Official 2013 AOTY thread.....

I'm a paddle guy and I don't see noticeable difference between pedal and paddle.  I'm in spot 15 and am thrilled with my showing to this point. I catch every fish from my trident 13.  The only way a pedal boat, IMO, gives someone an advantage is with regard to their level of fitness.  I know my legs are stronger than my arms and shoulders... So I simply fish to my level of fitness.

AOTY is a long term contest and as such you must play to your strengths not the other guys.  I'm not sure I get the whole stragedy idea... You fish as much as you can for the fish you want to catch... You catch them or you don't, you capitize on opportunity, or you don't, you get some luck, or you don't. At the end of the year... Your score tells as much about your time and effort as anything.  While I am no contender for a top spot, I am not a fan of including Alaska because it is so far away for most of us.  But I am probably just butt hurt cause bill took my top chum spot.

Regardless, I will participate in next years aoty and, if I win, it will be because I made the most of the time and opportunity given and had a healthy dose of luck.  I hope we don't get so focused on the rules that we lose the spirit of the game... Don't get me wrong, we don't all get trophies... The top spots win. But if it becomes ONLY about winning the prize, then I think we miss the good part - the competition.  With that being said, the question becomes - for the rule makers - what creates the best atmosphere for great competition?

This is my first year in a hobie.  It didn't really make a difference in my score.  Available time to fish is what makes the difference.  I try to only enter quality catches, and this year I just didn't have the time to put into it.  Whining about hobie vs paddles is silly.

I debate with myself about the Alaska thing too, but fact is, if I had the time and were willing to reallocate resources, I'd do that trip too.

Reality is, only 1 person can win, and there will always be those who look for reasons that they didn't win.  While most of us will say "damn, he caught some nice fish", they'll look for excuses and try to blame everything but themselves, which is probably how they look at most things in life.

I debate with myself about the Alaska thing too, but fact is, if I had the time and were willing to reallocate resources, I'd do that trip too.

Here's a couple ideas. We all love Alaska, right? As soon as I can afford, I would love to spend a week in Foggy Bay with as many of you as possible chasing huge fish and maybe someday soon that will happen. I was completely blown away by all the great pics and writeup that Bill contributed to KFM. It almost felt like I was there. This place is insane and needs to continue being promoted by Bill on NWKA and other forums. I will be on this trip soon!"In my opinion, However" I feel the bag limits for "non" Alaskans need to be in place to help avoid landslides from occurring from our contestants visiting from the lower 48. It would NOT recommend us removing Alaska as an option entirely, but just limit the amount of countable fish to a max of 3 "or" for Non-Alaskan residence maybe stating in the rules that no more then 25% of your total yearly bag can be Alaskan. Thoughts?
JMR

I dunno.  If you have the resources (time and money) then more power to you.  Maybe it is, but I don't know that it's such a great idea to limit it like that.  I say this as someone that will NOT have the time, money or both for a trip to Foggy Bay anytime in the next 6 years at least.  I see that kind of trip as no different from a MT or ID member making the trek to WA or OR coasts to catch their saltwater species.

I'm not necessarially opposed to such a rule change though.  But simple rules generally encourage more participation.  WA fishing regulations are hard enough to figure out without making AOTY equally complicated.

I was in Port Orford last week, the extreme southern range of NWKA. There were three lingcod carcasses in the ditch that would have rivaled Fungunnin's Alaskan entry. There was a105# halibut caught there this year. 50+#  Chinook caught there every year. Even though Alaska has more fish like that, it is certainly possible to catch them here , as well. My opinion would be not to tinker with the rules with such a small pool of competitors unless there is a real trend favoring those who travel far.

I Travel far to fish so maybe seeing as I am still a member that maybe we should add Redfish, speckled seatrout, Black drum and sheepshead to the list ,Hell I'm going to the northeast coast this spring so maybe we should also add stripers and bluefish to the list, Does that sound a bit ridiculous. Art

I really signed up to try and see how i could do and also to sapport the site.I'm fine with the rule's too.and if you have the money and time to fish where you want more power to you.I was just wondering Who had what type of kayak.As I up graded to a better SOT paddle type this year also. For me it was What I could afford,and Also agree more time on the water = more fish, unfortunately MY job doesn't allow me the time to fish during the prime season or I'd be a bit higher up. Still top ten is a goal ,and maybe next year will be better.looking forward to it.and will sign up as soon as we can.A prize for the Smallest fish (the LOL award) might be mine.if there was one.

I like this thread because it's nice and civil!

As far as I can tell, this is the first time Alaska has factored in to AOTY. Last year rawk won catching OR fish, before that it was Zee catching WA fish.  Before that Spot with OR fish.  The real shocker is that AK people (or AK-caught fish) don't win *every* year.  To me, that says despite the AK edge, the AOTY playing field is pretty dern level.  Maybe cuz of worse weather or more darkness up there (we have more days on the water generally speaking), or us contiguous folks don't have to travel as far to get to good trophy fishing grounds (I can look down my street and see the place I caught a 40+ inch ling). 

My long-winded point is, I wouldn't go changin' the rules just cuz bill went up there and ruined it for everybody... er, I mean...just because AK is a factor this year.  What if the leader was somebody *in* AK? Would that be considered unfair?  Probably not.  If AK won year in and year out, it may be worth examining.  But that just doesn't appear to be the case.

Just to belabor it a little more...the scores of competitors 2-7 this year have surpassed all prior AOTY winner's scores.  And the year ain't even over yet.  Congratulations, by the way!  My point is that you can still very much be in the running without having gone to Alaska. 

Again, don't listen to anything I say.  I am too much of a wuss to be in AOTY

The only thing I'd like would be the addition of a couple more fresh water fish.

I keep hearing the argument that "I should travel more if I really want to win."  Ok, how about take a couple salties off the list and have the commenters travel over here for some killer carp and catfish?

just saying

The only thing I'd like would be the addition of a couple more fresh water fish.

I keep hearing the argument that "I should travel more if I really want to win."  Ok, how about take a couple salties off the list and have the commenters travel over here for some killer carp and catfish?

just saying

What other fish?  Just Carp and Catfish?

Don't we already have more fresh water fish than saltwater fish?

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any salmon and steelhead shouldn't count as "Freshwater" either should cutthroat. since they are not located inland either.

I'd suggest combining rainbow and cutthroat into one group as well as combining the Bass into another.  That would open up a couple more slots.

any salmon and steelhead shouldn't count as "Freshwater" either should cutthroat. since they are not located inland either.

Wasn't from my yak (I didn't even have it then) but I caught some decent cutthroats on the Twisp and Methow Rivers (east side of the Cascades).  You get salmon and steelhead into ID and MT, nevermind eastern OR.  Those should easily be within range for you.  Granted they won't be near as good to eat as the bright chrome ones on the wet side, but they're still there.

My count has seven salt only, eight fresh only and five that are both fresh and salt.
I count cut throat as fresh since I don't know of any retention for cutts in the salt. Also factor in that very few to no sturgeon and steelhead are caught in the salt and it looks like we are ahead on fresh water options.

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The water that salmon and steelhead are in while visiting eastern Oregon and Idaho isn't really safe for kayak fishing.

If you'd like to give it a try, I'll bring the video camera.

The Cascades are about as far east that you'll see an actual cutthroat, at least until you reach eastern Idaho and Montana.