National Egi Tournament
The first national squid competetion starts tommorow in Hastings, Victoria and travels to South Australia and then to other states ,,W.A will miss out because we are to far away and there was not enough interest with local fishing groups the organiser said.
Does anybody think the concept will take off in W.A one ?
Its a bit like the bream competetions you catch and release only biggest of three squid( you can upgrade),,the organiser has tested well over 2000 squid and only 3 died after the comp,,the trick is to keep your live well circulating all the time,,this gets rid of the ink as well etc
I think it might appeal to the top 5% of squidders,,the price of $220 per team of two might put some people off,,some folks were complaining about $40 a boat in the Calamari classic when that started
I was not sure that we have enough top squidders to make a go of it here,but i could be proved wrong looking at the growing populatary of the CC and some wanting to go in top tournaments against the best,,after all squidding is more popular than breaming and breamers have a tournament scene all around the country.
Who would sign up ?
danno
Posts: 1676
Date Joined: 12/07/09
Theres a chance The price
Theres a chance
The price is a bit big but would try it for sure.
Rig
Posts: 2925
Date Joined: 27/12/06
strange comp
what does the $220 get you Shorty? sounds like the comp is making a nice profit for someone. I also dont see why it is catch and release as squid are more prolific and have shorter life spans than say black bream and who doesnt want a nice feed of squid or use it for bait sounds like too much effort for the release and I am sure the majority of competitors wouldnt be realeasing anyway.
Calamari classic seems alot more realistic to me
Shorty
Posts: 1549
Date Joined: 10/05/08
Well Rig like the big Bream
Well Rig like the big Bream comps the more people enter the bigger the prize pool is, you could be looking at $5 - $10,000 or whatever for first place depending on numbers.
Like the bream comps theres less chance of cheating as well,,live wells get checked before the comp etc,,i guess theres a bit of razzamatazz etc,,we could kill the bream/marlin or whatever in comps but sometimes its nice to swim them away,$220 a teams not much,,only $100 odd dollars a person,,thats 3 squid jigs for the egi mad,,plus you will get title of Australian Egi of the year,,like big bream tournaments you will travel venues around Australia,,maybe become a proffessonal on the circuit,lol.
The Calamari Classic is more realistic to me but now its full we might have a percentage of the top guys that want to give the big time a go,,Hastings has 8 teams for the first one in a couple years W.A might be able to get a dozen top boats together, i was in the last bream classic,,the costs are very similar and we had 40 boats so any things possible,or maybe just make it $100 a boat and still get 25-30 maybe,less prize money but how many really care about that ? most folks go in comps for the fun and challenge,a prize is very nice if you get it but people walk away from the CC enjoying the morning with like minded folks,,
Rig
Posts: 2925
Date Joined: 27/12/06
sponsorship
usually big fishing comps have the prize money covered by sponsership not by the competitors take the Bluewater classic as an example.
I compete in at least one comp every month and do so for fun no prize money involved so therefore cheating is pretty rare as its all about personal success. The AAA offers comps that are australia wide with probably more glory and respect than some of those big comps (but without prize money) held over east and its usually only about $20 or so to enter. I competed in a landbased one between albany and bremer this year and was surprised at some of the fish people weighed in. alot of quality anglers hiding around the place. unfortunately thats the only AAA event I have been able to make it to this year but IMO these are the real fishing comps where the money just doesnt matter
Shorty
Posts: 1549
Date Joined: 10/05/08
Yes its definatly not for
Yes its definatly not for everybody but we do have thousands of bream tournament anglers around the country and this is the same thing just squid, so it might attract a percentage of people,not much money to be made out of it,,by the time the show gets on the road,big insurance premiuns and paying out a percentage back to anglers theres nothing much left, the ABT is pretty much non profit money just gets ploughed back into the bream scene, like the AFC hopefully squid tournaments get shown on t.v or live feed on your computer so people can watch the weighin like some bream tourns.
I like the concept but the entry fee could be say half the you would get twice as many people,prizes are great and i know theres $23,000 prizes tommorow in the classic but i know all the yakkers and landbased would turn up whether theres any prizes at all (don't tell the organisers) cause we love our squidding and a friendly contest and get together now and then,