Here was my original post from friday. BTW, do we have a winner??? The derby ends today right..?
Moosebunk wrote: December 2004
It was alot of fun this summer and fall with the derby, but to me the novelty wore off some as the time just kept going.
A year long derby is ridiculous. I mean, come on, it's a "derby" NOT an fishing lifestyle. The idea of it being a year may sound great at the moment because it puts people back in the game sooner rather than later, but once teams get totally spread out by points, some will begin to care less and it'll just become a wait for the finish.
My vote is for a 3 month derby starting at the opening of bass or walleye season. A much more compressed and hopefully competetive race for the participants.
I'd also like to see tighter rules rather than no holds barred go get every species fishing, but that's for another discussion.
Have fun though folks to all who participate. (End 2004 quote)
The whole thing ends this weekend. Thinking back to the 2004 derby I can remember how I enjoyed it, as it came about later in the season, was shorter, was a not only a team effort but a fun personal test, and something new to take part in. I also got out with a few teammates and was glad to have met 3 great guys carping on the St. Larry's. After awhile the novelty of the derby did wear off for me a little though, for I like to compete in a sense, but because of geographics I was forced out by November.
When it was asked last december about the length of the 2005 derby it was taken to a poll and most agreed that a year would be the duration. I stated the above, and a few others replied similarily, but yet majority won. So be it.
Come January participants were off to the races. The derby was rolling along. There was hype and interest in the Derby forum. With each new opener the forum sprung alive again, and people were putting in their points and checking the threads. By August in my opinion, people were continuing to submit points, but it was evident to me that the number of responses in the threads completely dwindled. Personally, what I should have been looking forward to in the fall of 05 was making my southern trip like I had in 04 and getting tonnes of points all at once. Again, a fun test for me. This year I really didn't give a sh!t. By the time fall rolled around and I made my trip south, some aspects of the derby had already created a foul taste in my mouth, and before long, I didn't really care. Although I continued to submit points, the novelty of it all was completely gone.
The 2005 Derby was too long. It lost it's appeal to me, like I had figured it might back in January when it was decided that it was going to be a year long. Although I stated back in Dec04 that a year long derby was "ridiculous," that was probably too harsh a prediction, the derby was simply too long and borderline boring.
Another thing that disturbed me, as it did some others with whom I spoke to, were some questionable submissions back in the early summer. Yeah, we were going on the honour principle, but it my mind, with some individuals, it was obvious (sometimes blatantly) their submissions had little to no validity. And before this bold statement creates a piszing match, understand, it's only "my" opinion, I'm leaving names out so to not "attack" and create a war.
I believe there are some; like the newbies and kids who participated in their first derby, that really enjoyed themselves and learned something new from this derby. Measuring fish, friendly competition, creating opportunities to get out with teammates and new people were bonuses for us all. So I guess all that I am searching to say here is, is that personally, I found this derby went on far too long, lost it's appeal and had some technical and ethical glitches.
Some changes to contribute for a next derby would be...
Instead of 6 different team threads, just keep them all in one. That way everytime you check in to see what's going on with catches, you see what's going on in the entire derby and you cannot be selective. I think this would help maintain a more competetive edge throughout the derby, because you are always forced to see what other teams are doing. It would also generate more interest, because everytime you check into the forums main thread, you are communicating and posting for all, not just your team.
5 fish per species knocked down to 3, shortening the length of the derby by 50% or more.
A "trophy" within a species category needs to be claimed with a photo. Those who do not, and state such reasons as I don't have a digital camera, buy one. A Canon 3.2 megapixel with 3.2 optical zoom is being sold by Audiotronic right now for under $200. There are even cheaper out there. As a part-time/casual minimum wager in high-school I could have had such a camera in 2, maybe even 1 paycheck. You can too.
Re-examine the scoring. Maybe have two categories of fish species. The "awesomes" and the "notso-awesomes" (or something). Use such polls as those done by ODC or OOD that list Ontarios more sought after, or fished species. Muskies, bass, trout, salmon.... whatever the "more popular" fish are, are granted extra points because of their stature. The "notsoawesomes" still get decent points, but, there ends up being no way a 22" largie gets less points to some big butt rockie. Just a suggestion.
I look forward to seeing what the plans are for next years derby if one is in the works. John, you did an awesome job at setting up the spreadsheets, and creating the "look" for the forum. You've had a busy year and stayed on top of things.
Next year will only be better.
Just my $0.02. Please add your own change to the tip jar.
