AIM 2009 Tournament Format

[Juls]

Originally Posted by Modog

I hope that you guys can 'civilly' raise some of your concerns during the live chat tonight.

I'm assuming that it's still a go, right Juls?

Yes, it is. Scott got the confirmation from Keith last night. It's scheduled to start at 7pm Central Time.

I haven't used the chat in years. This is a new one with new controls, and is much better than the old model in my opinion.

It should be fun... I think most people will be respectful and not cause trouble. We're all adults, right?

If not, we will kick them out and they will miss the entire chat.

All questions are welcome. Bad Manners and Bashing are not.

Thanks for the reminder 'Dog....suffering a head cold and I would have forgot.

See you there...

Juls

All of the biggest breakthroughs in history have been met with stiff opposition from all the people who "knew better". The vision here is obviosly much bigger than most of the posters here can get their arms around. You can snipe about the details (which are obviously not all worked out) but this will change tournament fishing for all time. The vision has to be bigger than the critics to survive. So to all the AIM guys - darn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.

Mark Dahl
NPAA #465

[Burr]

Originally Posted by fiddlestyx

Measuring isn't that hard, trusting that everyone is measuring correctly is another thing. I just did a test to validate in my mind how fudging of length could occur. WHy? invest $1750 in a tourney and follow the rules only to have someone else win or beat you by ... not following them, not a confidence builder!

Took a stuffed fish (like you'd win at a fair) 18" used the common ruler we all use for validating length, The Judge, and held it on the board as we would do in a tourney, with 2 hands. I had a friend take three photos from over my right shoulder, maxxing the length of the fish to fill the frame (remember 18" means reletively close). After each photo I repositioned the fish without the photographer knowing, varying the length by over 1/2". I confirmed with my friend what the length was before each photo, after looking at the photos, I asked him to confirm that by the photos,and visual inspection before the shot, the longest length measurement was the right one, looking closely he did, zooming in on the tail and the head.

Why the length difference? the nose of the fish was off the board but undetectable by a photo, even zoomed in with a 14 megapixal camera on a 18" fish. Not only that it was verified by him prior to the pic and this person fishes tournaments but I didn't tell him what I was planning to do. Once I told him, he still couldn't tell the fish was 1/2" off the bump end of the bd from the photo.

Whats the point? co anglers are expected to be marshalls to validate the measurements, I counter that it doesn't make a difference who does it. When big money is involved people will do things to gain advantages that aren't neccessarily according to all the rules. If in a controlled environment, with an experienced tournament angler, I can vary my length by 1/2" on 1 fish, add it up, thats 2 1/2" per day,
or 7 1/2" per tourney! criticize my process if you will but it is reality folks. Smaller money tourneys would tempt less to fudge, but don't tell me it won't happen, it will!

Beat me fair and square, I'll pat you on the back and congratulate you and try that much harder the next time. But don't beat me on an unlevel playing field, I won't stoop to cheat to win. Unfortunately this format opens up the opportunity to fudge that we all hoped wouldn't happen.

Peace Love, Peace Love

Fiddle, I agree with a number of your concerns, "When big money is involved people will do things to gain advantages that aren't neccessarily according to all the rules." Your right, when bigger money is on the line, the exposure to bigger cheats exists.

However, history is full of those that have tried to conduct themselves in less than a professional manner. It's interesting how just a few years later, nobody knows their name.

That's one of the things I really admire about many of the pro's I've met on both the FLW and now defunct PWT. They have a great deal of integrity, and hold each other accountable.

The pro that decides to improve his finish by cheating - his career doesn't stand a chance among his peers. He might as well just hang it up now, cuz his plan will fail. He may get away with it once - but I'll bet he won't make it a year.

Then he'll just be another one that's in the sentence - "What ever happened toinsert name here.

[fishn magician]

I hope AIM goes, and if it does I would sure like to see an East and West division. Possibly 3 tourneys each division. Top 25 from each division make the championship. Pros who fish all 6 tourneys get a chance in east and west at the top 25. If they are 70th in one division but 10th in the other, they are in. Just a thought to add to the already big pile.