Hill's Tournament

[bigcatsc]

Anybody here fishin' the Hill's tourney this weekend at the Santee? Team Hardcore + the Penn Slammer be there fishin' together. The payout is pretty good too! The polygraph will be administered from what I understanding, much to my pleasure. Don't know what effect all this fresh water is going to have on the bite, but the playing field will be equal either way.

Bill in SC

[Pop Pop]

I will be unable to fish this one. Best of luck to ya Bill, Bring home the trophy!

[catfishrus]

3. Entry Fee is $150 per team if received postmarked by October 31, 2009. Any entry received after that date will be considered "late". Late Entry Fee is $185 per team. A team can be 1, 2, 3, or 4 people, or more as long as your boat is legal and everyone is listed. This is a Captain's Choice Tournament. No weather day. Fishing is at the Captain's discretion. The Captain will accept full responsibility for his actions. All boats must meet U.S.C.G. and the State of South Carolina safety requirements in order to qualify for competition. South Carolina requires all anglers 16 and above to have a fishing license.

9. All fish must be caught on rod and reel or cane pole- no non-game methods may be used. All South Carolina Wildlife Resource Department Rules and Regulations must be followed. All fish must be caught by the team weighing in the fish and no fish can be pre-caught.

The law limits the catch of Arkansas Blue Catfish to one fish 36 inches and larger per person per day, regardless of harvest method.

How can they figure those rules to be fair when a 4 member team is competing with a 2 member team on a 10 fish limit over two days...2 man team will have to break the law to be even. Unless they want to waste two hours of their day and go weigh in two and come back. Maybe Im reading that wrong? Same thing with randolfs tourney this year. Something needs to be done to make the rules fair for "all"...weather its a 1,2,3,4 man team....if you want a bigger crowd. More teams equals more payout.

It would be bad to be drifting with a two man team and hit a school of big blues and land 3 over 36" at one time and have to cull the one and head to the weigh in to get rid of them. Thats just asking a man to cheat by breaking the law...he will tie one up, weigh the other two and come back and get the other before he culls it. Too much temptation that turns into cheating by breaking the law.

Does that make sense?

[bigcatsc]

I take it you won't be fishin' it then, Michael? ;-) We'll catch a few big blues and then target giant flatties.

Bill in SC

[catfishrus]

Well ...Im not going to travel 200 miles to get beat by the rules.... Im not playing down the event...it just dont seem far to me from the get go for a 2 man team. Randolfs was the same way..I asked about it..he said it will be discused at the captains meeting...well hello Im not going to travel 200 miles one way, book a room, and then go to a captains meeting. Whats wrong with being fair to "all"? The regulations was put in place to bring tourism dollars to that area...got to be fair to your tourism. I dont have a pontoon setting at the dock. You want my money...you going to play fair.

Good luck fellows.

[bigcatsc]

Well, your decision just means one less bullet to dodge en route to victory. BTW: We will be shorthanded also, just fishin' three people. I do see your point, and I feel like something will be done at the meeting to keep the tourney fair. Why don't you give them a call and see what they say on the phone about it before you give up on it. I'm sure they want as many boats as possible. Win or lose, hey, it's a weekend on the Santee!!! Yippeeeee!!

BB in SC

[catfishrus]

Im no threat at santee anyways Bill....I struggled all summer long on big fish. I might call them and see what they say...Im just amazed they havent put some thought into that situation. Its like rules are setup from years ago and need to be updated to me for good tourism...lol. Its a great event and a marothon at that with the two weigh ins. I feel sure there will be plenty of boats in it. I Hope you win it!

[BUCK]

good luck bill. yall be safe.

[jerry9497]

but since we are on the subject,Mike, what about the skewed rules on the online tournement?
Sandbagger....you were going to let me and beastmaster lead all season and then with the skewed flathead rule you were going to stomp us at the end with flatheads. Thats why we fished like heck guess we could have fished for flatheads too but sneaky sneaky.
naw just kidding, rules are ok I guess. (on the online tournement) dont know how best to handle Hills tournement. me you eric and buck could run down there and fish

[BUCK]

don't like they could deal with 4 sandbaggers

[jerry9497]

ok..gona come clean on the sand bagging...theres fish in that hole I fish in.
sometimes
I want to fish santee but my boat just aint made for it. it has about a 40 mile range and no faster than 25mph. gona get something else but not by the weekend

[catfishrus]

Originally Posted by jerry9497

but since we are on the subject,Mike, what about the skewed rules on the online tournement?
Sandbagger....you were going to let me and beastmaster lead all season and then with the skewed flathead rule you were going to stomp us at the end with flatheads. Thats why we fished like heck guess we could have fished for flatheads too but sneaky sneaky.
naw just kidding, rules are ok I guess. (on the online tournement) dont know how best to handle Hills tournement. me you eric and buck could run down there and fish

I was just talking trash to you two rookies.

Yea I dont understand the Hills/Randolfs deal...but hey they make the rules we just have to abide by them...if we fish. I havent seen anyone but me complain about it so...I dont think 90% of the anglers in these tourneys read the rules....or somebody else would of said something...but then again...thanks to Bill...we have a few "cons" on here.
Lets see if he remembers that one.

[rivercatsc]

Team River Cat will be there and the rules do suck but I have fished many tournamnets and very rarelly do you see someone with more than 2 36" fish in a 8 hour period Im not saying it cant happen but it is rare. I will be added one more person to my card just in case that 3rd big blue hits the bottom of the boat. I have fished this tournament for many years and Randolphs is no comparison to it. Im not sure how the Randolphs rules are now cause I would NEVER fish another one but historically it has been a 5 fish limit for the whole 30 hours where Hills you can weigh 5 by 4pm on sat and your boat is checked to make sure there are NO more fish aboard before you take back out to fish the next leg of the tment and then your next 5 the next day. Im really not concerned with cheating in any tment that I fish especially with a polygraph in place it WILL sort the cheaters out. There wont be much prefishing going on for anyone with 20-25mph winds from yesterday through friday afternoon so everybody should be pretty much in the dark KINDA. Im ready and cant wait to get down there friday.

[catfishrus]

Catfishaholic said he caught 10 the other night drifting moultrie over 36" by 1.00 AM...Yal better look out.

[Blackwaterkatz]

They started pulling a lot of water through Moultrie at the dam and at the St. Stephen tailrace, so that may change up the whole bite. Who knows?

[Doug158]

hows the water level over there with all this rain

[Blackwaterkatz]

Plenty of water, Doug. I think they're dumping a lot of water at St. Stephen and Pinopolis dams, and also at the Santee Dam, in anticipation of all the water coming into Lake Marion from upstate. Should be lots of current in the diversion canal, right now.

[rivercatsc]

Lots of current=Good Fishing

I hope

[catfishrus]

Bill....James....either one of you celebrating today?

[BigBird]

somebody? anybody?