# Alum crappie tourney



## Snyd (May 5, 2004)

How did the crappie tourney go today?


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## Bleeding Minnow (Feb 22, 2012)

Don't know how you guys did out there but at least you only got an hour or so of rain.


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## dre (Aug 14, 2009)

There were a lot of nice fish caught. I think winning bag was Darcy Briggs and partner with 9.81 lbs I think. I think there were a couple bags in the 9 pound range, a couple 8, and a lot of 6 and 7 pound bags. Big fish was a monster close but not quite 2lbs. Good time as always despite the conditions!


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## SPLMAX SAM (Jul 10, 2010)

Nice fish caught


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## Big Joshy (Apr 26, 2004)

biggest weights yet. as usual slowtroller won it with over 10lbs I think. several teams over 8 and 9lbs. big fish was 1.8 lbs or so. had 3 teams sign up at the ramp so the field was 21 boats. Several reports of very big lost fish as usual. We lost a real good one also. Good results overall for a cold raw east windy day. lots of reports of bonus saugeye and bass caught also. Im sure more details are yet to come. Most are probably still warming up and drying off. Here a pic of our best 3 fish. I think we got 5th but we had second place big fish and we were fortunate enough to get second in the ogf bucks.


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## Snyd (May 5, 2004)

Awesome fish Josh - thanks for the report. Congrats to Slowtroller - that is some really nice weight considering the weather. I figured there would be some good weight caught especially after my son and I were catching some really nice ones last week. Some of those big females up north probably never pulled back especially if they were in the middle of the spawn.


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## jray (Jan 20, 2006)

It was a blast to fish and everybody seemed to figure something out. I managed a little over 7 from the yak lost a few nice ones at the boat trying to hoist them in one that I literally touched was at least a 13 incher. BRING A NET DUMMY! Great to hang out with everybody and see what all these great fisherman can do even with the weather. I was surprised I'm sure I caught 50 fish at least just couldn't get a couple 9.5 inch fish culled. I'm really convinced there's a 11 pound bag to be had from that lake if the conditions are right. Nice to see all you guys and thanks to everybody that put on a great event and for the food rutty!


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

jray said:


> It was a blast to fish and everybody seemed to figure something out. I managed a little over 7 from the yak lost a few nice ones at the boat trying to hoist them in one that I literally touched was at least a 13 incher. BRING A NET DUMMY! Great to hang out with everybody and see what all these great fisherman can do even with the weather. I was surprised I'm sure I caught 50 fish at least just couldn't get a couple 9.5 inch fish culled. I'm really convinced there's a 11 pound bag to be had from that lake if the conditions are right. Nice to see all you guys and thanks to everybody that put on a great event and for the food rutty!


Good show,from the yak. Thats sweet. Any magical depth?


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

Bleeding Minnow said:


> Don't know how you guys did out there but at least you only got an hour or so of rain.


It was nice that the rain was only the last couple of hours but I assure you it was one very cold nasty day from the beginning to the end.

There were some very nice fish caught yesterday. I think the big fish came from way North and I think 3-4 of the top bags came from the OGF pond, Big Run again. We fished in the South pool all day and caught all of our fish in 20-27 FOW, most right on bottom. We had 7 really good fish but had to weigh 3- 11" whites to fill out our 10 fish and it put us around a pound below the top weights. All in all a good day in very tough conditions.

I know we had one canoe and a Kayak fishing with us yesterday in those conditions. My admiration to those guys, they are tougher than I am.

Yesterday was a day we would have stayed home and not gone fishing if we had a choice. Josh was giving out hand warmers at check-in and a lot of guys took them

Congratulations to the winning teams, you certainly earned it, tough lake conditions, in way less than ideal weather conditions, and you still put it together.


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## ShakeDown (Apr 5, 2004)

You won't meet a better and more committed (crazy) bunch of guys anywhere! Full results will be posted in 24 hours.


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## polebender (Oct 29, 2011)

Great job and congrats slowtroller!


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## jray (Jan 20, 2006)

Saugeyefisher said:


> Good show,from the yak. Thats sweet. Any magical depth?



I caught mine 4 feet down in 7 feet of water but I managed to find a little warmer water and I think that's why they were shallow. There were fish on cover that could be caught 18 inches down but they were small males.


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## dre (Aug 14, 2009)

My partner and I were in the canoe. We fished the New Galena bay and first fish was a nice 12 1/2 incher. That was 30 minutes into the tournament and I thought it was on! Fished all around that bay at probably 15-20 fow and never picked up another there. Went through the pipe under Africa Rd and caught several Crappie back there in 7-10 fow. Seemed to be 2 Crappie near every tree we fished. However all the fish were pretty small and could only get 4 more keepers back there. We also missed several as did lots of other people I talked to. We may have been limited being in a canoe with no electronics(would have LOVED a depth finder) but it was still a blast. Good job as always to the guys that run the tournament and help out and although I'm sad, I really look forward to the last OGF tournament in the Fall.

Matt


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## Snyd (May 5, 2004)

Awesome job guys!


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## Bleeding Minnow (Feb 22, 2012)

dre said:


> Good job as always to the guys that run the tournament and help out and although I'm sad, I really look forward to the last OGF tournament in the Fall.
> 
> Matt



Last OGF tournament in the fall???


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## ShakeDown (Apr 5, 2004)

That's correct...Lundy and I have decided to retire the event after our fall alum event. We announced it yesterday


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## jmk112 (Mar 12, 2006)

Thank you guys for all you do to put this on. It was nice to have a beer with a few of you and enjoy some great pizza (what is the name of that place?)

Thanks again to Rutty for not only the food but the hospitality since my partner couldn't make it. Him and his partner are great guys and can drink a few beers. 

Good luck to all in the Fall tournament!


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

Bleeding Minnow said:


> Last OGF tournament in the fall???


Yes, after 10 years we are making this the last year for the OGF crappie tourneys.

The original intent of the crappie tourney was to provide a fun, friendly, not overly competitive outing for the OGF members to get together and catch some crappie and maybe have some bragging rights for a year over other members. It was also hoped it would provide a learning opportunity to members that wanted to learn from more experienced members more techniques for catching crappie. Most importantly it was just an excuse for OGF members to get together, meet new members, see old ones again, and just have some fun.

Sadly, over the last few years participation has been dwindling. Attempts were made to instill a renewed interest back in the membership about the crappie tourney. Reduced registration costs, OGF bucks (payout only to members with over 250 posts), rules changes, but participation continued to drop.

It is difficult to justify the time, effort and expense to organize and facilitate these events with such a small member participation. We elected to discontinue them after this year.

I will be sad to see them stop, Josh and I have made some very good friends fishing every event for the last 10 years and have learned a tremendous amount about catching crappie. 10 years ago at the first event we thought we knew quite a bit about catching crappie and their habits and movements. We quickly learned that we knew very little about these seemingly simple fish or the lakes they swim in. The information, shared and acquired knowledge, and yes the butt kicking's we endured, over the last 10 years in the tourneys was worth every penny of registration money we paid, and more. I can only hope that some others gained from them as we did, that was certainly the hope.

Personally I will miss not seeing everyone at check-in and harassing everyone to bring their release form already filled out. It was fun and will be missed.

Kim

Participation by year

Year	Teams
2005	40
2006	40
2007	42
2008	50
2009	50
2010	50
2011 60
2012 (D)	54
2012 (A)	44
2013 (A)	39
2013 (A)	30
2014 (DC)20
2014 (A)	27
2015 (A) 21


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## Bleeding Minnow (Feb 22, 2012)

That stinks but makes sense. Sorry I missed yesterday's event but I will not miss the finale.


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

I am thinking of doing a late May next year, combo saugeye crappie tourney. 

No real details yet, just ideas at this point, other than it will be a VERY low key, low cost, no preregistration(pay at ramp the morning of), *artificial bait only*, tourney. maybe weigh 2 saugeye and maybe somewhere like 5-7 crappie per team.

I'll finalize the details and post something early next year if it comes together.


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## ShoreFshrman (Sep 25, 2014)

Looks like a great time was had by all despite the crappy conditions!!!


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## triton175 (Feb 21, 2006)

We decided to stay home rather than make the drive and deal with bad weather. Congrats to you guys that toughed it out.
We fished in 5 or so of these tournaments and always had a good time, sorry to see it going away.


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## Snyd (May 5, 2004)

Yeah sorry to see it go away - I really enjoyed fishing in it and meet a lot of friends from it. Maybe down the road a new one will start and just keep it low keyed pay at the ramp and go have fun. I know there are a few others out there but they are very competive as well. I don't mind the competition but I also like the idea of just getting out and having fun with my son and not putting a lot of pressure on him. Lol!


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## Snyd (May 5, 2004)

My son and I will be there this fall for the finale.


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## lacdown (Apr 25, 2007)

I have yet to participate as I don't get much weekend time out on the boat, but looking at the participation rate, I have to think that weather (at least in the spring) impacted participation the last couple years. Regardless, kudos to organizers as it's the hours put in behind the scenes for these types of events that make them so fun for participants.


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## dre (Aug 14, 2009)

Now this is my opinion and I am in no way trying the discredit the winners. But to me it seems like the same 2 or 3 teams have won the majority of the OGF Crappie tournaments since I started fishing them 5 years ago. Do you think some of the decrease in the registration of the tournament over the last 4-5 years could have to do with people thinking the same 2-3 teams are going to win anyway, why bother? I myself participate in the tournaments for fun and if I did happen to win, that would be a great honor. But you got to think some people that used to fish the tournament felt the way I just explained and stopped fishing it. Again, by no means am I trying to discredit or disrespect the top teams, just curious if this was a factor..


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## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

Lundy said:


> I am thinking of doing a late May next year, combo saugeye crappie tourney.
> 
> No real details yet, just ideas at this point, other than it will be a VERY low key, low cost, no preregistration(pay at ramp the morning of), *artificial bait only*, tourney. maybe weigh 2 saugeye and maybe somewhere like 5-7 crappie per team.
> 
> I'll finalize the details and post something early next year if it comes together.


Lundy that sounds like my cup of tea! I used to do a small multi species club tournie. More about the get together the money to be won. 
And its hard to beat the jig bite in late may!


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## rutty (Feb 5, 2007)

It was a great tournament as always. Had a great time hanging out Friday night with a few of the OGF members. It was rough fishing for us, we didn't catch a keeper crappie on Friday in practice (how does that happen on Alum?) but thanks to Jason Koesters for giving me his spot to start the day Saturday morning. We managed 26 keepers all came in 13-15 foot of water spider rigging. We just couldn't find any big fish, ended with 7.68lbs.

Again I enjoyed cooking for everyone and hopefully the tacos were good. Billy and I will miss these tournaments as this is the only time we get to down to Alum and fish. We seem to do alright against all the locals but more important is we really enjoy meeting new people and hanging out with everyone.

Thanks to all the OGF people that have made this even run so smoothly for the last 10 years. It is hard work and takes a lot of dedication and commitment to make this even happen year in and year out. You guys are the greatest and I will definitely be keeping in touch to do a little fishing together.


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## JimmyZ (May 18, 2004)

Wow, sounds like you guys had fun and caught fish regardless of the weather.

I'm sad to see the tournament go. My brother and I fished a few and always had fun. Definitely had some harsh conditions down at Delaware a few times. Just seem like the weather would never work out. Seems like participation dropped when the fall tournament was added and the fishing moved from Delaware. I only fished at Alum one tournament and its a beautiful lake as well. We stopped pre-registering just because of the weather. That way we weren't commited if it was real bad (say it, were sissies). 

It was definitely nice to put faces to screen names on here. Great to meet shakedown at alum couple years ago. Winning was never important to us, we just wanted to catch some fish and have fun. If anything it's taught me to get out and fish different lakes because Ohio has some good crappie lakes to fish. 

Thanks for your guys hard work over the years.


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## ShakeDown (Apr 5, 2004)

Dre...that has contributed to the decline of participants most definitely.

Aside from the decline I'm pretty much just burned out from running the thing. It's a love/hate with me...I love the event and seeing everyone having a good time, but it comes with a price for my family and my priorities any more. I have a 13 yo son who plays on 2 ball teams and the last 3-4 years I've missed his baseball tournaments or games on that weekend, something I'm not fond of doing. It just gets old after a while...these moments will be here and gone and when i find myself sitting in a boat all day thinking about what I'm missing and kicking myself for not being there, yeah it's time to go.

I've had the privilege of making some really good friends over the event's history...that's what I'll miss the most.

Nothing says we won't bring it back at some point and by all means if anyone is interested in taking it over feel free to inquire within. I just know i need a breather


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## rutty (Feb 5, 2007)

I might be interested in doing this.......I will get with you on this and may consider taking it over. I wish I lived a little closer but I think I can make it happen.




ShakeDown said:


> Nothing says we won't bring it back at some point and by all means if anyone is interested in taking it over feel free to inquire within. I just know i need a breather


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

rutty said:


> I might be interested in doing this.......I will get with you on this and may consider taking it over. I wish I lived a little closer but I think I can make it happen.


Now we're talking

Maybe others will step up to help you


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## sowbelly101 (Apr 5, 2004)

Stepping up.


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## dre (Aug 14, 2009)

Lundy said:


> Now we're talking
> 
> Maybe others will step up to help you


I would definitely be interested in helping out with this. Whether it be the OGF Crappie tournament or the Crappie/Saugeye combo tournament Lundy mentioned or both. Also I live in Columbus so I could easily help out from the location perspective. I could help coordinate, come up with new ideas, help get more participation. I mean, I am a Recruiter in real life anyway! Whoever else is interested in keep this going, PM me and hopefully I can help. Thanks.

Matt


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## jray (Jan 20, 2006)

I may have a line on some sponsorship money too if that would help. And any thing that needs done I would be willing to help. Also I think the Delaware tourney used to be like May 12? If you moved it back to around there you may level the playing field for trollers and casters a bit.


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## NewbreedFishing (Apr 15, 2004)

Thank You Brandon & Family, Kim/Josh, Rutty(for the tacos)/Bobby, Sowbelly, the gentleman and his wife who weighed the fish and Slowtroller/Partner for the door prizes!! The hard work you put into this tourney every year has not gone unappreciated. 

Really enjoyed friday nite, sucking on some brews and hearing sea stories from the boyz @ the Tavern at the Creek

Not sure how Friday was so awful and the fish started biting so nicely on Saturday? Scott and I had a great time whacking into a few schools of fish that moved thru our area(they must have felt sorry for us). 

I complain about this tourney every year...how it cuts into my 'tru love' of bassin but I will definitely miss it!! So if anyone does decide to take charge, count me in as a volunteer!


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## rutty (Feb 5, 2007)

With the people that have stepped up and said they would help me keep this going. I will be taking this over next year...............I will at least give it my best effort for next year and we will see what happens from there. I will be reaching out to Brandon and Kim for details and such in the near future.

I will be working on ideas that I have to get participation up in this event. I am also open for ideas, so if you have any ideas please PM me them.
Here are some of my thoughts as of now, thinking of the idea of a Pro and an amateur division to keep things fair. Or maybe even a spiderrigging and jigging divisions. I know for a couple of walleye tournaments I get in on Lake Erie you have to declare if you are going to troll or cast and you can only do one and you only compete against the teams doing the same. 

I have some other ideas floating around in this unused brain of mine, but will try to throw some things together and put it to a vote. I know we won't keep everyone happy but then again we never can or never will.


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

Rutty,

I can send you all of the paperwork I have as far as rules, history, releases, etc, etc, etc. after the fall tourney to get you started in the right direction.

We'll talk


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## rutty (Feb 5, 2007)

Sounds good to me. Thanks




Lundy said:


> Rutty,
> 
> I can send you all of the paperwork I have as far as rules, history, releases, etc, etc, etc. after the fall tourney to get you started in the right direction.
> 
> We'll talk


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## dre (Aug 14, 2009)

rutty said:


> With the people that have stepped up and said they would help me keep this going. I will be taking this over next year...............I will at least give it my best effort for next year and we will see what happens from there. I will be reaching out to Brandon and Kim for details and such in the near future.
> 
> I will be working on ideas that I have to get participation up in this event. I am also open for ideas, so if you have any ideas please PM me them.
> Here are some of my thoughts as of now, thinking of the idea of a Pro and an amateur division to keep things fair. Or maybe even a spiderrigging and jigging divisions. I know for a couple of walleye tournaments I get in on Lake Erie you have to declare if you are going to troll or cast and you can only do one and you only compete against the teams doing the same.
> ...


I'm very happy to hear this! You could also have 2 divisions: one division is boats, the other division is canoes/kayaks. Thats my first idea. Could definitely draw in more kayak and canoe guys that way. More ideas to come!


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## MassillonBuckeye (May 3, 2010)

dre said:


> Do you think some of the decrease in the registration of the tournament over the last 4-5 years could have to do with people thinking the same 2-3 teams are going to win anyway, why bother?


First of all I'd like to thank all the organizers and their families and recognize the sacrifices they've made to put these tourneys on. A very selfless endeavor indeed and we really appreciate your efforts.

To answer your question Dre, Yes. Absolutely. I've talked to numerous people whos response was "why would I want to hand some pro $60 to be able to fish crappies" But sans a "pro bracket"(I don't think necessary) the door prizes sure would lessen the sting for those who lost. Cool custom rods, reels, baits and hanging out with the OGF folks at the end. That's really what kept me coming. Not that I thought I was going to win the thing. Best I've ever done in the past 3-4 years fishing it was 10th I think.

I miss the blast off. It was another chance to hang. If this was all about community, I think we went the wrong way with it. Of course, this is my opinion, but if you want people other than those who are going to win it to fish, give them a reason to. We have no blast off in the morning. No sense of community there. Used to have donuts and coffee. People BS'ing before blast off. Now people randomly put in and go. Used to have more door prizes. I even offered to shop around for sponsors. It's not that hard or time consuming. The last couple tourneys its been like, put boat in, fish, watch the weigh ins while eating Ruttys grub, raffle off a handful of things then go home. Very rinse and repeat. I'd say we unintentionally took a lot of the "community" out of the thing. Just my opinion.

The other issue is the registration page. I remember last year guys were saying they didn't register because the thought it was full. The registrations were numbered and it looked like all the numbers were taken. Number 1-50 maybe so people can see there are spots left to fill. Remove the $20 penalty for changing your partner. Make a "pro" bracket?

I also think you have to sell the tourney a little. Make some posts, generate some excitement. Sponsors etc. Don't just expect people to show up for the sake of showing up(although some certainly do). Looking forward to seeing where we take this in the future  The biggest online fishing forum for the state of Ohio and we can't put on 2 successful tourneys a year? Something seems fishy to me!


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## MassillonBuckeye (May 3, 2010)

sowbelly101 said:


> Stepping up.


Let me know how I can help as well. I didn't read the rest of the thread before my last wordy reply


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## rutty (Feb 5, 2007)

MassillonBuckeye said:


> Let me know how I can help as well. I didn't read the rest of the thread before my last wordy reply


I will let you know, can always use the help. I am going to take this event over and see how we can get participation up. I am with you on the hanging out part before the event. I will be asking for the "communities" input on ideas and see what people want.


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## dre (Aug 14, 2009)

Thank you for taking over Rutty, I know everyone will appreciate what you are doing.


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## Snyd (May 5, 2004)

Rutty that is awesome if you take it over - Hate to lose something that has been going on forever it seems like. I know everyone has there own idea of how to make it better. I think the only way to really do that is to have two divisions. One will be a lot moe competive than the other. This may bring a lot of people back that still want to compete but at a lower level and have fun while doing it. Either way my son and I will be there as long as there is no baseball games scheduled for that weekend.


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