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Big 4 rules


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There are plenty of large carp about the United States and Canada. The topic of zones in the big 4 is somewhat concerning. I traveled to some very difficult fish holes to catch big fish. If you don’t have big carp in your local spot you have to go and find the big ones. If you’re just a lazy pay lake guy I or any other anglers trying to earn some recognition or at least some free bait for the effort. So if your proud of yourself selfs than so be it I’m just speaking my mind. And one wish to comment feel free I’d love to hear your opinion.

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I wouldn’t call any anglers lazy some effort and thought has to be put in no matter the situation. Some people try their best but it doesn’t always work out. I live not to far from one of the “best lakes in the USA”  i don’t agree 100% about that but big fish still get caught here and there. I didn’t fish as often as I would had  like during the big4 but the effort was there. ? I don’t know if there was any problems but it sounds like it.  

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6 hours ago, David Dakin said:

There are plenty of large carp about the United States and Canada. The topic of zones in the big 4 is somewhat concerning. I traveled to some very difficult fish holes to catch big fish. If you don’t have big carp in your local spot you have to go and find the big ones. If you’re just a lazy pay lake guy I or any other anglers trying to earn some recognition or at least some free bait for the effort. So if your proud of yourself selfs than so be it I’m just speaking my mind. And one wish to comment feel free I’d love to hear your opinion.

Perhaps I’m missing your point regarding the Big 4 Rules and the Zones this year.

Are you saying you think the ‘zoning’ limits your ability to travel in order to catch big fish?

 

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 No Ian I’m not saying that I was limited. I work very hard to find some sweet spots that hold big fish. I just got a bit ticked when other anglers got rewarded bait for less of a haul. Hindsight is always 20/20 and I did understand the rules it just stings a bit now. Call it sour grapes but I’m just saying because I live in New England doesn’t mean I’m at a bigger advantage.

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I also did not like the regional aspect of this tournament. That tends to work when you have equal number of entrants from each zone.

If you look at the list of entrants at least half were from the northeast zone. Some zones had almost no one. So, no question, the NE guys were at a big disadvantage. I agree with Dave on this point.

And only one winner from each zone.  Come on man.  The BOD discussed this several years back when numbers were way down in the tournament, and we decided to up the number of winners to get more participation.  That was the policy we adopted. At the time we decided to award the top ten finishers and this happened several years in a row.  I assumed this would happen again this year. 

And, we had no idea of the number of winners or the prizes until after the tournament was over. This should have been all set up and explained beforehand just like what is done in the FFF.

I'm sure this will affect how many enter  the Fall Big 4 unless it changes. 

By the way, I do think this is all a good idea to get input from members as to what they think about how things run. Sometimes, we, as the BOD tend to act on our own as was done here and maybe it is not what the members want.

I, too, would like to see input on this from all who entered so we can better serve you next time.

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Top ten finishers was cool ?. Maybe even a few winners from each zone I wasn’t no where near the top but some people in some zones had spectacular fish The results spoke for themselves but didn’t get anything. Maybe next time hats off to all the participants and organizers sometimes mistakes are made. ?

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I must say that I too was very disappointed as to how this years Big 4 tournament was conducted and concluded.  The first time that I had heard of this tournament being a regional tournament was well after it had begun.   Poor communication to members of this group for sure.   

Secondly, as Dave Pickering mentioned above, prizes and the disbursement of prizes should have been mentioned prior to the beginning of the tournament.  Hearing nothing, I assumed that it would be just as it was in the past.  Top ten finishers would be recognized and prizes would be given.   Again poor communication to membership as this was not done.  Very little recognition and acknowledgement were given to most of the members that deserved some.  

The CAG Big 4 tournament is a premier yearly event that should be showcased much better than this spring tournament was.  Very disappointing to say the least.  I can only hope that my comments in this post will help to start more dialog and communication within CAG to avoid these issues in future tournaments.  

Thanks

Todd Richer

 

 

 

 

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Please keep the feedback coming.

The aim of creating regions for 2018 was to encourage more interest from other parts of the USA.

I think you also have to ask the question as to why so few folk enter from other parts of the USA?

There has been a lot of discussion over the years about how the Big 4 is biased towards certain areas (like New England, PA or Michigan). 

If you take a look at the top 3 weights or the top 10 winners for the last 5 years you'll see that is very much the case.

Spring Big 4 Results        
  2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
First 170.11 129.13 120.12 162.09 138.10
Second 154.04 127.15 106.04 135.06 136.06
Third 143.04 122.13 106.02 129.03 122.15
Big Fish 56.04 36.10 37.00 48.04 39.05
Big Mirror 40.02 30.01 37.00 48.04 39.05
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I have no doubt that someone's intentions were good when  he/she/they CAG? decided to transition this tournament into a regional one.  But based on the comments here and additional chatter I have heard/read, I think the outcome missed its mark.  Encouraging more interest and inclusion from others outside the "advantaged areas" is fine but if these changes put the majority of the paying tournament members at a disadvantage...….  I would think that the move would have an opposite effect in the long run...  Regardless,   Thank you for encouraging and receiving my feedback.  

 

Todd

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The Spring Big 4 is one of our signature tournaments.  If we were going to make big changes (as we did in 2018) on how things were going to run as well as the outcome (winners and prizes), it should have been addressed beforehand on this Forum with the members.  The BOD should have also discussed these changes and approved/disapporoved of them before the Spring Big 4 was held.

 

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