I'm thinking something like tiathalon type event. Like the Amazing Race plus smallmouth fishing.
Start at a certain time with the objective of catching (and releasing) at least one 12" Smallmouth Bass out of as many running bodies of water as possible in a given time frame (8 hours).
I like this idea, as it challenges the mapping skills, sense of direction, and encourages anglers to leave their comfort zones. I imagine to score upwards of 10 points, one might have to be in pretty good shape!
1 point per river/creek, 2 points for largest average size bass. Fish would need to be photographed with time stamped shot clearly indicating length.
Just to return your mind to something pleasant after that horrible first image...
What do you think?
Speechless!
ReplyDeleteThat would be a fun tournament. We should get an online version of it going this summer, in which each participant would start at their home and report on the internet with photos. Of course, fishermen living near many smallie streams would have the advantage, but no big deal.
ReplyDeleteIt would encourage bank fishing or wading, because putting in a canoe and traveling far with it would not be efficient. Maybe a nimble kayak would be useful.
Jeff, you could hit a 12"er in 5 minutes so I think a float would be out for reasons of effeciency.
ReplyDeleteHere are a couple problems:
Forks and tribs:
I fish a river and nail the creek feeding into it with a smallie each. Should they both count?
Then again, a trib could be an excellent fishery itself and you might fish it miles upstream.
In terms of the closeness of streams, I think this is one you can expect to travel on, Jeff.
Making the limit 14"'s will cut down on the number of streams you can hop to. It usually will take more time. That would even out fi you had fewer rivers to fish.
Throw your ideas up. I think this may have legs.
It gets complicated with the tributaries and forks. A simple rule would be to count every stream with a distinct name in which you catch a smallmouth 12" or 14".
ReplyDeleteMaybe patiently fishing for larger fish would be resolved by replacing the number of streams with the score,
L=L_1+L_2+....+L_K.
Here L_j for j=1,2,...,K
equals the longest fish you caught in the jth stream. One strategy would be to catch a fish in as many streams as possible to make K large, and another strategy would be to fish certain streams more patiently to get a big boost in total length, while sacrificing on K.
Still, only one fish per stream, the largest one, would be counted, encouraging some stream jumping.
Not sure I'm catching your formula Jeff.
ReplyDeleteThe challenge in my head is how many streams you can catch fish out of in a limited time.
Curious how this could play out, competition puts a little pressure on to not give up and holds you to the task.
Would be interesting from a challenge standpoint just to see how high of a score could be had!
I just mean you keep track of the largest fish you catch in each stream, and add the lengths. That way, it rewards size and the number of streams you catch a smallmouth in.
ReplyDeleteFor example, let's say you have the following catches in three streams, say in 8 hours.
Stream A: 15" 12" 17"
Stream B: 11" 14" 16"
Stream C: 13"
Then your score is 17+16+13=46
That makes sense, it would still pay to hit multiple streams. As 2 12" fish > 1 20"er that takes twice as long to catch. Would really serve more to break ties...
ReplyDeleteDo largemouth and Spotted Bass count? Leaning towards yes.
ReplyDelete