Official 2013 AOTY thread.....

Yaktrap - I completely see what you mean about the differences, but with regard to points it would seem putting them together would not harm the overall integrity of the aoty.

If there is a need to chop the list, then combining cuts and rainbows wouldn't be the worst move. My guess is that rainbows would become the predominant fish in that group, and the cuts would rarely be in the five biggest of the year. 

It might be a wrong assumption on my part to think that the list needs to be cut down at all - maybe it can be expanded to 25 or 30 species?  But if it does get cut down maybe some of the less frequent caught species should go on the block first. Lake Trout comes to mind, don't see a huge number of those on the board. Everyone has their favorite fish species...and some poor fool or fools will attempt to make everyone happy.   

rainbows and cutts are both very popular catches.

surf perch and mackinaw are not.

iirc the goal is only to keep things at 20 or less to keep things a bit more simplified... at least I think I remember reading this in an older post. 

Cutts are another fish that are not in Eastern Oregon or Idaho.  Mackinaw is.

Cutts are another fish that are not in Eastern Oregon or Idaho.  Mackinaw is.

Looking at the post, seems there was only Mackinaw caught all year and it was CnR by a Seattle area yakker. I put in a weak effort for them when I was in Idaho, but had more fun with rainbows, bass and even the panfish were big and fun to catch in those lakes.  Maybe Tigermuskie should replace Mackies. Talk about your vicious fishes! Sorry to hear about the lack of Cutts . I'm having fresh cutty for dinner tonight, one of my favorites.

Cutts are another fish that are not in Eastern Oregon or Idaho.  Mackinaw is.

Looking at the post, seems there was only Mackinaw caught all year and it was CnR by a Seattle area yakker. I put in a weak effort for them when I was in Idaho, but had more fun with rainbows, bass and even the panfish were big and fun to catch in those lakes.  Maybe Tigermuskie should replace Mackies. Talk about your vicious fishes! Sorry to hear about the lack of Cutts . I'm having fresh cutty for dinner tonight, one of my favorites.

Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing the list expanded by five fish.  Muskie (or Muskie/Northern Pike combo) would be nice especially since I intend to by a Washington license this year (Yeah, I'm self-centered  ). Although, keeping Northern Pike separate would be preferable.  These two would also provide more accessible species for our Northern Idaho and Montana brethren to pursue. Catfish would be nice, too. They are an AOTY species at NCKA (6 points/inch).  However, I don't know how abundant they are in all the areas we fish.  I know the John Day has some nice ones. Keep cutthroat and rainbows separate and throw in the German browns.  Add pink salmon since they can be caught every year, you just may have to travel.  I would prefer any of these  species to surf perch, but that is just my two cents.

+1

FYI, 5 out of the top 10 AOTY anglers have caught surf perch!

FYI, 5 out of the top 10 AOTY anglers have caught surf perch!

If you do the math, they're easy points. A bit too high in pts/inch value compared to something like Panfish or Cutts. Just my $0.02.

I like surf perch. 

I like surf perch. 

me 2

FYI, 5 out of the top 10 AOTY anglers have caught surf perch!

If you do the math, they're easy points. A bit too high in pts/inch value compared to something like Panfish or Cutts. Just my $0.02.

Really?  Because I did the math.  There have been 21 surf perch entered in the history of AOTY.  The average points value is 153.5.  The maximum points entered has been 184.25.

That doesn't sound like "easy points" to me.  To me it sounds like the "system" is working ... remember, the points are set to make a trophy fish be about 200 points.  Looks to me like no one has caught a trophy surf perch, and the average points per surf perch isn't that impressive either.

-Allen

FYI, 5 out of the top 10 AOTY anglers have caught surf perch!

And those 5 fish had an average points value of 161.25.  You wouldn't even make the top 5 with an average points per fish of 161.25.

-Allen

Surf perch are a good example of perception not aligning with the stats.

-Allen

Do not besmirch perch, a hard fighting game fish for its size and tasty. Leave it on the list, please.

Maybe add species so that certain sub regions of the Northwest are not at a disadvantage overall.