Summer multi species league interest

[CANOPY SAM]

So are we all the way out to Saturday June 29th now?

[TyGuy02]

I think June 9th afternoon/evening, I think that's what the child suggested? I don't care if his name is Travis, I'll still call him child.

Take that back, I read further into the posts and it is now a cluster ______ (fill in blank)

[child23]

Sorry to make it confusing. We can either do it the 9th or the 29th. If we do it the 9th I would have to be done by like 5 in order to make it to my softball games. If we do it the 29th I don't have any plans so we could do whatever for hours. We can still do it the 9th but we will have to do something like noon to 4 or something like that

[CANOPY SAM]

Just got off the horn with Travis. We're going to say Sunday, June 9th, from 1-5 p.m.. We'll be fishing the Red Lake River above the dam in Thief River Falls for this first event. Final answer.

Again, if enough folks show up, we'll make this a really low buy-in contest, and keep scores for each individual fishing. Travis will go over this before we get started. If only a few folks show up we'll simply do a little fun fishing and share techniques etc., after we're done.

Please respond here if you can come. It would be good to know how many plan to show up, and how many will have boats (with seating open), or who plans to shore fish. Hopefully, we'll have enough boats to accommodate everyone who shows up, but if not, there are many places to fish from shore at different locations along the river.

Hope to see many of you there!

[ArneRantanenJr]

I'm going to say I'll try to make it provided I get my boat done and wife lets me go. Where's the meeting point?

[lovebigbluegills]

I'll be able to fish for a couple hours, but I won't be able to stay until 5.

[CANOPY SAM]

Whoops, I meant to put that in there. Travis suggested we meet at the public landing at the 3rd street bridge.

I think it would be good for folks to show up even if they can't fish the event, or can only fish part of the event. It will help us to know how many to expect for future events, and give everyone who shows up an opportunity to see how this will work.

Again, hope to see all of you there!

[Starman73]

Meet like 12:30 then, I plan on coming. How are the river conditions, is the center of the river pretty clear of hazards.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

What a great idea! Not sure if I can make this one but the next event I'll try to make it. I don't get done with church until noon, but it wouldn't kill me to miss it from tine to time. Tyguy keep me posted bud, you know my #

[CANOPY SAM]

Starman, yes the main river channel, above the dam, is pretty clear of any obstacles. Once you cross under 8th street bridge going north up the Thief River you will encounter some pretty shallow bars here and there, not very far up river, so you do have to pick your way around pretty carefully.

Also, if you're headed east up the Red Lake River, once you pass the first real tight bend in the river, surrounded by the big gorgeous homes, you'll also begin to encounter some fairly shallow water here and there. To be on the cautionary side, I'd say it would be prudent to run fairly slow, and keep a close eye on your electronics at all times, so you don't run aground a shallow bar anywhere.

Jim, glad to see you're interested in these events. I too will have church to attend on Sunday morning, so I'll be pushing it for time for this event. I really hope we don't have too many more of these on Sunday afternoons. As I've stated earlier, I really hope to see them more often during peak fishing times, either early morning, or early evening, but we had to start this one so that Travis could be there, and this time works for him.

Now let's just cross our fingers that the weather cooperates.

The river is in about the best shape we could hope for. The intermittent rains have her running at a nice level, and the water clarity is pretty good all over.

[CropDuster301]

Looks like ill ba able to make it for the outting,,, fingers are crossed! Question.....is the river level ok for a 16 ft Lund? Or should I bring my 12 ft duck boat? Looking forward to meeting everyone

[CANOPY SAM]

CD. Glad you can attend. I was just gearing up to send one last shout out for this event. Yep. Again, we're fishing the Red Lake River ABOVE THE DAM in TRF tomorrow from 1-5 p.m. The river level is just fine for a 16 ft. Lund.

If you read an earlier post, I explained a few areas to watch out for, and we'll probably go over these issues again tomorrow before we take off fishing.

One last time, we're having our first NW MN multi-species tourney/fishing day tomorrow, Sunday, June 9th, from 1-5 p.m. in TRF, MN. We'll meet at the 3rd street landing for a quick pre-event meeting, then spend a few hours above the dam fishing for whatever should bite.

You're more than welcome to show up a little early, and get your boat in the water prior to the meeting so you're ready to go.

[ArneRantanenJr]

I should be there, look for the guy with the new hummer and bass boat, then laugh at me behind him in my old 14' tin foil boat. Put it in the water this afternoon and found a few more leaks and hopefully sealed them up. Motor wasn't running real great, but lots better then last time I was out so I shouldn't get stranded. See you all tomorrow to shake some hands and share some stories when we are done..

Arne

[CANOPY SAM]

Arne, if you're not confident about your rig I'll have room for you in my boat. That's as long as I don't have to run down to Sabin to pick up my wife and kids.

She ran into a car malfunction in Fergus Falls yesterday, and I'm currently hoping I don't have to run down there tomorrow and pick her and the kids up! If she can borrow her Mom's car for a day or two we'll be fishing...if not, I'll be driving tomorrow while everyone else is having a pleasant day on the water.

At this point I'm just really hoping to attend at all.

[CropDuster301]

Been watching the radar all morning and looks like it might be a wet soggy afternoon, raining here in c-town... Just wondering if ppl are still planning on fishing today, don't bother me any to fish in some rain but didn't want to travel up there if no one shows up

[TyGuy02]

I'm loaded up and on my way

If there is anybody that wants to be in a boat I have room for two

[ArneRantanenJr]

I'm going, I guess if it's raining we will just have to decide if it's fishable or not.

[CANOPY SAM]

We held our first event yesterday, and I have to say I was pleased with the turnout, and I think everyone had some fun. It was nice to meet some fellow local FM anglers, and put a few names to faces.

We did have a little light rain from time to time, but nothing that hampered the event. The wind made fishing a little tricky as it seemed to gust in various directions with the river current, against current, back and forth, yadda yadda yadda. One minute it's fairly warm, next it's cold and wet. Typical NW MN spring weather.

The fishing seemed to be "off" as everyone struggled to find any sizeable fish, but our first event was only a trial run, so no big deal. I believe there was one nice 17-18 inch walleye caught, and a handful of small pike. We did have one nice 8-9 lb. pike on in our boat, but it came unbuttoned too quick and was gone.

Our next event is tentatively scheduled for the evening of Friday, June 28th. The group collectively decided on a late evening/night event at Maple Lake, to hopefully avoid the throngs of recreational traffic on the lake. I don't recall that we decided on an exact time, but I would offer that we meet at the East side public landing around 7:30 p.m. to again quickly go over event rules, get boats into the water, and start fishing around 8:30 or so? Perhaps fishing until 12:00 midnight?

Please feel free to correct me if I've got this info wrong. On a side note to everyone coming. I've fished that area of Maple (the east side) late evening/night bite, and I'd warn everyone to be ready for the mosquitoes! When the sun goes down there can be absolute swarms of those nasty buggers coming out of the eastern shore side sloughs. Come prepared.

A big thank you to everyone who showed up yesterday. Again, it was fun to meet everyone, and get in a little fishing time on some fairly new water. Looking forward to our next event! Hope to see everyone who attended this first event show up at the next, and bring some friends!

[CANOPY SAM]

Just posted this as a follow-up to a couple questions at another web location. Thought others might appreciate the info here as well.

It's a multi-species dealio. All freshwater "game fish" are eligible, of course following state-wide, and lake specific rules and regulations.

The tourney coordinator has designed a cool system of point scoring as per fish, and size, and we'll likely monitor folks with some sort of "key word" sign each will be given at the beginning of each event. This held in a phone camera pic of each fish, and one pic of the fish on a measuring device of some kind will suffice for each entry.

You can have as many folks in your boat as you want, and each angler will be fishing for their own total score.

It'll very likely proceed as a very low "buy-in" deal, maybe 5, 10, or 20 bucks per person for each event, depending on how "competitive" folks feel at the time. Nothing official, nothing sanctioned. Just a fun little get together to learn and share some new water, and meet some other folks who enjoy fishing.

I'm not coordinating this "league". Just sharing info, and encouraging folks to come out. I suppose you could refer to me as the Executive Marketing Director!!! Ha ha ha...

As the summer progresses we plan to listen to input from all participants on dates, locations, etc., for future events. We'd like to keep it primarily to NW MN, but are entertaining some ideas with lakes within 1 - 1 1/2 hours of TRF, so Upper Red and Lake of the Woods are still possibilities, as well as lakes around Mentor, Fosston, Clearbrook, etc., and maybe even a lake or two just south of Lower Red off the Red Lake Reservation.

Please keep in mind. These are just kinda fun events. No pressure cooker stress level tournament anglers here. Just a bunch of folks who like to fish, and want to explore new waters and learn new techniques and opportunities.

Kids, and spouses, are welcome to come along too. We'll probably throw together a second category for just the kids with maybe a $5 entry fee to cover a few simple prizes for the top three winners.

I'm not sure if the coordinator will be able to throw together a permanent schedule of events at any time as we kinda wanna play it by ear as to what other folks would like to do. Each gathering is pretty much wide open to whomever wants to come, and you're not obligated to attend all of them. Just show up to which ever ones you can, and have fun.

Hope to see you at the next event!

[TyGuy02]

It's always fun meeting other people just as crazy about fishing as I am! It was fun learning new water for me and will definitely be trying to make it for the next event. If you're someone that doesn't have lights for their boat for the next event or someone that doesn't have a boat wants to participate send me a PM.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

I couldn't make it. TyGuy my phone took a swim in the lake lol but keep an eye on some things as far how much prize money and stuff, maybe contact the DNR to see if a license is needed or a permit...

[child23]

Well I want to start off by saying thanks to everyone that showed up. It was fun to meet everyone. I am definitely looking forward to the next one in a couple of weeks. Any more suggestions for changes or additions to help the league? What do we want for prizes for the next league night? Do we just want to do prize money or trophys/plaques? I will be more prepared for the next event and will have the program set up so that I can put the scores in and have the totals on the spot. I will also list the lengths fish need to be on the scoresheet. I realized that I didn't know the minimum size for northerns until after I decided to check after the 2nd 16" one I caught. I'm hoping to get lights rigged up on my boat before the next event but if not i have another friend that is interested in fishing the event.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

I couldn't make it. TyGuy my phone took a swim in the lake lol but keep an eye on some things as far how much prize money and stuff, maybe contact the DNR to see if a license is needed or a permit...

[CANOPY SAM]

Travis,

Did you make the call that Jim is referring to above? I think I recall when we spoke a while back that you said we wouldn't need any kind of license or permit as the league isn't "sanctioned" by anyone, and we would keep the total winnings amounts well below the threshold?

Is this correct?

[child23]

If I remember correctly I believe it is a buy in under $25 and no more than 20 boats or 50 contestants I believe. I will double check to be sure though

[Starman73]

Had a good time, always fun to fish different places. Just wanted to throw this out there, how about the kids class doesn't have the minimum size limit like the adults. The kids were always wanting there fish measured anyway.

[CANOPY SAM]

That's a good idea. Just add up a total measurement of all fish for the kids?

[child23]

So any thoughts on if we want trophies or do we just want a payout? I also checked and its 25 boats max and a buyin less than 25. We should probably get a count on how many people will be there

[child23]

So since no one replied I have decided we are going to just have a cash payout. I also would like to get a head count so that I know how many score sheets to have.

[TyGuy02]

Sounds good on the payout. It's not looking promising for me Friday night but we'll see