# Twisted Whiskerz Catfish Tournament-Event #3 Cancelled



## VanDammit (Sep 3, 2008)

Tournament # 3 at Berlin Res. this Saturday, July 7, 2012 has officially been CANCELLED!!!! Our scouts, Gene and my brother Tom Tullar Jr. have confirmed that for some strange reason most of the water has been let out of the lake. We put alot of thought into where and when we fish and believe that due to the low water level the lake would not meet our expectations for a quality event. We checked the boat ramps and although there are 2 cement ramps the portable floating docs have been removed and although boats can get into the lake many sandbars are visible in normally deep water. Furthermore the entire shallow end of the lake appears to be impossible to navigate. We decided that these conditions will detract from the quality of the event and potentially expose our tournament goers to un-needed risk of injury and potential damage to expensive equipment. Please spread the word to anyone you feel may be planning on attending. We will post this message on our web site soon and also in OGF. Please reserve the date of 9/8/2012 as we will most likely be adding and event on tis date to make up for this one. Furthermore; for those of you looking for some tourney fun next Saturday night there is a $100.00 entry fee Day tournament going out of Shelby Street at Sandusky Bay. $1,000.00 is guaranteed. We will get this info out as soon as possible. We appreciate your attending our events and appreciate your understanding that we will never knowingly hold an event that does not meet our standards of excellence.


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## throwitback (Jun 10, 2010)

The sandusky tournament was $100 entry for pre reg. It is $125.00 day of event additionsl $25 for big fish pot. We have six pre registered so right now its a guaranteed $600.00 for first and $150.00 for big fish. Check out www.ohiocatguideservice.com for complete rules


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## fishingdude (Nov 24, 2010)

Thumbs down on this decision. Not sure where to even begin on why this is wrong in so many ways. Let's start with my weekend. I follow the schedule and make plans around each date given at the beginning of the year. I change all personal matters to prefish these events weeks and months in advance, which leads me to camping this past weekend at Berlin doing some prefishing for this event. 

Total cost of money spent for two days and two nights equals just under $200
So I start off searching for shad, make a long run down to the 3rd bridge from the dam and bam, loads of shad. Load the boat and move down to spot one on the map, not a bite. So I move to another spot on my map which is an area with sunken humps. Doesn't take long to hook up, fish for 2-3 hours and catch over 20 cats, the biggest being 7.5 pounds. Time to move again, so pick another spot and again the fish are hungry and plentiful, maybe caught another 10, best being in the 5 range. At this point I know Im in for a long day and night saturday with trying to find a day pattern for the first half of this event. I call it a night. I caught and released over 30 cats this night.

Saturday up at dawn after 5 hours of sleep and back on the water, this I'll keep short. I covered 90% of the lake just searching, marking and checking how much water is on some old spots. Fished in between this time and boated around 12 cats from 8am-till 4pm. with some quality. Back in camp for lunch and back on the water at 8pm. Ended the night at 4am with another 30 plus cats. So I have covered most of the lake, found a day bite, and several areas for a night bite. For the weekend I caught and released well over 60 catfish ranging from 14-28 inches.

This gives everyone an idea on how easy the navigation was, is and will continue to be (rain in the forecast). Plus the fact that the bite is very good and fish can be caught from 2ft-50ft of water right now.

Now getting to the cancellation of this event. I can only speak for myself and a few others I fish with, so this is just another opinion that really won't matter, but here goes. My partner has to schedule around these events as well, being on call for a few he has to adjust his on call with others several weeks in advance. We all spend a lot of time rigging all the rods and gear. The boat is transformed before each tourny week in hard preparation for the event, more time. Some take these events serious, others not so much, but either way this is not just a get together, these are tournaments which guys adjust their life and time around, some more than others. 

Now don't get me wrong, SAFETY is number 1. ALWAYS. So I do understand the thought, but you guys are basing it on a lake which you decided to put on your schedule, and you are well aware that it is a flucuating lake as well. You are at the mercy of water levels at all times (something to consider before adding it to the schedule) Secondly, the lake is 5.5 foot Below summer pool, and 6 ft ABOVE fall pool, when this lake actually shines for all fisherman.
Most, if not all humps are marked on this lake.(at least the shallow dangerous ones) And to be honest, for anyone with a little commom sense, this lake is a breeze to navigate. Stay off the banks, stay in the channel, use a map, a depth sounder, GPS, flashlights and go slow.Or just being smart. How hard is it. We are talking catfishing aren't we? where 90% of our fishing is done at night, in the dark, where you have to be on your toes at all times. We always have to navigate a terrain, and if you aren't prepared then you're in the wrong game, no matter what lake, time, level, weather, whatever else.

I've been tourny fishing going on 27 years. I can count on one hand how many tournaments have been cancelled in that time. Which only one that was cancelled prior to the event and not the day of. A snow cancel, and weather cancel and a high water cancel. This is from March to December for 27 years and in many states. Tournaments just don't get cancelled because of this reason. Yes, the water is down, but if you do some research, the only tourny I can recall being cancelled due to EXTREME low water was in Texas. Yes it happens throughout the country, but very rare. And when an organization decides to cancel as early as you have, most will relocate the lake so as to keep everyones schedule in check. Like hotel reservations, money spent prefishing, reworking schedules to get off work, finding babysitters, and so on and so on and so on. 

You mention you want to hold a high standard of quality in this series. Does culling fish at the weigh in line fit that bill. I watched 3 teams at WB going through 7 fish to get their best 6. The 7th for all 3 teams was thrown on the ground and some type of cooler lid put over top of it to just sit their out of the water for ??? how long. I have never seen a series with high standards practice this routine. That's just one ex. of not having high quality events. Our weigh ins are viewed by the public on occasion, this sets a bad ex. to how we care for what makes this all happen. The fish.

I can type a book but my time is limited so I'll cut it short. I understand you can't please everyone, and you have to be SOMEWHAT responsable for your events. But remember, we fish at our own risk ultimately, maybe letting the guys who make this all work for you decide what they want to do. Do you remember Sandusky Bay 2 years ago?? That was a call that the director had to make, and talk about Safety and having issues with equipment and even our safety of our lives on the line. This pales in comparison. Had two phone calls last night from guys showing disbelief on this decision. We agreed this was the last straw for this series. Where's Jeff at anyways??? Good Luck fellows with your high standard of quality events. You just lost more participation now and for the future. 

So have at it and rip this apart, that's what we do best sometimes. The irony has truly risen with this decision. Think about it. You are catfisherman, not bluegill chasers, you spend most of your time at night, when navigation is at its hardest. Half of this event was during the day so that is easy, and the lake fishes large, more than enough water to put together a healthy sack. What is the night speed on Berlin? no wake? Who needs floating docks when its summer, everyone can beach their boats with ease now that the water is down. There are advantages with this, but you failed to catch them. Bonner road is clear to go, but not this event. Does this have anything to do with throwitbacks event on Sandusky??? because thats the only real conclusion I can come up with.

Good Luck with the high standard of quality!!


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## throwitback (Jun 10, 2010)

good point fishingdude, I myself also prefished and was planning on making the second half of the event just to try to salvage some points. Im not sure why it was cancelled to tell you the truth. 
Im not speaking for anyone but myself and dont want to try to stick up for anyone or any clubs. I have been on both sides of the tournaments as far as holding them and competing in them. You have every right to be mad and at same time I assume they had a good reason to cancel it.


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## Carpman (May 18, 2005)

I myself am kinda glad about the whole situation. I have never navigated berlin, let alone under the current water conditions. Losing a lower unit in the middle of the night would suck. See you guys at sandusky on saturday. Gonna be some hogs comin in.


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## VanDammit (Sep 3, 2008)

Fishing Dude- Please keep in mind we made a judgement call and thought we were making a wise decision. We have been running these tourneys 3 years, been involved in tournaments 4 years therefore we can not be expected to be nearly as wise as someone with 27 years. The long and short of it is we thought we were doing the right thing and based it on safety. If we missed we are sorry you are disappointed. I hope you change your mind about joining us in the future. As far as any questionable antics at weigh in we appreciate you letting us know and we will be on the look out for any non-sense in the future. 

Although you do not agree with our decision please respect the fact that we made it for what we thought were the right reasons.


Bob


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

While I dont fish this series, I am also a bit amiss as to why an event was cancelled for slightly low summer conditions?? as far as navigating, after dark with the statewise 10 MPH speed limit most should be fine and we as tourney fishermen ALWAYS are fishing at our own risk, its why we all ( should) have boat insurance. 

We down here in the southern part of the state have many tourneys cancelled but its on the Ohio River when its dam near out of its banks and safety is again always a concern, then there was last year when all the spring tourneys were cancelled because the SW Ohio lakes were closed because several were over 40 ft higher then summer pool and entire lakes were CLOSED to any boating. Several Winter events have been cancelled with heavy snow and below zero temps forecasted. We run the gammut when it comes to cancellatons. LOL

Not blaming anyone or pointing fingers but it seems odd that it was cancelled for that reason alone, perhaps more to the story

Salmonid


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## Nipididdee (Apr 19, 2004)

Sounds like the Director has spoken... and very well at that.

Applause to the hardworking folks that likely never get much credit for their efforts.

They took a safety stance, explained it, then the cry of the naysayers... (who also would likely be the one's to sue the organization's pants off when they drop a lower unit in the middle of the night)... and handled it again.

I like Director's with stones and smiles- get 'em VanDammit!

nip


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## VanDammit (Sep 3, 2008)

Thank you we sincerely appreciate your support.


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## VanDammit (Sep 3, 2008)

Thank you for your support.


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