opinion on PWT this year

[Lax9]

I did not fish the recent PWT on Erie, but I did hear from a few people that it was not run very well. The weigh-ins were unorganized and overall things did not go that smoothly. I also heard that amatuers are not getting equal time on the water. If you were paired with someone who a a short first day you had three short days. Same for the long and in between days. One friend had that, three short days. How is that fair if another amatuer is getting three more hours over the three days to fish than you? I have fished as an amatuer in the past and everyone always had one short, one long and one in between day.
I hope this is not something they plan on doing all the time. They are going to loose a lot of amatuers. I know I would not fish if there was no guarantee that everyone would have equal time on the water

Let me know what you think. Especially if you were there.

[FROGMAN]

Yes, there was a miscue on day one of the tournament, but it was corrected for day's two, and three. I suppose that it does happen once in a great while, but I have not seen that many people start in a brand new position and knew how to do everything already.
You know it's a lot like tournament fishing, you go to your first spot, and it's just not happening so you have to make an adjustment. They did, and things worked better the last two days.
Most of the people in the audience seemed to be enjoying the festivities, at least they looked that way to me. More importantly all three of my amateur partners had a good time, and came away with many new tactics, and ideas for their own use later on. In fact two of them are trying to clear their schedules so that they can compete in the Saginaw Bay tournament.

I'm sorry to hear that your friend didn't totally enjoy his experience with the PWT. I would suggest that if your friend should compete again in the future that if he has an issue with something he should say something to one of the staff, Jim, Charley, Tank, Kenny, and all the rest are very approachable.

Personally I think the weather was fantastic, the fishing awesome, and the Port Clinton/Bass Islands area one of the most beautiful places to fish on the earth. Come to think of it I'd call them the Walleye Capitol of the World!

"Lead, follow, or get out of the way"

Keith Segar
NPAA #260

[Scott]

Kieth:
What about the amatuers not rotating long and short days. That is a big issue. Did something get screwed up in the computer and not make sure everyone fishes the same amount of time? I learned a lot as an amatuer and will be fishing the pro side next year. I just hope they get things corrected for the rest of the year. The people I know that fished Erie and have fished as an amatuer in the past, are also considering not fishing any more if the format for time on the water stays the same as at Erie. I agree with the first post that it is just not fair if you get three short days and someone else gets three long days.

The PWT is a great experience and Erie in good weather is anawesome place to be. It will take Charly a little while to get settled in and everything running smoothly again.

[Chairman]

The logistics of handling 150 boats with many new to the Pro-Am format at a ramp that was to small was most of the problem. Everyone wanted to push ahead on the first day and with the wind it was a mess.
Charlie and crew did a great job of correcting the problem for the next 2 days. As for the guys getting shorted, they got everyone with a pro boat in each flight. the only way was to rotate the numbers. Someone will always complain. It is difficult to run that many people without making a few errors and with all my years fishing the PWT I have seen them correct them as fast as possible.
Besides, unless you got me for a partner you probably caught a nice basket of fish. I still don't know if I had a shark on my boat or not. What a beating after all the nice prefishing I had. Oh well, thats fishing.

Chairman
NPAA #6

[DUDE]

Chairman were did you end up fishing during the tournament? We found fish south of rattlesnake on the first day of prefishing. on the first day of the tournament ther was only a hand full of us fishing ther. on day two ther was 50 to 70 boats fishing ther and the fish would shutoff after 10:30 in the morning.

[A Past Am]

I had a similar problem one year. I got two medium days and 1 long day. I was upset that I did not get to fish with a top 1/3 pro for that tournament.

They were surprised I noticed and only offered the excuse that the numbers did not work out. The reason they did not work out was that they allowed alternate pro's into the tournament without maintaining a number divisible by 3. My follow up letter did not even rate a reply.

I would imagine this same situation happened to a few of the people you talked to.