# Destin Fishing Rodeo 2012



## catdad100

*Saturday, 29th - Captain's & Mates Rules Meeting*
5:00 pm, Downstairs at AJ's is the setting of this year's Captain's meeting. Boats may register starting 30 minutes prior to the meeting. Captain's packages will be available at the event.Still have the King Mackeral Jackpot and the new Captains Jackpot in each division.
http://www.destinfishingrodeo.org/index.html


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## tyler0421

To bad they took redfish out. Enough to keep me away from the tournament even though we have been in it like the past 8-10 years.


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## catdad100

Im on the rules committee and tried to save the redfish and make some other changes but was out numbered.If we could just get some more private boat folks to join the rodeo we could change things for the good.The private boats made up ruffly 2/3's of the total in 2011 but they just dont have enough folks representing them.It was quite a learning experience for my wife and I and we argued about the redfish and did save trout and sheepshead as both of them came up as well.Anyone interested its $20.00 for Individual Membership
(1 Representative, 1 Vote)
$35.00 for Family Membership
(2 Representatives, 2 Votes


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## Salty Daze

I guess I should be a representative or my wife and I so we can cast a vote to so we can cast our thought also. But did not know that until now.

We are entered into the rodeo for the second time. I had such a good time with it last year and looked forward to it this year. For us, its purely about making sure my 8 year old and 5 year old get up on the stage with a fish that they truly caught and are proud of. (not some junior angler pulling in a 35lb AJ, freaking joke). I cherish the picture from my boat looking up on stage with them two little dudes holding their fish up with a crowd in the background. Fish that they actually fought and landed, a king fish and a trigger. What sucks is they take out the redfish and I may be wrong, but only allow the yakkers to turn in triggerfish. These are both fish that are very kid friendly and a blast to catch that feels like they are fighting a shark in a kids world. 

Here is where I am confused because I have heard several people say shady things are going on with the rodeo. 

A. redfish was removed due to people cheating. it being a popular fish to turn in that has a slot limit. So the scenario is two people catch 36" redfish it comes down to who's weighs more. So because you know people will catch 36's, people have caught 37's or 38's and trimmed the tail down to 36 and have gotten it weighed in. Now it makes it tough to catch a 36 that can keep up with the weight of a 37 or 38. 

B. Knowing this, I bet the reason trigger was removed except for kayaks is because they know kayaks have to stay in state waters to catch them. They suspect people will go out to federal water and bring them in to weigh and say they caught them in state. 

If this is true I think it really sucks!!! And the people cheating are pos! Especially when all I want to do is have some family fun. Something the rodeo was supposively founded on. If cheating like that is happening, its turned into a joke.


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## catdad100

As far as redfish I believe there has been a lot of complaining concerning possible cheating or was the fish measured properly etc. but as far as triggerfish it was in all the divisions it was in last year but its closed in state and federal waters so no one will be weighing them in this year.Our 4 kids fish with us also ages 10,12,13,14 and we look foward to it all year.Im sure theres been fish weighed in the kids and womens division caught by someone else on boat at one time or another and its a shame but hopefully most people are being honest.If you have any questions on joining the rodeo/rules committee or what went on in the meetings,etc.feel free to send me a private message and I can give you my phone number.The squeaky wheel gets the grease so start squeaking!
http://www.gulfcouncil.org/fishing_regulations/regulations_matrix/Site/Regulations_Matrix.html


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## bigrick

triggerfish was only closed in federal water from my understanding. I'm signing up for under 25 private and king jackpot. Good Luck Everyone, going to try to make the captians meeting, should be able to watch the FSU game at AJs.


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## The LaJess II

Trigger fish is open in State waters. Someone should let who ever is heading up the Rodeo know. Maybe they can put Trigger fish back in. I'm sure they didn't know it was open in State waters.

http://myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/recreational/triggerfish/


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## Salty Daze

hey thanks for for the clarification. I thought I had heard several people talking about cheating with redfish. I think it really sucks for the cheating side of it when honest people just want to have fun. But there is always some sour apples in every batch. Someone is always gonna try to beat the system. especially when there is money involved.
I wanted to try and get my boys hooked up on trigger and redfish this year. sucked to see them not there. I thought trigger was open in state waters but closed in federal waters. Am I missing something? These freaking rules are rediculous. I just looked on the fwc website and that's how it reads to me. 
Either way, we are fishing it and I will continue to lead by example for my boys that the honest way is the only way. 
I hate being a squeaky wheel. lol


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## Salty Daze

trigger is a great category for the kiddos. because its a fish they can truly fight. put it in for the juniors you know.


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## bigrick

Charter boats can't catch them which is the only reason i could think of but they should still keep triggers in the private division


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## Salty Daze

:thumbsup:+1


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## Caddy Yakker

What time is the captain's meeting?


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## bigrick

5 tomorrow /Saturday at Ajs


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## catdad100

Ok I stand corrected it is open is state waters and your right only for private boats so thats likely why they pulled it since our last meeting.Couldve sworn I read it was closed in state waters on the fwc site a while back but its confusing and futhermore we have the tiger shark issue were its closed in state waters but open in federal so Im bringing that up at the captains meeting as Ive weighed in 3 tigers in the last 2 years winning 2 out of 3 and the biggest overall in 2010(mako my day award) and the rule mentioned the for hire vessells had to adhere to federal rule in state waters not the other way around so it will be interesting to see how it shakes out.


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## weedline

anyone hear about the 400 red snapper tags they are auctioning off for 40$ a ticket if u are entered in the rodeo only if u win u get 4 fish last weekend in october u can enter as many times as u wish but only win 4
how f-ed is that now not only u need a boat tackle fule ica ect to go out u have to enter a tournament and if thats not enough pay for a lotery chance to possibly kill 1 ars per person this tournament is no more than a tourist trap i know as i have fished it many years never seen a $ given to a captain or mate for winning so look at this if u wish to be part fine but if u feel like me dont go there just my opinion


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## Gamefish27

tomnmendy said:


> For us, its purely about making sure my 8 year old and 5 year old get up on the stage with a fish that they truly caught and are proud of. (not some junior angler pulling in a 35lb AJ, freaking joke).
> 
> 
> 
> Well Put Tom....


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## catdad100

The snapper thing was a joke and got an email from rodeo saying they have canceled it.It would be nice if they would put snapper season next year on friday sat and sun. to stretch it out instead of packing it in to one month but I doubt the gulf council will do it as it was proposed this year and shot down,common sense just really isnt that common these days.


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## weedline

no it wasnt a joke i have the article in the destin log to prove it was or still is what they got from the feds im not doubting your word but can u show me any proof this has been canceled if u can i need to post this other places so we will all know the small guy won for a change and i agree if we only get 40 days or so snapper fishing they could be better utalized spread out through the year an a 3 day a week basis but why not up the size limit to 20in as most of us dont keep 1 much smaller these days hell i would take snapper year around 3 days a week minimum legnth 22in and 1 per person but u are corect somewhere the comon part of sense got lost about 20 years ago


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## catdad100

I'll try and post the email from the rodeo canceling the snapper lotto and I agree on the 3 days a week snapper season to stretch it out and just emailed the gulf council on my opinion on that and the proposed measures on trigger and gags and urge you to go to the site and post your comments and opinion on it.


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## catdad100

http://www.gulfcouncil.org/council_meetings/comment_forms/RF%20Amendment%2037%20-%20Gray%20Triggerfish.php

thats the comment link for gulf council


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## catdad100

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*RED SNAPPER WEEKEND*

Thursday, October 11, 2012 7:07 PM



From: 
"Rodeo" <[email protected]>
View contact details


Cc: 
"McCawley, Jessica" <[email protected]>




Dear Rodeo Captains


Because of the number of boats involved in the Rodeo and the possibility of adding 40 – 60 boats to the last weekend of the Rodeo in this section of the Harbor, we have canceled Red Snapper Weekend for the safety of our participants and the efficiency of the weigh-in.


We are in the process of cutting checks to those of you that have purchased tickets for the drawing. We will be mailing them out tomorrow.


Sincerely,


Helen K. Donaldson

Executive Director
Destin Fishing Rodeo, Inc.
Post Office Box 296
Destin, Florida 32540-0296

850-837-6734
850-376-7511 (mobile)
[email protected]
www.destinfishingrodeo.org


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## tyler0421

I think the whole Rodeo is a joke and needs some changes. For one the "gutting" of fish needs to be done right or it needs to be done after the fish is weighed. Not to mention the redfish issue. How hard is it to measure a damn fish????


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## catdad100

Amen! I brought the gutting issue up at the first rules meeting and asked had there been a specific incident that brought that on and was told by the director no and I went on to say ska,ifa,etc.are pretty successful and havent had to resort to that and even tried to see if we could get it changed for at least the private boat divisions and try this year to see how it went but Tim Groom(Half Hitch) said all the cobia tournaments were going to start gutting as people were stuffing bait fish down the cobia throat to get extra weight but so far the ones I looked into were weighing the fish whole.I believe we could get it done but have got to have a few more private guys get involved.We did manage to get a captains jackpot this year and Id like to get some more things in there this year.


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## whome

I wouldn't support that rodeo after what they tried to pull with the red snapper tags...but thats up to each of you...


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## bigrick

I think the rodeo has turned into nothing more than a way for the charter boats to drum up business. No one fished the rodeo for the money, having a month long tourney with a $200 first prize is a joke. It's a tourist trap like everything else in Destin. It's a good family event and it's good for kids but I can't take it seriously anymore.


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## tyler0421

bigrick said:


> I think the rodeo has turned into nothing more than a way for the charter boats to drum up business. No one fished the rodeo for the money, having a month long tourney with a $200 first prize is a joke. It's a tourist trap like everything else in Destin. It's a good family event and it's good for kids but I can't take it seriously anymore.


It's always been about bragging rights thats all. There isnt enought money in it to be about the money and I kinda hope it never is.


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## whome

tyler0421 said:


> It's always been about bragging rights thats all. There isnt enought money in it to be about the money and I kinda hope it never is.


Not enough money for you, but the charter boats are using it to make a killing, which I have no problem with, until they start trying to steal the private boats fish


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## tyler0421

Capt. Jon Pinney said:


> Not enough money for you, but the charter boats are using it to make a killing, which I have no problem with, until they start trying to steal the private boats fish


I think thats awesome. If it wasn't for the rodeo alot of them would be done for the winter more than likely. As for stealing my fish I could give two shits about a red snapper.


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## whome

tyler0421 said:


> As for stealing my fish I could give two shits about a red snapper.


Yea well I fished twice this year for snapper, so they are not on the top of my list either, but if you can't see the big picture I'd suggest you educate yourself. What started with snapper 17 years ago has moved to triggerfish, AJ's, Grouper etc. As the offshore charter boats go out of business they will start guiding inshore... Your kids one day might want to fish for Red Snapper, but because you could "give two shits" about red snapper they may not be able to... Not only all of that, but whats right is right and whats wrong is wrong... Principal my friend :thumbsup:


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## Salty Daze

+1:notworthy:


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## bigrick

It's not just fishing, the government is taking our freedom/rights away little by little across the board. Over regulation is ruining this country but when they start messing with a passion of mine it pisses me off that much more. Every year the lower bag limits increase size limits, say another new species is being overfished, ect. This country is good at putting people against eachother so they don't see the big picture. They want us fighting with eachother, commercial fisherman, ect so we won't fight them. Same BS as dems vs rep , keep us fighting eachother so nobody will fight them.


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## catdad100

well the red snapper lotto is back on but no money involved and 50 sets of tags for charters and 50 for privates but looks like its gonna be too rough this weekend anyway


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