cabela's national team championships

[looking for opinions]

I just returned from fishing the nationals last week and would like the opinion of others who fished the event. I would post my name but if cabela's did not like my opinions then they may yank the spots from the club I fish and that wouldn't be fair to the others in the club.
I believe what cabela's is trying to do is fantastic for the weekend walleye anglers but it has several parts that need looked at for possible changes. First is the location. Little Bay De Noc is a wonderful place to fish and one of the most friendly and senic places I have ever visited, but very dangerous for any boat under 19' I even saw two competitors in a 20' skeeter wearing full face motorcycle helmets. If you were in a 17' boat you couldn't go far from your take-off area on friday and if you went to the ford river you really risked your boat and life when the 4-6 foot waves came rolling in. I heard a rumor that one boat flipped over down there but cannot confirm the truth in that report. I have fished lake Erie in the past and found it easier to navigate than the water on little bay with far less dangerous areas.
I think it would benefit cabela's and walleye angling in general if they looked for lakes where small boats can compete and ones where no club is located within 200 miles (cumberland Lake in KY for instance). This would make everything even across the board. The top 4 out of 5 finishers were locals, imagine that...
Cabela's gives away two club awards for those who finished the members finished the highest in the event. Why not just give the local clubs the award before the event since outsiders have a slim chance of winning it anyway. Wouldn't it be better overall if the local clubs were not part of this award the year it was held on thier water?
During the past two years Ranger gave boats away no matter who won, this year the only way you could win a Ranger was to already own a Ranger boat. That's a raw deal no matter how you look at it. You can't fish the RCL unless you own the right type of boat and here at an event that's supose to be for weekend angler you can't win one unless you can afford to buy one.
They held a rules meeting at 6;00pm on thursday that didn't start till after 7:00 and lasted way to long when anglers needed to be getting ready for the next morning and getting to sleep early. I will say the the town of Escanaba and Gladstone put out the best spread of food I have ever eaten at any event fishing or not, thank you once again...
And lastly I understand that they want all the contestants to be there for the weigh-in on the last day so they hold your checks till afterwards to keep you there. I have one suggestion. Let us check in after the tourney is over but mail the checks for 26-250 so there is not a three hour wait to leave. The event ended late and standing there for $200 is a little much when you got up at 5am and it is after 10pm when you finally head back to the hotel.
I'd like to say that Cabela's has the right idea when it comes to this event but it still needs tweaked. I found that those who worked the event to be both friendly and helpful and the townspeople of the UP were some of the finest I have met in all my years of tournament fishing. I definately will be taking my family there for vacation down the road. I'm looking forward to hopefully qualifying for the event next year and hope to see improvements on a yearly basis.

[well said]

Myself and every one else that I talk to said exactly what you have said.
It is a shame that for the average weekend fishermans championships, they hold it on a body of water that virtually eliminated the average fisherman from having a chance to win do to location of the quality fish, unless you wanted to risk your life along with busting all your equipment, and then you might not even have enough gas to get back.

As far as being a home field advantage, there isn,t much you can do about that. You will encounter that no matter were you go, just part of the game.

It is a shame you bust your butt to qualify, probably go way to deep into debt, just to have to travel somewhere you don,t even have a chance to compete for a win, major black eye toward the organizers from the people I have been talking to.

I feel that Cabelas should announce the location, or possibly two locations in January for the following years championships. Doing this would allow one to determine if itis a location that they would like to try to compete for.

If you do not like the area, you wouldn,t have to go broke trying to fish multiple circuits to qualify if you didn,t want to, and this would eliminate a lot of the complaints.

I WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY FOR BEING EXTREEMELY FRIENDLY AND WELCOMING US INTO THERE COMMUNITY THE WAY THEY DID, OUTSTANDING, AND WHAT A MEAL AT THE RULES MEETING, AGAIN THANK YOU.

T.M.

[WallyJ]

I disagree. I thought it was one of the best run tournaments I have ever fished. Great location, you can catch fish there any way possible. Bad weather you could stay way inside by Kipling, and there was fish there. Granted the check ordeal at the end was kinda foolish, but I am sure they will fix that. And don't punish the local anglers that qualified, they earned the right to fish.

[Kdog]

I also just got back from the Cabelas NTC.In my opinion i believe this body of water was stretching it for the average weekend tournament fisherman to have a shot doing very well.Yes there are fish in Lil Bay but not the quality of fish that you needed if you were going to compete.Getting to the Ford river Fri in 4-6 ft. waves was out of the question for alot of boats.After geting to the bay and finding out the run to Big Bay was 40 something odd miles the option was totally out of the question for for most boats competing in this event. Sat morning the weather wasnt much different with steady 3 footers.Yes it is true a boat capsized and sunk,the guy is from my local club.He made the run to Ford on sat.morning and when he shut down his boat filled with water and capsized.Whats really a shame is all the boats the watched him go down even after shooting a flare,not giveing him any assistance.A boat from Breezy Pt came running down and helped the guy out.After dragging the boat to the ramp the hull was cracked on his 18 ft Tracker in a number of places.I personally have never seen anything like it.Thankgod he wasnt in open water with anyone around or things mite have been really ugly.
Summing it up it was a great tournament with some huge baskets brought in and that always looks good for the glit and glamor but IMHO the guy with a 17 ft boat with anything less than a 30 gallon tank never had a shot of doing well.Heard at least one boat asking Cabelas headquarters permission to fuel up in Escanaba harbor so he could get back where he launched from.If you look at the top 10 there is alot of locals that really did well,looking back that doesnt surprise me.I had a great time and the people from the U.P.were just fantastic but at least at a lake like Milford it evened out the playing field for most teams.Tight Lines,Keith Walters(Kdog)

[sdwildlife]

I have also just returned from the NTC and I think many of your concerns are well justified. The tournament was well run for having that many boats and only have 3 years experience in a tournament this big. And the people of the area were GREAT!
I find it odd that a number of these associations were having tournaments back homethe same weekend of the NTC. It seems weird that you fish in a number of tourneys for a circuit to qualify for this NTC & then they reward you with having a tourney while you are gone hurting your chance to qualify next year.
Also it needs to be announced before the tourney season starts how many they will take from each association and the requirements. None of this submitting names and Cabela's deciding later how they will pick people. It doesn't seem fair that some people fish an association with many tournaments all year to qualify and then ten people get in just for placing in one tournament.
Another fact that I think Cabela's tried to keep quiet is that there were approximately 11 teams there that never even had to put a boat in the water to qualify. And the kicker is they were all Cabela's employees. They held a tournament in Nebraska for employees only where the waves were too big to fish so without even fishing they just qualified all the teams for the NTC. Cabela's promised they weren't taking places away from any other associations but there were still 250 teams there. So those places had to come from somewhere. I'm just glad that the people who all place deserved to be there.
No matter what, everyone is not going to be happy with all their rules and practices but there are a number of things that can be worked on.

[KB]

??? WHY WAS A LOCAL TEAM WHO HAD THERE SATURDAY CATCH DISQUALIFIED BY THE BUMPMASTER AT THE LAUNCH SITE FOR HAVING 3 FISH OVER 23 IN. ALLOWED TO BRING THEM TO THE STAGE TO BE WEIGHED AND PLACE IN THE TOP TOP 10 FINISHERS.

[opinionhere]

my opinion is that you should fish the girl scout league in Iowa next year. also, whiners should be encouraged to find other fishing venues. my opinion is that you should practice and sharpen your skills as an angler.

[Contestant]

Eye Eye,

This is a championship event. If you accepted the invitation knowing where you were going you should deal with it. EVERYONE had a shot at winning this event. I saw nothing but nets in the water. Some teams just dialed in the bigger slots and big fish.

I think that there are a lot of teams in this that have never fished an event of such size and were clue less as how to blast off and be patient. If you qualified from a small water organization that is just too bad. Maybe Cabela's should widdle this down to about 150 and get rid of the know it all whiners.

I ran in an 18 foot tiller to Ford River both days. TAKE YOUR TIME and know your limitations. You wont break things or sink your tin foil either.

GOOD JOB NTC STAFF, I HAD A BLAST THE 7 DAYS I STAYED THERE.

[Elaborate]

Tell us more, any facts would be nice...

[black eye]

""Whats really a shame is all the boats the watched him go down even after shooting a flare,not giveing him any assistance.A boat from Breezy Pt came running down and helped the guy out""

I am glad to hear that they were physically alright. However, isn't ignoring a boat in distress illegal under Michigan and Maritime law? If this is true, there is more than just shame on the part of the closest anglers....

[marcnsaugeyes]

TO CONTESTANT Why is it everytime someone states their opinion they are called a whiner? Part of having a forum like this is so anglers can state their opinions good or bad. My partner started our club and circuit 5 years ago and without the opinions of the competitors fishing the circuit we wouldn't of grown and enjoyed the success of having one of the best walleye circuits in the state. We accept and consider all opinions and have used many of them to make improvements, many ideas that we had not considered ourselves. I'm sure the NTC welcomes our opinions both good and bad and possibly may incorporate some of them in the future. I agree that this is only the third year for the NTC and changes will be made as it grows, I'm thankful that Cabela's took the step to start something that links us all together across the walleye belt. This was my third year qualifying and I hope to qualify for next years event. I have found that at all three sites the people were warm and friendly. The people of the Bay De Nocs area went above the norm, and accepted us as one of their own. They have shown what makes our country so great.
My partner and I spent a day fishing with Morty from the Garden Corner's bait shop and spent some time talking to him and his father. They were a big help to us even though we did not finish in the top 200. This is what we found everywhere we stopped. Local weren't holding back spots or information much to our suprise and wanted the event to be a success.
As one last note please remember that this is a Democracy and everyones opinion should be listened to no matter if we agree or not. May all your hooksets be pigs, and all your snags pop free.

[Toolman]

Marcin',

That's a quality post! Good job!

Tim

[bh88]

I was also wondering why a team that had three fish over 23 inches was able to weigh and finish in the top five? I personally saw the Cabela's staff measure the fish and determine that three fish were over 23 in the Saturday basket. The team and Cabela's argued and after about an hour the team was allowed to go ahead and weigh. Who really has the final word? When a decision is made how can it be overturned? Is it because it was a local team so Cabela's gave in? Regulations are regulations!!!

[participant]

For me, there was one major disappointment in this years NTC. It was not with Cabela's, the body of water, or the town's people. I found all of those to be great. My biggest disappointment was with the contestants. We, along with many others, fished the Ford River area. With all of the boat traffic there, mostly trollers, everyone needed to be a little considerate of each other but that was not the case. Rarely would anyone change course or pull there boards in a bit to avoid a mess. We all had a right to fish that area but some, or most it seemed, felt they owned that area and refused to budge an inch. I felt like sending my boards out with 100# braided and coming home with the largest collection of boards, snap weights, bottom bouncers, cranks and spinners, west of the Mississippi.

Mix in ignoring a boat in distress, and you have the National Team Championship of Idiots.

Well done everyone.

P.S. For those of you who must have missed it in the rules, that was a NO CULL tournament.

[mnangler]

participant, you must have been at another location. the anglers i encountered were more than fair and everyone i encountered yielded to us when appropriate and we yielded to them when approporiate. the conditions were tough and this cooperation was awesome. i could not have been more happy with the guys fishing around me. i thought the field was full of ethical, considerate anglers. it is obvious to me that some of the field should have done their own prefishing. i suspect that you were one of the guys that did not have enough time in prefishing. it seems the guys that were the most succesful were the guys that did their homework and had success. I THOUGHT THE MAJORITY OF THE GUYS WERE GREAT!!!!!!! THANKS GUYS FOR A FUN EVENT AND THANKS CABELAS FOR YOUR AWESOME GENEROSITY!!!

[participant]

Do you think I would have made a 15 mile run to fish in that mayhem if I had not pre-fished the area and done well? Just like most others, we fished numerous areas and gameplanned to fish there. I figured it would be crowded but was disappointed in my fellow anglers conduct.
I have no problem fishing in tight conditions but when a situation came to an impass, it was US that either pulled up or sped up to avoid tangles. Most others just looked away as if they did not know we were there. I say most, but not all. The considerate few would acknowledge your presence and make as much room as possible, as we did.
I guess where I am from, we have a lot more respect for one another.

[Walltex]

The original post that started this whole discussion is almost exactly what I heard from those staying in the resort that I stayed in. Maybe the post was from someone there, but I really doubt it. These were teams from 4 states scattered all across the US. They were great guys, and they were all in agreement on all the concerns stated originally. The only additional comment I heard was concern from some that a few teams were not following the no cull rule. The statement was made that between money and honor....money wins out for a few. Maybe fish tags need to be considered if no cull is to continue.
What concerned me the most were some really quality teams that have always had nothing but super positive things about the NTC left Michigan uncertain if they will try to come back next year. I will try my very best to be back for a 3rd time, but I too feel that there are some issues that I hope that the good people at Cabelas will address.

A hopeful participant

[CWS]

Most of the boat traffic problems by the ford were on Saturday. If you recall the 120+ boats on Friday were spread out from ford to around Breezy point all day. Then Saturday water temp fell 7 - 8 Deg From Breezy almost all the way back to the Ford. That pushed all the boats from Breezy to the ford river and made things very difficult. For those of us who fished by the Ford on friday I thought we all got along great, everybody more or less got familiar with each other and knew what to do and where to turn. On Sat guy's came in and started rigging & trolling boards out 40 yards port and starboard and really bound things up. Friday I trolled cranks without boards and was very mobile and could turn on a dime then on Sat by 10:00 I couldn't even manuever through the traffic and unfortunately for our team we were forced to move. No sour grapes though, that kind of stuff happens all the time and if you can't handle it maybe tourney fishin isn't for you. Wins and losses come by the desisions you make not by the desisions others make.
All in all it was an awsome tourney, great hospitality from the bait shops to our lodging (Lincoln Host), Breezy point tavern (Great Burgers), and everybody we came in contact with in Delta county.
Congrats to the winners, I wish I had your knowledge of that fishery.

Regards,
Scott Duncan
Representing
Chain Walleye Series (The best team tourney in the WORLD)


P.S. That was a #### of a basket the 2nd place team had.

[Reddy]

Could you name the team who had the 3 fish over? Maybe you could just give the enitials? Or what kind of boat?

[Monk]

Who were the locals who had the fish?

[hugh]

I heard about this happening while I was inline waiting to weigh in, however, I heard they were not allowed to weigh and they were DQ'ed by the official. If they weighed and you know who it was, please do tell or shut up.

[hmmm]

The team finished in 4th.