# Strawberry Fishing Tournament?



## UintaMan (Sep 16, 2007)

I talked with John and Paul who own the Strawberry Bay Marina last year about something like this and they were all for it, however, nothing really came of it. I guess my question is how many of us on the forum would have some interest in an event like this? I was going to set one up within the Law Enforcement Community, however, maybe starting a yearly tournament with forum members would be better received. I would like to see how well the idea is received through you all before doing a lot of leg work for it. 

I was thinking of it being a possible two day event or even just a one day if more people wanted that instead. We could have prizes and the whole 9 yards of we wanted. Let me know what you all think.


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## UintaMan (Sep 16, 2007)

fatbass said:


> On the ice in 2 weeks. Last one undrowned wins! *\-\*


LOL, two weeks? Sounds like your being a little optimistic to me, I really hope your right though.


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## Nor-tah (Dec 16, 2007)

I would join if the entry wasn't too steep. Would it be by weight like the bassmasters or length?


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## deadicated1 (Mar 17, 2008)

count me out. unless its a--see how many fish you can catch in the slot--tourney. i catch 2-3 big fish a year from there, and its usually later in the early fall, but i know i coudn't get any if it was a tourney! plus, i think its busy enough as it is. i usually just go during the week and have the lake all to myself!! it could be fun to see what/how many big fish wins it though..


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## UintaMan (Sep 16, 2007)

Nor-tah said:


> I would join if the entry wasn't too steep. Would it be by weight like the bassmasters or length?


I would say weight, however, I would be willing to let the majority decide what they prefer. This is in no way a way to make money so I don't see the fee being too much. It could be as easy as a small entry fee or as large as the majority wanted. The entry fee could go into a pot for the winner. We could get some donations from local companies as well as forum members so we can have some nice prizes for 2nd and third. We could have a seperate prize for the longest catch and all sorts of stuff. As with anything it may take a few years to really get it up and running, however, I think it would be a blast and another excuse for all of us to get together and put our money where our mouth is, :mrgreen: 8)

We could start and run it the way we want to with no strings attached.


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## UintaMan (Sep 16, 2007)

deadicated1 said:


> count me out. unless its a--see how many fish you can catch in the slot--tourney. i catch 2-3 big fish a year from there, and its usually later in the early fall, but i know i coudn't get any if it was a tourney! plus, i think its busy enough as it is. i usually just go during the week and have the lake all to myself!! it could be fun to see what/how many big fish wins it though..


No problem, some will be interested and some will not. To be honest with you, I prefer fishing up there during the week as well. Some people aren't as lucky though and can only get up there on the weekends.


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

Maybe its just ignorance, but I thought tournaments of this sort were illegal in Utah?.... What is the law on this anyway?


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## FROGGER (Oct 1, 2007)

ChaserOfAllBirds said:


> Maybe its just ignorance, but I thought tournaments of this sort were illegal in Utah?.... What is the law on this anyway?


When has the law ever stopped them from happening, there is a large one that takes place every winter with the pot being around $1000 for first... Never been "stopped" as far as i know... I'm not saying its right but more things happen at the berry that go "undetected" than anywhere else it seems...


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

A forum get together would be fun and learning the berry better is something I would like to do this year. I will donate a couple of bucks to see some quality cuts...


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## phantom (Sep 13, 2007)

Would you keep all the trout for a weigh in? This seems like a way to remove lots of larger trout all at once.


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## UintaMan (Sep 16, 2007)

ChaserOfAllBirds said:


> Maybe its just ignorance, but I thought tournaments of this sort were illegal in Utah?.... What is the law on this anyway?


Well being a member of the Law Enforcement community I would not advocate or support doing anything that was illegal. Gambling is illegal obviously, what's the difference between a tournament and a company sponsored raffle at a work party? I don't claim to know everything so I guess I'll have to do some research first to make sure everything is on the up and up.


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

I'm not trying to start something, I just wasn't sure of the ins and outs of tournament legality. Maybe I just saw something about tagging and releasing fish that have a bounty or something. Please, if anyone has any info that will set me straight, by all means, post it!


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## weatherby25 (Sep 10, 2007)

From the fishing guide book.

Fishing contests
Utah Admin. Code R657-13-4
You can hold a fishing contest in Utah, but there are several rules you must follow. To learn more, please see Utah Admin. Code R657-13-4 at wildlife.utah.gov/rules or contact the nearest Division office.


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## UintaMan (Sep 16, 2007)

weatherby25 said:


> From the fishing guide book.
> 
> Fishing contests
> Utah Admin. Code R657-13-4
> You can hold a fishing contest in Utah, but there are several rules you must follow. To learn more, please see Utah Admin. Code R657-13-4 at wildlife.utah.gov/rules or contact the nearest Division office.


I just looked at that as well, awesome post. We can hold a contest or tournament, however, there are a lot of rules and reglulations to go about it, but they are legal if done by the rules.

We could have a type two fishing contest without having to get aproval from the state as long as there are no more than 50 participants and the total amount of cash and or prizes does not go over $2,000. If down the road it ended up getting bigger than that we could apply for a type 1 fishing contest which would be more than 50 people and more than $2,000 in cash and prizes. Or we could just keep it a type 2 so it doesn't get too big.

Again this is just something that I wanted to get everyones opinion about, obviously there are going to be some people that won't be interested or who will even be against something like this so that's why I wanted to test the waters before I go through the trouble of getting this started.


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## UintaMan (Sep 16, 2007)

ChaserOfAllBirds said:


> I'm not trying to start something, I just wasn't sure of the ins and outs of tournament legality. Maybe I just saw something about tagging and releasing fish that have a bounty or something. Please, if anyone has any info that will set me straight, by all means, post it!


I'm extremely glad that you posted your concerns. It's better to be safe than sorry that's for sure.


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## UintaMan (Sep 16, 2007)

phantom said:


> Would you keep all the trout for a weigh in? This seems like a way to remove lots of larger trout all at once.


Good question, I would have the same concern.

There are so many different rules and regulations we could impose on the "contest" to make it a win win situation all the way around. Obviously we would have to abide by the slot limit which I think just adds another twist into making it an extremely tuff "contest". We could have a single fish keeper or a double fish keeper, if it's a one day thing we could weigh the one fish each person decided to keep (or two if we wanted) and see who ends up having the largest weight total. Same thing for a two day "contest" we could weigh at the end of each day with the final weight being calculated on the second day for the winner. That way were not all just catching our limit of trout and hoping that we have the most weight. I don't want that to be anywhere near the case. To be honest with you, a "contest" like this in my opinion would promote catch and release in order go keep fishing for that one big boy-or two that we want to take to weigh in. That way it will be more about using our individual skills that we may have to bag the big one's which in turn would give us a chance to win some cash and or prizes.

I don't think everyone will be coming back with fish, I for one would not be bringing a two pounder for weigh in when there are a lot bigger ones being caught. 

Like I said earlier, if we decided to do this we could do it right and make it again a win win yearly outing for everyone involved, even the ones that get skunked, :mrgreen:


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## Jacksonman (Jan 16, 2008)

I have always wanted to do a tournament at the berry. I believe that you can only keep one fish out of the slot so you couldn't keep a huge second fish unless it was a bow or koke. Strawberry will be a difficult place to have a tourny for that reason, and there are several of us who would prefer to not have to kill fish to qualify (personally I am in the middle). You can always do it by length and require a photo so the fish can be released and than have the longest length of 4 fish or something like that. That would require some honesty and picture skills but we are all sportsman supposedly, right?!

If you want to keep the fish to ensure honesty and to have a fun weigh in, I would recommend another lake like Jordanelle Deer Creek or Otter Creek. There is just way to many ways to break the law at Strawberry with an organized tournament with 50 people. If you plan something for the fall, I'd be there.


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

Ok cool. I like your ideas Uintaman. I have to admit, my moral concern to begin with was holding a tourney that would be detrimental to the fishery, but I like your idea. Maybe do one fish over the slot, and one under, where all rainbows and kokes are eligible. If it was only 50 people, that would only be 100 fish taken in a day. Considering how big that lake is, that wouldn't be harmful in anyway. Maybe make it interesting and do a composite score. weight fish 1+ weight fish 2 x length fish 1 + length fish 2. This way even if people are catching one fish barely under or over the slot, it would keep it close to the individuals who catch a monster.


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## UintaMan (Sep 16, 2007)

ChaserOfAllBirds said:


> Ok cool. I like your ideas Uintaman. I have to admit, my moral concern to begin with was holding a tourney that would be detrimental to the fishery, but I like your idea. Maybe do one fish over the slot, and one under, where all rainbows and kokes are eligible. If it was only 50 people, that would only be 100 fish taken in a day. Considering how big that lake is, that wouldn't be harmful in anyway. Maybe make it interesting and do a composite score. weight fish 1+ weight fish 2 x length fish 1 + length fish 2. This way even if people are catching one fish barely under or over the slot, it would keep it close to the individuals who catch a monster.


Boy I think your on to something there! I like it. That's what I think would be so great about it, the power would be ours to get it right and make it a successfull event year in and year out. Maybe i'm totally of base here, however, I don't see us getting 50 people up there the first year so it would mean even less fish taken, if we were to get 50 then that would be great.

That way we could keep two bows if we wanted or 1 cut and a bow.


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

Another idea would be to do a two man team competition. Pair up with another forum member and do best 4 fish lenghts any species. The pics would have to be taken with a tape measuring the fish. If you want to keep them fine if you want to release them fine whatever you would prefer. This would get some quality fish pics and allow the C&R guys to participate. Plus with pairing up with another forum member your team could earn bragging rights for the year! We could do this at the Nelle or the Berry or both for that matter. We could have a BBQ and make it a 1/2 day tourney as well so more people could come up.


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## phantom (Sep 13, 2007)

> orvis1 on Thu May 08, 2008 8:06 am
> 
> Another idea would be to do a two man team competition. Pair up with another forum member and do best 4 fish lenghts any species. The pics would have to be taken with a tape measuring the fish. If you want to keep them fine if you want to release them fine whatever you would prefer. This would get some quality fish pics and allow the C&R guys to participate. Plus with pairing up with another forum member your team could earn bragging rights for the year! We could do this at the Nelle or the Berry or both for that matter. We could have a BBQ and make it a 1/2 day tourney as well so more people could come up


This sounds good. It would give non boaters a chance to get out in a boat if they wanted to.


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## UintaMan (Sep 16, 2007)

orvis1 said:


> Another idea would be to do a two man team competition. Pair up with another forum member and do best 4 fish lenghts any species. The pics would have to be taken with a tape measuring the fish. If you want to keep them fine if you want to release them fine whatever you would prefer. This would get some quality fish pics and allow the C&R guys to participate. Plus with pairing up with another forum member your team could earn bragging rights for the year! We could do this at the Nelle or the Berry or both for that matter. We could have a BBQ and make it a 1/2 day tourney as well so more people could come up.


Awesome ideas, I'm not sold on the 1/2 day tourney just because that's a lot of work going into this for it just to be a half day, however, if that's what the majority would rather do thats cool with me. It would be perfect if there was a way to get a judge or neutral person with each team to carry out the weigh in and or measurement. I would simply keep it as a weigh in tourney and make some rules for the C&R guys to have someone with them to do a weigh in on the boat before releasing them back. That way at the end of the day the people who signed up to bring their fish in to be weighed can bring their fish in and the C&R boys along with their judge or whatever we decide can bring their proof to the final weigh in and or measurement. I'm sure we could also work something out with John and Paul to get some great deals for boat rentals for the tourney if there was a need. I'm going to stick with the berry, however, if someone else wanted to put the same thing together at the Nelle, I don't think anyone would complain about having several of these a year. If we really decide to do this a few of us should get together, put our resources together, see who would be willing to take the lead on a tourney at any particular lake, or see who wants to be a part of the planning process and all get together for a BBQ and work things out and get the ball rolling. We could start a yearly tourney at a few of the lakes that way we have a few tourney a year. I think if we arrange this we will have plenty of people willing to participate, if not, then that's less people competing for the awesome prizes, either way a win win for all involved.


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## UintaMan (Sep 16, 2007)

ChaserOfAllBirds said:


> Ok cool. I like your ideas Uintaman. I have to admit, my moral concern to begin with was holding a tourney that would be detrimental to the fishery, but I like your idea. Maybe do one fish over the slot, and one under, where all rainbows and kokes are eligible. If it was only 50 people, that would only be 100 fish taken in a day. Considering how big that lake is, that wouldn't be harmful in anyway. Maybe make it interesting and do a composite score. weight fish 1+ weight fish 2 x length fish 1 + length fish 2. This way even if people are catching one fish barely under or over the slot, it would keep it close to the individuals who catch a monster.


I really like ChaserOfAllBirds format for scoring the fish whether their kept or released.


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