End of Season Celebration Scheduled for October 4th

The traditional end of season celebration and award ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday October 4th at 11:45 am in the ConFESSional.

We'll be ordering pizza, but we'll need to collect money this year since there was no entry fee to this year's tournament.

As always, there will be a photo review of the year's events followed by the award presentations.

Please let Jim know if you'll be attending. We expect the pizza to cost around $8.00 per person. Hope to see you there

What A Season!

It is with great pleasure that the Tournament Office is pleased to officially announce the results of the 2006 FESS Friday Fishing Tournament.

First Place - The Carp Pros - $470.71
The defending champs held on to secure their third consecutive championship led by a Merle's 35 fish worth a whopping $175.59 creel including a 19" bass. Steve wasn't far behind with a 31 fish/$108.92 creel. This reserved and reclucive team were humble in the win when reached for comment "It was a good season, we were able to pull together and hold on despite the tremendous competition. We are all winners"

Second Place - The Bass Turds - $240.58
Seemingly coming from no where, this duo pulled off the impossible by leaping over the once mighty Hookers to take their highest ranking in the storied three year history of the Tournament. A clearly pleased Russ stated "With the recent reorganization in FESS/E I didn't need to kow-tow to Tomski anymore. It's very liberating being able to soar with the likes of Merle and Steve. Those two guys are awesome and I expect that we'll take them down next year, if Ron can pull if weight or course. Excuse me now, I have to put together a schedule" The stats back up his statement as the stats for both Ron and Russ show a steady improvement over the last three years

Third Place - The Gaff Masters - $217.28
The big fish strategy and savvy partner change finally paid off for Tom as the Gaff Masters jumped two spots in the final event to secure third place. The fan favorite, Tom and Tim showed class and sophistication leading all teams with an astounding $8.05 average fish value. No small feat considering that the next highest competior was the Carp Pros with a $2.89 average.

Fourth Place - The Hookers - $176.78
A solitary Tomski ended the season with respectable, if somewhat sad finish. This lone angler is sure to be the hottest free agent on the market for the 2007 season. Potential suitors are already lining up to "woo" him. Perhaps 2007 will see the return of Greg to the tournament?

Fifth Place - Beauty and the Beast - $86.30
Drooping from last year's thrid place finish, it's obvious the shortened season hurt this team. An outstanding finish by Kent showed that Patrick (gun show and all) may not have been the biggest angler on this team after all. Kent's 5 fish/$38.10 creel included a decent 18 inch bass. Regular observers will be pondering the fate of Patrick and the impact on the team for next season

Sixth Place - The Wigglers - $55.62
A valiant effort, but responsibilities outside the Tournament led this once mighty powerhouse astray. Stay tuned for next year.

Season Ending Party
Check your calendars and save the date of October 6th for the season ending pizza party

Stat Me Please

Here's some Group stats:

• As a group, we caught 426 fish in just over 3 hours of fishing
• The creel value was a whopping $1,247.27
• The average fish value was $2.93
• The Carp Pros had the highest creel value with $470.71 or 38% of the total catch
• The Gaff Master only caught 6% (27) of the total quantity of fish, but they were worth 17% ($217.28) of the total value showing the benefit of hunting the larger fish. They led the Tournament with an average fish value of $8.05.
• The Bass Turds caught 21% (88) of the total quantity of fish and they were worth only 19% ($240.58) of the total value
• The average day for the group netted 142 fish with a creel value worth $415.76
• The group average ($351.79) rebounded close to the record setting 1st season ($358.61) when normalized to an 11 event season after slipping a bit in 2005
• Once again, the majority of the fish (65%) were in the Black slot (3.1" - 5")
• Interestingly, the Orange slot (less than 3") showed a remarkable resurgence since last year, capturing 7% of the total fish in 2006, up from 2% in 2005
• The White slot (5.1"-7") showed the biggest drop off with only 20% of the total this year, down from 45% in 2005.

Here's some Individual stats:

• Merle led the way with the highest creel value of $249.90 (18% of the combined value)
• Steve caught the most fish with 85 (20% of the combined total)
• Tom P had the highest average fish value with $24.07
• Tomski led Week 1 with 61 fish/$103.43 creel.
• Jeff led Week 1 with the highest average fish value of $2.06
• Tom P swept all categories in Week 2: Most fish (3), Highest Creel ($68.35) and Highest Average Fish ($22.78)
• Merle led Week 4 with 35 fish and a 175.59 Creel
• Tom P led Week 4 with an average fish value of $25.03
• Russ, Steve and Merle have improved thier performance each of the past three years (see chart below)
• PoBoy is the only angler with a consistent downward trend since 2004. Perhaps the beer pong is impacting his "performance"
  
  
  

Event #4 Early Results

Congratulations to the Carp Pros - your THREE time defending champions

Penalty For Event #4

Just a reminder, the Tournament Office will institute a $25.00 creel penalty if an angler does not bring a bucket or a $30.00 penalty if a trash can is used ($40.00 if removed from ConFESSional)

Event #4 Forecast

At the request of you, the angling community, the Tournament Office has retained the services of a Las Vegas oddmakers to forecast the outcome of tomorrow's season ending event. These ratings are for entertainment purposes only, please, no gambling

Carp Pros - 3:5
Leading the second place Hookers by almost $50.00, it looks like this always humble and beloved duo will be your three time defending champions. The only chink in the armor is that Merle is coming off Event #2 with no fish showing that it is possible for this once invincible team to falter. But the real question is "What color will the trophy be this year?"

Hookers - 4:1
The absence of Jeff puts a wrinkle in this team's challenge for the lead. Will Tomski find a substitute or go it alone. This team is spot on to retain their perennial bridesmaid status

Bass Turds - 6:1
This dark horse canidate could overtake the Hookers for second and possibity challenge for the lead with one slip by the Carp Pros. The fan favorite this year, led by the power hungry Alber recently seen cherry picking Steve's projects, the 'Turds are due for a big week. The location selection favors these two ex-Fluor folks as it's likely they designed special fish friendly spots into the MI ponds. Look out and be ready for this team.

Gaff Masters 8:1
If Tim and Tom can both produce on the same week, this team can move up in the standings. That combined with the knowledge of the ponds in MI make this team a mover.

Wigglers - 15:1
A decent showing from the Wigglers could move this team out of the basement. It will take some effort and this team will have to show the angling ability of last season to finish the year strong.

Beauty and The Beast - 40:1
Kent. Alone.

See you tommorrow at 11:45 - Rain or Shine

Scorecard Entering Event 4

As a reminder, here's the standings as we enter the final event of the season

Going Stag on Friday

In response to inquires from the angling community, the Rules subcommittee of the competing Committee of the Tournament Office has investigated the possibility of an angler fishing without a partner of Friday for Event #4. Here's the official response:

When an angler is fishing without a partner following steps must be taken:

1. Every reasonable attempt must be made to find a suitable substitute
2. In the event that the angler is so anti-social that a substitute is unavailable, the latest tournament office will score that team based on a proportion of the score of the fishing angler to the missing angler based on the latest results unless otherwise not allowed.
3. Those anglers fishing alone must identify themselves to the Commissioner and other members of the angling community for at least two days in advance of the event by displaying a hand signal shaped with the thumb and forefinger in the shape of a "L" (for lone angler) on the forehead when ever asked.

Two Days until Event Four

Just a reminder to the angling community that this Friday the 22 the final event for the 2006 Fishing Season will be held at MI-60. Some anglers have requested to fish at MI-30, so the Competition Committee will allow this alternate location as long as the fish (if any) are brought to MI-60 for counting by 12:45.
This is yet another example of the fairness and reasonablity of the beloved Tournament Office

The event will start at 11:50. Bring your gear and see you there

Lake Michigan Trip Early Photos

The mighty anglers

Ask Tomski about this one:

Event #3 Update

Lake Michigan Event
The Lake Michigan Event originally scheduled for Friday September 1st has been rescheduled to Friday September 15th. Sadly, the reshuffling has conflicted with several of the anglers schedules. The revised list of anglers is shown below:

Russ - 'Turds
Ron - 'Turds
Tomski - Hookers
Kent - B&B Boys
Merle - Your two time defending champion Carp Pros
Steve - Your two time defending champion Carp Pros

Captain Dave has provided assurances that bathing suits are allowed on the trip. With the reduced daylight, the boat will leave the dock at 1:00 pm instead of 2:00.


Where Are The Others
Tom P (Gaff Masters) will be in Iowa
Tim (Gaff Masters) will be in California
Jim (Wigglers) is spending some "brokeback" time with his in-laws
Jeff (Hookers) is at Argonne
Randy (Wigglers) is making sure we all have a job
Patrick (B&B Boys) was considered for the trip, but the Education subcommittee decided that it was too early in the school year. Maybe when his grades are are submitted to the Education Subcommittee and approved as adequate by all members of the tournament, he will be allowed to compete again.

Event #4
Because so few anglers are attending the Lake Michigan event, the Competition Subcommittee has decided that the trip will be a "non-points event", and more of an exhibition with the anglers designated as exhibitionists.

In order to bring closure to the season, the Tournament Office has scheduled one final event at MI-30 for Friday September 22, starting at 11:50 am for one hour.

With the teams so close, this event should provide plenty of action and suspense. More details as the date approaches.

Event #3 Postponed Due To Weather

Captain Dave reports steep 3-4 waves on Lake Michigan are forecast for the afternoon, leading the Safety Subcommittee of the Tournament Office to postpone today's schedule event. Please look over your schedules and see if Friday Sepetmber 15th looks ok.

In the meantime, enjoy this adorable kitten: