McConaughy H2H Competition
 

I was able to be a marshal at Mac both Monday and Tuesday. Watching these guys spot and stalk Walleye using their Live Scope unit was amazing.

However, it also reinforced to me what is the most important thing to up your game, when it comes to walleye fishing. It should be knowledge of the water that your fishing. Each and everyone of those 31 anglers are tremendously talented, however approx. half of them failed to catch a walleye over 2 lbs after fishing 10 hours. I don't believe that it is reflective of their fishing talent but rather indicative of their abilities to interpret conditions and stick to something and grind on. What surprised me was that the majority of them stuck to their fishing plan throughout the tournament. The guys that were vertical jigging stuck to that, while the guys that were trolling, stuck to that plan.

Where as if I were to go out and fish 5 hrs and fail to catch a fish using a particular method, I am fairly certain that my boat would be trying something different the next day. The other issue that comes into play is # of rods in the water, each angler was allowed 2 rods in the water. Remember that there is only one angler in each boat, so that severely limits the ability to try different things quickly.

What was the talk about concerning the guy getting DQ'd? H2H was getting lit up on Facebook.

Rules
 

Not sure if anyone complained or not, but what he said was live, on camera. What was said was in violation of the rules. H2H has to play the same game as everyone else these days. There are a lot of considerations, not the least of which includes sponsor money. Bad deal for the angler, he was having a good tournament.

[QUOTE=rschoening;6592886]Not sure if anyone complained or not, but what he said was live, on camera. What was said was in violation of the rules. H2H has to play the same game as everyone else these days. There are a lot of considerations, not the least of which includes sponsor money. Bad deal for the angler, he was having a good tournament.[/QUOTE]

From what I read it was another competitor who complained. In any event wouldn't something like H2H have a delay or dump button available? Maybe he was in violation of H2H rules, I don't know. It just seemed a pretty extreme response to a thing 90% of the guys here have said at some point in their life. Maybe a time penalty? Weight penalty? Fine? Lots of options on handling something like this. I know H2H got roasted on-line and I'm sure there will be a better definition of rules and penalties for next year.

the rules i think are pretty vague. no inappropriate language, could be a disqualification.

The problem is they were like "he was disqualified, we have nothing else to say" causing a true crapstorm.


I enjoy the format in truth but with all the snagfest issues last year, and this issue, man it stumbles a bit.

It also doesn't help that often you are literally seeing 5 fish caught all day long.

[QUOTE=That Minnesota guy;6592852]What was the talk about concerning the guy getting DQ'd? H2H was getting lit up on Facebook.[/QUOTE]

While Max was fishing, a friend in another boat was near by, so Max said, "My Gaydar is going off", and chuckled. It was not meant maliciously, but Max knew it was not something he should have said on an aired program. He took responsibility for the mistake, and holds no grudge towards the circuit or the other competitors. He's a goofball and a class act all in one package...but, he's also one **** of a good stick.

He missed a great opportunity there, but it won't stop him. He'll be back on top of the leader board very soon, I'm sure.

Let's not turn this thread political, or bash anyone. Please, and thank you. :)

Sounds like an unfortunate situation but if you have family friendly rules for a live broadcast you do have to stick by them.

Mac
 

I helped out as a marshal Mon and Tues as well. I was kind of surprised when most of the field was slabbing in community holes also. When Randall Gaines lit up the leader board on the second day with a great open water bite I kinda thought he may have it in the bag, and he hung in till the end. The shallow spinner bait troller's did well later in the tourney also. The slabbing was sporatic at best and 5 hour's for one or two bites' is definately a grind for me. I see Blosser boated 4 today so he must have had a good flurry with the slab. It was my first look at Active target and it is really cool, was watching bait with walleye's slashing through frequently, pretty wild. One pro had 5 HDS 12 live's and the other had 4 in his boat. I got to see a couple over 9's boated nearby but neither of the fisherman I drew boated a walleye.

Great experience and have to give a shout out to Joe Okada and Randy Gaines for taking there precious time to answer a few question's about the Yar-craft 219 and just chat fishing, both are class act's and just super nice people.

If H2H is in your area, take the time to help out.

[QUOTE=hnd;6592912]the rules i think are pretty vague. no inappropriate language, could be a disqualification.

The problem is they were like "he was disqualified, we have nothing else to say" causing a true crapstorm.


I enjoy the format in truth but with all the snagfest issues last year, and this issue, man it stumbles a bit.

It also doesn't help that often you are literally seeing 5 fish caught all day long.[/QUOTE]

What were the snagging issues going on last year? I only started following it this year.

[QUOTE=BenTC;6593156]What were the snagging issues going on last year? I only started following it this year.[/QUOTE]

If I remember right at first they were allowing snagged fish to be weighed last year. Then Max caught like a 6 pounder but it was snagged and he refused to weigh it cause it wasn't right to him and kind of struck a chord with the fanbase and like the next day or so they changed the rule to no snagged fished can be weighed.

I'm sure that's the cliff notes version and I may of missed something but that was what I remember.