2010 - 2011 PFTS - a recap and ??? about the next series

Rik
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2010 - 2011 PFTS - a recap and ??? about the next series

Post by Rik »

With the series complete, I thought I'd pass on some of the 'number's and other issues.

Let me start by thanking everyone who attended. You folks are the reason this series continues as the longest running kayak/canoe fishing tournament series in the state of Florida.

With that, we simply do not understand why more people don't attend. We think we should be thanking a lot more people. We've designed a series to be fun, low cost and to level the playing field. The feedback from those that do attend and the numbers below make us pretty confident we've accomplished that.

How about a show of hands from people who have met someone for the first time at a PFTS and ended up going fishing with them at a later date. :salute: (that's as close to a hands up smilie that I could find...)

As far as competitors, there were over 80 different contestants throughout the 5 events.

As to leveling the playing field, take a look at this. At each event there are 12 winner slots. 3 in the Slam division, 3 in each of the Trout, Redfish and Snook divisions. Over 5 events, that's 60 winning slots. Those 60 slots were filled by 40 different contestants.

Two anglers had 4 wins, one angler had 3 wins, Twelve anglers had 2 wins and Twenty Five people had one win. There were many first time winners this year. My gut tells me that, from conversations at Pic n' Sips, there were many who had their first ever win in any fishing tournament at a PFTS event.

That, IMO, is significant. Just about half of those who showed up placed in one of the winning categories. We either have a very level group of fishermen or we've done a good job of leveling the playing field with the formats we've set up.

One other point. For those of you that have fished other tournaments, how many of them start announcing the winners within 15 minutes of the cut off time for entering fish? I have to give a lot of credit to Todd and MarkM for that. I'm just the gopher boy they send around to pick up camera chips.

Todd, Mark and I really do like putting on this series. It is a lot of fun for us and we enjoy getting together with those that attend. However, as anyone who has ever put on a fishing tournament can tell you, it is a lot of work. 100's of miles driven and dozens of phone calls begging, cajoling and arranging for prizes is just part of it. There's also arranging for the Pic n' Sip location to make sure they are prepared for 40 people to show up. And someone has to deal with those smelly and sticky bags and tokens.......

This series is for the anglers of Paddle-Fishing.com. We've purposely set it up to be a local tournament series that is as much a meet, greet and have fun event as it is a contest. The PFTS is for us. There are plenty of those 'big gun' tournaments for those with a hankering for that level of tournament fishing.

So here's your chance. Give us some input on what we could do to make the series better attended.
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JoeS
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Re: 2010 - 2011 PFTS - a recap and ??? about the next series

Post by JoeS »

It is hard to improve on this but here is a couple of ideas:
1. More Paddle In's to show new members that we aren't a bunch of old Curmudgeons wait I am an old Curmudgeon....Still :) :)
2. Maybe some sort of team event but teams are picked randomly at the Sign-in(many ways to do that quickly)..... could be interesting for new members...and take some old dogs out of the comfort zone......
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Heywood
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Re: 2010 - 2011 PFTS - a recap and ??? about the next series

Post by Heywood »

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Last edited by Heywood on Tue Apr 05, 2011 5:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 2010 - 2011 PFTS - a recap and ??? about the next series

Post by Todd »

The readers digest version of what Rik was saying....
Rik wrote:So here's your chance. Give us some input on what we could do to make the series better attended.
You know what La Quinta means in English? Behind Dennys. MarkM
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Manning
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Re: 2010 - 2011 PFTS - a recap and ??? about the next series

Post by Manning »

I attended all the events this year which was my my goal at the start of the season. Had a great time and many thanks to Rik, Todd and Mark. Also many thanks to all that attended.

My suggestions are as follows:
1. I travel from S.O.T.E. for each event and it makes a pretty long day. I think we could shorten the events by 1 hour and have the check-in from 12:30 to 1:30.

2. One of the biggest challenges for me coming from Sarasota is that I am not familiar with most of the areas where the events are held. Although the forum has some good information on potential launch sites I think a more complete list of the potential launches for each event would be helpful. I know one of the events was won by someone that put in at a launch I did not even know existed.
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Re: 2010 - 2011 PFTS - a recap and ??? about the next series

Post by Manning »

JoeS wrote:2. Maybe some sort of team event but teams are picked randomly at the Sign-in(many ways to do that quickly)..... could be interesting for new members...and take some old dogs out of the comfort zone......
:thumbright: :thumbright: :thumbright:
Being out on the water in the kayak is the prize. Catching fish is the bonus.

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Re: 2010 - 2011 PFTS - a recap and ??? about the next series

Post by Rik »

Here's something another guy and I discussed. In the cooler months, as we all know, the fishing isn't an early morning gig. I know that at some Pic n' Sips, many people were heard saying, "at 3 pm the bite will be pretty good". How would having start times later in the day on some of these?

Would that pull in some of you folks that don't attend?
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Manning
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Re: 2010 - 2011 PFTS - a recap and ??? about the next series

Post by Manning »

Rik wrote:Here's something another guy and I discussed. In the cooler months, as we all know, the fishing isn't an early morning gig. I know that at some Pic n' Sips, many people were heard saying, "at 3 pm the bite will be pretty good". How would having start times later in the day on some of these?
:cheers: :thumbright: :salute:
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JoeS
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Re: 2010 - 2011 PFTS - a recap and ??? about the next series

Post by JoeS »

Rik wrote:Here's something another guy and I discussed. In the cooler months, as we all know, the fishing isn't an early morning gig. I know that at some Pic n' Sips, many people were heard saying, "at 3 pm the bite will be pretty good". How would having start times later in the day on some of these?

Would that pull in some of you folks that don't attend?
I like that as well...... :cheers: :cheers:
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Re: 2010 - 2011 PFTS - a recap and ??? about the next series

Post by Todd »

Manning wrote:My suggestions are as follows:
1. I travel from S.O.T.E. for each event and it makes a pretty long day. I think we could shorten the events by 1 hour and have the check-in from 12:30 to 1:30.

2. One of the biggest challenges for me coming from Sarasota is that I am not familiar with most of the areas where the events are held. Although the forum has some good information on potential launch sites I think a more complete list of the potential launches for each event would be helpful. I know one of the events was won by someone that put in at a launch I did not even know existed.
1-Good point for sure. At some events everyone was there before 1:30 because the fishing was not good or they simply gave up. Double edged sword on that one, some like to fish all day some only for a few hours.

2-That topic is member driven, it is up to all of us to update the destinations page. I know of a certain launch site in Sarasota that could use some updates. I think that Manning guy uses it a lot. :wink: It is up to all of us to keep the destinations page updated and current. I still don't know where that one launch site is and I live pretty close to it.

Will be looking for some later hours to run the PFTS for next year. Would be a nice change of pace.

I think the best part to boost attendance is to get more guys to commit to fish all the events, if we had that sort of committment our numbers would increase.
You know what La Quinta means in English? Behind Dennys. MarkM
Heywood
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Re: 2010 - 2011 PFTS - a recap and ??? about the next series

Post by Heywood »

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Re: 2010 - 2011 PFTS - a recap and ??? about the next series

Post by DaveR »

Not in favor of the earlier weigh in. 2:30 is as early as I would like to see it. I'd even be tempted to stretch it to 3. Is it a long day? Yup, but tournaments by there nature are a bit different then your everyday fishin.
Wouldn't mind stretching it into May.
The team draw thing is interesting. Making new friends isn't easy for assholes like me.
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Re: 2010 - 2011 PFTS - a recap and ??? about the next series

Post by Todd »

We have 2887 registered members, how come, at best, only 40 show up for a PFTS?

Would love to hear from some who have never fished a PFTS event.
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Re: 2010 - 2011 PFTS - a recap and ??? about the next series

Post by JoeS »

Todd wrote:We have 2887 registered members, how come, at best, only 40 show up for a PFTS?

Would love to hear from some who have never fished a PFTS event.

For one I think the mere word Tournament keeps some folks away....Maybe a name change to something like PF Challenge Series(PFCS) kinda on the One Lure Challenge theme.......If you think about it the name fits the formats........again just my 2cents......
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Re: 2010 - 2011 PFTS - a recap and ??? about the next series

Post by skinnywater »

My $.02, adjusted for inflation.
1. Have at least one event on a Sunday for those that either work every Sat. or whose schedules are more fluid.
2. How about an afternoon to evening tournament early in the season?

I was only able to make it to two events this year, and enjoyed them both. The locations are spread out so that at least one event is convenient (except for those of us in Lakeland :lol: ).
Kevin

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Re: 2010 - 2011 PFTS - a recap and ??? about the next series

Post by TexasDan »

Why don't we spread the wealth a little more.

Slam Division:
1st Place – 50% Cash
2nd Place – 30% Cash
3rd Place – 20% Cash
4th Place – Pick from a Polar Bear Cooler, Wang Anchor, Finatic Designs
5th Place – Pick from a Polar Bear Cooler, Wang Anchor, Finatic Designs
6th Place – Pick from a Polar Bear Cooler, Wang Anchor, Finatic Designs

Trout Division:
1st Place – Sponsor Prize
2nd Place – Sponsor Prize
3rd Place – Sponsor Prize

Redfish Division:
1st Place – Sponsor Prize
2nd Place – Sponsor Prize
3rd Place – Sponsor Prize and the PFTS Perpetual Jug Trophy.

Snook Division:
1st Place – Sponsor Prize
2nd Place – Sponsor Prize
3rd Place – Sponsor Prize

OR

Slam Division:
1st Place – 50% Cash
2nd Place – 30% Cash
3rd Place – 20% Cash

Trout Division:
1st Place – Pick from a Polar Bear Cooler, Wang Anchor, Finatic Designs
2nd Place – Sponsor Prize
3rd Place – Sponsor Prize
4th Place – Sponsor Prize

Redfish Division:
1st Place – Pick from a Polar Bear Cooler, Wang Anchor, Finatic Designs
2nd Place – Sponsor Prize
3rd Place – Sponsor Prize
4th Place – Sponsor Prize and the PFTS Perpetual Jug Trophy.

Snook Division:
1st Place – Pick from a Polar Bear Cooler, Wang Anchor, Finatic Designs
2nd Place – Sponsor Prize
3rd Place – Sponsor Prize
4th Place – Sponsor Prize
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