2012 Holland Fishing League

[Idle Time]

Last year a few of my buddies and I started a Thursday night fishing tournamnet league out of the port of Holland Michigan for amature anglers to connect and compete in friendly spirit. This tournament consisted of 5 events over the span of the summer. We had 11 boats sign up and participate in the tournament for the first year and we had a blast. This year we would like to expand and add a few more teams.

The tournament has simple rules. You can weight 3 salmon and 1 trout, hence the name of the tournament “Thursday 3 Plus 1â€. Scoring is on a point system. You get 10 points for each fish you weigh plus your total weight. We’ve structured the tournament this way because we belive that it gives anglers from every experience level a decent shot at doing well. Each event begins with a shotgun start at the holland peirheads at 6pm and teams must report to tournament control at the Holland DNR fish cleaning station at 10:15pm for weigh in. Entry fee is $100 per team which covers all 5 events. The pot is divided up evenly among the five events. Each weekly pot is divided up with 50% going to 1st place, 20% to second place, 20% to big fish, and 10% goes back into a pot for the year end overall point leaders.

The dates are as follows:

May 24

June 21

July 26

August 9

August 30

We will also have a captains meeting May 9 at the Grandvilla Resturant In Grandville at 7pm. This meeting is not mandatory but highly recommended, especially for those just starting this year.

Anyone interested please send me an email at [email protected] and I will provide you with the rest of the rules and sign up sheet.

Hope we see you there!

[BenLubbs]

I'm interested in fishing this, the only question I have is is the entry fee due at the beginning of the season, or due you pay at each event. The reason I ask is because I have a very volatile work schedule and might not be able to make it to all the events even if I plan on them.

[ekbelt]

I like it too... especially that its on a weekday night. I'm pretty sure I'm in.

[Killin' It]

I am interested, it depends on shift I am working at the time.

[Idle Time]

@ BenLubbs. We do a one time entry fee at the beginning of the season That way everyone has an equal amount invested into the year end payout. If you have a situation where you cannot make an event you may have someone fish in your place as long as they are an amateur as well.

@Dave Ash - If at all interested please send me an email at [email protected] so i can keep you up to date on what's going on. Hope you can join us!

[Nailer]

Welcome to the site Jon.

[DIRTY DOG]

Please define amateur.

[Idle Time]

Please define amateur.

basically charter captains, first mates, or charter boats, past or present, or anyone who receives pay for fishing would not be amateur.

[Nailer]

That rules the Dog out!

[DIRTY DOG]

Yup , leaves me out , thanks for clearing that up.

[fishsniffer]

Leaves a lot of people out

[Line Dancin]

It does leave a lot out a lot of people. I was a first mate through high school. Your past and present cuts me out even though it was 20 years ago. I wouldn't be able to anyways as i get home at 6 from work during the week.

[Far Beyond Driven]

That should be clarified to currently or this season. Lots of people have first mated at some point in the past.

What if you observed on a pro boat in a tournie? I've done that and was technically paid to fish.....

[Idle Time]

That should be clarified to currently or this season. Lots of people have first mated at some point in the past.

What if you observed on a pro boat in a tournie? I've done that and was technically paid to fish.....

The rule is stated correctly as is. Here is the deal with this rule, it's not intended to upset anyone but is in place for a reason. We have discussed this rule a great deal over the off season and feel it is in the best interest of the tournament to keep it as is. All of us board members have participated in very similar tournament where it was mostly amateur teams and 1 or two charter boats would show up and take the pot every week. I'm not complaining about this at all because there was nothing prohibiting this in the rules of that tournament, in fact it can be fun to compete agains the pros to expand my skills, however I know that there were people who shied away from that tournament because they knew there was very little chance they could be competitive. As far as excluding "A Lot" of people I would have to respectfully disagree. In the years that i have been in this hobby i have made quite a few friends that fish and maybe 1 or 2 of them has been a captain or first mate. In fact, quite the opposite was true for us in organizing this tournament last year. The number of people willing to join because of this rule far exceeded the number of folks we had to turn away because they didn't qualify. Again, sorry if you feel left out, were not trying to be jerks, honestly, we had good intentions when putting this rule into effect and are trying to run the tournament with integrity. If you don't qualify for this tournament there are several others that I'm sure you do qualify for that some in this tournament would be intimidated to enter, myself included. Regardless, I will be in some of those big tournaments with you this year and I'm sure you will spank me! Also, since we already have several teams signed up to participate under the current rules, I don't think it would be fair to change them now. As far as being paid to be an observer, I'm assuming you were not actually being paid to "fish", rather "observe". In that case you're more than welcome to join.

Hope this clears things up a bit, my apologies to those offended.

[Far Beyond Driven]

Would love to join if the work schedule would allow. I almost ended up in one last year when my buddy was on vacation and there was a make up event that he was not planning on fishing, and then he was looking for a sub.

I like the rule to be honest - I've got a good network but there's nothing like time on the water and being close to people who are out every day to get you on top of fish.

As for the observing, I was paid to be belittled, yelled at, threatened, and told to look the other way when a laker came in tail first, but that's another story.....