# Destin Rodeo 2014



## catdad100 (Nov 17, 2009)

My wife and I have fished this since 2009 and got on the rules committee to see if we could make things better for the private boat divisions. The rodeo was started for the charter fleet originally to attract folks to town in what was a slow month and somewhere along the way they started letting us low life monkey boats folks enter it. Its now going on it 66th year and its definetly benefited the charters and many various other businesses. The charter guys(wifes&family) naturally and as would be expected dominate the board of directors and rules committee,etc.but they do have a bunch of folks that volunteer and serve in various ways. In one of our very first meetings when discussing my idea for some calcuttas/jackpots a local charter captain(whom I know and respect) said "why would we want to do that it will just attract more private boats and we have too many now" and then added" we been doing this for over 60 years and its doing just fine." Then after the meeting I had to hear from Tim Broom(half hitch) how the rodeo and for whom it was started.( Im thinking to myself that if you are a local and dont know that then you must not get out much) so I said"Yes I know the entire story and respect that but fact is yall now have private boats in it and they make up over 2/3's the total of all boats in it yet you treat them like a red headed stepchild and if yall dont want us then just say so and we will take our 200 plus boats and go elsewhere!" Everything Ive tried has been rejected unless its something the charters want and thats an undeniable fact. I could go on and on but what has been brought up time and time again is that the weigh in(especially on weekends or flat sea days) is backed/clogged up really bad and we have sit waiting in long lines many times to weigh in our fish. Ive offered several simple ideas to eliminate needless repetative paperwork and streamline things and even sent links with info on tournament software,etc. but it was said oh we just have volunteers so they could never be expected to run a computer thats just crazy,etc. Well this year at our first meeting about 1/2 way through it Jim Green(American Spirit) told us that he didnt vote on it and wasnt for it and Mike Eller(Lady Em) did as well,"The board has voted in a new rule that all private boats must be weighed by 5pm with only charters allowed from 5-7pm each day. Captain Allen Staples said"It had to be done to save the Rodeo that the problem was so bad that he and 10 other boats were already coming up with a different plan to do something else unless something was done to fix the weigh-in problem." One of the problem with this is the open divisions which both private and charters compete in and this giving charters more fishing time in something they already have an advantage in because they fish way more days then the average private boat does in the first place which is one of the reason they pay a higher entry fee to enter. After much debate John Brashears brought up a proposal to go to the board of" from 4pm-7pm all charters move to front of line and privates given a time stamp
a fish species to weigh in case of a tie." In the following days I contacted someone whom expressed interest in possibly taking over the whole private boat side and offering a 2nd weigh in station,etc.on site at AJ's with portions of entry going to benefit a charitalbe cause but needed to know if the board would even consider it before moving foward. It was a win win situation and solved the weigh in problem for the charters and gave them exclusive use of Miss Destin,etc. and great PR for helping a charity to boot. I ran the detailed idea by John Brashears with various senerios on how it could work and he said he thought it could work and would bring it up to the board for a vote. I said you have a problem of too many private boats and to a chartiable tournament(such as alabama rodeo ran by jaycees)its a blessing to have over 200 private boats and he agreed. The idea was rejected and 2nd rules committee meeting never happened as Im sure they had heard all they wanted from the private boat side. The Rodeo brings a bunch of business in for the host AJ's in fact I was told(by a fellow rules committee member) that the first year they held it there that they grossed over $300,000 bucks in october and ony $50,000 in november. It wouldn't attract nearly as much folks if it was a private only tournament as many of charters do 1/2 day trips and fish all through the week,etc. so they are definetly the nucleus of the event.
Last year was the lowest total ever for private boat entrys(since Ive been involved 2009) and Im thinking this will only get worse this year. I know theres a few on here that fish it or have in the past and would like to hear what you think and looking for anyone with contacts with a local waterfront *restaurants* willing to host something like this as well. This is the private boat count in the 2 divisions for the last 3 years.
private 25ft and under/ Larger Private
2011 111 97
2012 106 69
2013 89 60


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## lobsterman (Sep 30, 2007)

If you're fighting with Tim Broom and the Charter Fleet then you are wasting your time. It is apparent how they feel towards private boats, and has been for decades. Let them have the little stinkin tournament to themselves.


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## catdad100 (Nov 17, 2009)

*Yep*



lobsterman said:


> If you're fighting with Tim Broom and the Charter Fleet then you are wasting your time. It is apparent how they feel towards private boats, and has been for decades. Let them have the little stinkin tournament to themselves.


I know your right but its just a bunch of potenial wasted and I love fishing that time of year and with it being all month I get to pick my days and not have to go out in ruff seas with my family,etc.like the one and two days events. Its just a damn shame.


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## lobsterman (Sep 30, 2007)

Yes it is but if the Destin Fleet had their way we would not be able to fish at all in their ocean. That is precisely how they think too. They think they own the Gulf and we are nothing but a nuisance.


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## Reelbait (Mar 3, 2013)

I could see a seperate marina and seperate weigh in for private boats working well. I have enjoyed fishing on the charters in the rodeo in the past. So much so, I got my own boat. But the Destin Rodeo is geared for the tourism dollar on charters. Agreeded you will see a steady decline in private boats so let's go to another marina with less traffic and hoop-la.


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## catdad100 (Nov 17, 2009)

*And another thing*

The king jackpot has usually ran around 100 boats($100 x 100 boats=10k) so was really the only decent payout but this year it had only 60 boats. I encourage you to email Helen Donaldson and let them know how you feel as she does take note of emails recieved on various issues and brings them up and reads them at rules meetings including a man from tennesse who had fished the rodeo for years and trailered his boat each year and spent a week in town fishing with his family mainly for redfish. He even invited a friend who also trailer his boat for the week also only to find they had removed redfish year before last after I begged them not to. I know she will take the charters side if she had to choose but 
I really think its in her best interest for both sides to be sucessful or thats what shes expressed to me. But starting something seperate from them at another site would be the best and the host would have a lot more business during a slow month,maybe not as much as charters and maybe just afternoon,dinner crowds but it would definetly work out well for them especially if it had some decent payouts/prizes geared more toward the privates like many normal tournaments.
850.837.6734 
[email protected]


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## Caddy Yakker (May 21, 2011)

I have fished it the past 2 yrs in the kayak division and hope to make this the 3rd consecutive yr of 1st king and 1st spanish and hopefully I can bitch slap them with my king mack that wins the king jackpot this yr. I have entered the king jackpot every yr and only been able to weigh in 30#+ kings every yr but this is gonna be the yr a kayaker wins!

But seriously thanks for your efforts and a second weigh station is much needed and good luck!!!


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## tailfisher1979 (Jan 24, 2012)

Who cares about the DFR? Its a joke.


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## Boshamps (Jul 17, 2014)

*Boshamps Is In!!!*

Living in Destin my entire life, I understand and agree with both the private boat captains and owners, as well as the Charter boat captains and owners, but I don't see ANY reason for not having more than one weigh station. Seems to make sense to me and I can't come up with any negative side effects for anyone. I'm all for it! We need to get the ball rolling on getting the next phases of the boardwalk underway. If the boardwalk came just the 3 lots it needs to come to get to our boardwalk, we could have a weigh station at each end of the harbor, that people could walk between. I think this is a great idea and we, as locals, need to consider it, if only to better the tournament and participation. The Destin Rodeo is very important to our area and history and I want it to be as successful as possible. Anyone see any reason for NOT doing 2 weigh stations?


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## johnboatjosh (May 19, 2008)

As said above, if you're arguing with the destin charter fleet you might as well just take your ball and go play somewhere else. They look down their nose at private boats. Always have and always will. I'd love a separate tourney just for private boats!


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## Boshamps (Jul 17, 2014)

*No Argument Here!*

I don't see where or why there would be any argument from any of the charter captains. I don't think they should "segregate" the private and charter boat weigh stations, instead, have them open to both, at all times. If the line is long at AJ's, come down to Boshamps and vice versa. I don't see how anyone could have a problem with that???


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## Boshamps (Jul 17, 2014)

I don't see where or why there would be any argument from any of the charter captains. I don't think they should "segregate" the private and charter boat weigh stations, instead, have them open to both, at all times. If the line is long at AJ's, come down to Boshamps and vice versa. I don't see how anyone could have a problem with that???


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## 301bLLC (Nov 23, 2013)

Boshamps said:


> I don't see where or why there would be any argument from any of the charter captains. I don't think they should "segregate" the private and charter boat weigh stations, instead, have them open to both, at all times. If the line is long at AJ's, come down to Boshamps and vice versa. I don't see how anyone could have a problem with that???



Here's an idea... private boats check in at Boshamps, charters at AJs. The rodeo clearly has dropped the private boat ball....Boshamps should start their own rodeo and charge charters a $5000 entry fee.


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