the measuring device and a guestimate would be made on where the tail points would actually intersect the measuring mark.  It's not very precise and open to debate of what the true length is.  This slows judging down.

With the new rules 1, 2 and what I've outlined above, a judge would be able to look at a whole body photo + a tail photo and instantly know if it was a valid entry.

My goal number one for AOTY 2014 is to turn in photos so "dead on balls accurate", the judges only have to spend 5 seconds looking at them to know they are valid.

One last thought on rule changes, if sturgeon are out (which I agree with) does the roster stay at 24 or will there be a new #25?   Hmmm.....time for a poll?

 

+1 to Snopro's comment on the judging process should not be a fulltime job. 

and I do really like the idea on the rubberband for the smaller fish to hold the tail down on C&R catches.  for me that is mainly trout, since I really don't like eating them, but will likely be using trout to get my full 10 species in.

One suggestion if I may on the scoring of bad photography.  if it is evident that the fish was caught without violating rules, but the pictures on the measuring board aren't to standard set up some kind of point deduction that would not DQ the catch, but reduce it's points well past any advantage holding the mouth open, or not clearly marking the tail would have given.  I'm sure this has been thought up in the past, and there is probably a good reason for not doing it, but figured I'd toss it out there.

One suggestion if I may on the scoring of bad photography.  if it is evident that the fish was caught without violating rules, but the pictures on the measuring board aren't to standard set up some kind of point deduction that would not DQ the catch, but reduce it's points well past any advantage holding the mouth open, or not clearly marking the tail would have given.  I'm sure this has been thought up in the past, and there is probably a good reason for not doing it, but figured I'd toss it out there.
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+1.  Maybe a standard one inch penalty?  With  or without changes, I'm still shooting for ten species.  Headin' out for flounder and maybe some pile perch this morning. I have no clue on targeting the perch.  In the immortal words of Linglinghero " tight lines and tight lips".