2023 Spring Challenge

[SkunkedAgain]

Okay everyone, after considering all of your comments, I've tried to pull this into what I think most of you will like.  Please see attached.  I don't have time to get it 100% ready, but wanted to let you see my thoughts... Give me some comments here and we'll see if we have any major hiccups that I've missed, if not we'll try to finalize a contest along this line... Note I'm trying to add random prizes all along to keep folks watching the contest throughout the season and hopefully staying involved...  Thanks all.... 
Pat, could I get you to put a Spring Challenge 2023 placard together for us and put it onto the contest board?  Thanks you... Jeff
PS... If I get too slow getting everything ready before April 1st, just go by past contest rules and get a picture and enter it on the contest board and we'll get the details straightened out shortly...

[MSM1970]

looks good, just need the placard.

[catchinon]

Sounds good. I have a few things to talk over with you so I'll contact you directly.

[Boatloadakids]

I like it but it sure looks like a lot of "scoring" to keep updated. Are there plans to spread the burden around a bit. Maybe a scorer for each species? I think it will generate a lot of interest and get more people involved. Nice job Jeff.

Lynn aka BLK

[Jig-fisher]

Sounds like a lot of fun to me.

[Mooseman75]

I think I'm following it and though I'll probably just catch catfish and maybe a trout I'm way excited to get started. This weather will be interesting if it will let us lol

[Piscophilic]

I think it looks like a lot of fun. Great work managing/incorporating all the inputs you got. Let me know how I can help.

[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks everyone and I will likely call on several of you to help me with scoring and management of the contest, especially if it starts to get too much to cover...

One thing I think i should mention and for those that haven't ever did the ice challenge may not see right off. There will be certain categories that will have way more entries than others, for instance i expect catfish and trout will have a ton of interest. So it will be very important for those that are wanting to do well in the overall contest to make sure they score well in the big interest categories. This contest is one were non-contenders can have a major play in who wins and who loses the contest, by simply scoring higher than them in one category or another... for example, on the ice challenge this winter I wasn't able to find a good sized trout, so even though I had 3 of 5 first place fish, I ended up in second place by two points. However, if someone would have caught a bass or panfish larger than Brett's fish, they could have dropped him and raised my score, so neither Brett or I would have done anything, but our placement would have changed. So that is one of the wild and fun things this scoring format can add, and I think it will be really interesting if we get more folks actively competing, I really think it will add some excitement to things... But maybe I'm just weird that way... But I kind of like the strategy element that is added to the contest, it's not totally about who has the biggest fish, unless you are able to do really well in all categories, which I think maybe a lot more difficult with more folks involved... I'm really excited about this contest and format, and I hope everyone will enjoy it and keep an eye on things as they evolve even if you're not actively competing it will have a bit of a spectator element to it...

Thanks everyone for your support and great ideas that helped to resolve a lot of things up front before we tried to make it work... I think it's close to a really fun contest if we can just get some cool surprise prizes to roll out I think it will be something all will enjoy... At least I'm hoping it will... Later Jeff

[hookngrinin]

Sounds fun Jeff. Thanks for getting this out. We'll be pulling some of those early spring challenge fish through the ice.

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Ron no restrictions on ice and what a crazy year. Maybe it will end up the second ice contest of the year. Later Jeff

[Piscophilic]

Hey Jeff,

I saw something in your document that caught my attention. Mudcat and bullhead are both listed in the catfish category. I might need to be calibrated on this, but my understanding is there are several varieties of bullhead (yellow, black, brown, etc, not all of which are found in Utah), but mudcat is a common name for bullheads in general, not a different species of cat.

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Jim, I was having a brain failure when I was trying to remember the correct name so I included both... I've called them too many incorrect names over the years from yellowbellies to mudcats to $%$#%#$ so past bad information was coming back to haunt me... Hopefully everyone will know what I was trying to point to, I'll try to correct that in the document... Thanks for pointing it out... I expect most will catch channel cats since they are larger, but this still gives the option of a scoring fish for that category even if channels aren't your thing... Thanks Jeff