TBSC Winter Invitational 2007

[Dean Palmer]

For those who have the day off anyway, The St Petersburg Underwater Club (SPUC) is having our annual Island Party on Shell Island at 4pm this Saturday due to the tournament being rescheduled. All spearos are invited!

The Underwater Club will be cooking hot dogs and hamburgers, and providing soda and water. Bring a side dish or dessert if you come, and anything else you might enjoy having/sharing at an island party.

Rides to Shell Island will be provided from the seawall at the north side of Billy's Tierra Verde Restaurant for those of you without a boat. Contact Scott Hooker at 492-5900 if you arrive and don't see the boat/taxi to the island, but be assured someone will be along in a short while, starting just before 4pm.

For those of you not familiar with the area, Shell Island is located just south of the tip of Pass-a-Grille (South St Pete Beach). Directions can be found at: http://www.spearfishingspuc.org/islandparty.htm

Hope to see you there
Dean Palmer
Webmaster, www.spearfishingspuc.org

btt

We had a good time at the Island Party, JBY and Hogsniper's nephew were catching snook and even a juvy gag was landed. I tried my luck but live bait seemed to be the ticket. The fireworks were f-in hilarious, I was almost positive that Chris was going to take one of those roman candles in the chest The food hit the spot with that chilly north wind. Thanks to all that helped organize and transport the gear.

[Grauer]

The 2007 TBSC Winter Invitational was moved to the Raindate of March 23 & 24th. The weather, so far, looks like it will cooperate with our tournament for this weekend. So, plan on the Divers Check In, Late Registration and Captain’s Meeting for this Friday from 7pm to 9pm at Aquatic Obsessions. We now have over $10,000 in prizes to give away to the participants and the T-shirts and Trophies look awesome. If you have any questions regarding this tournament, please contact Capt. Bill Hardman at (727) 656-9714.

[hogsniper]

BTW Bryan, that was my nephew fishing with Delacrauz, not his son. It was good to see you and TS stop by and help out with the fire making and drinking duties. We definitely need to have another island party when the winds are under 25 knots. How was the snook fishing later on?

[The Collector]

Looks like i may get to shoot the tourney afterall......... Next week

GMZ870-873-876-231700-
/O.ROU.KTBW.MA.F.0000.000000T0000Z-000000T0000Z/
TARPON SPRINGS TO SUWANNEE RIVER OUT 20 TO 60 NM-
ENGLEWOOD TO TARPON SPRINGS OUT 20 TO 60 NM-
BONITA BEACH TO ENGLEWOOD OUT 20 TO 60 NM-
331 AM EDT FRI MAR 23 2007

...SMALL CRAFT EXERCISE CAUTION IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM EDT THIS
MORNING...

TODAY
NORTHEAST WINDS 15 TO 20 KNOTS AND GUSTY DIMINISHING TO
AROUND 15 KNOTS DURING THE AFTERNOON. SEAS 4 TO 6 FEET SUBSIDING
TO 3 TO 5 FEET IN THE AFTERNOON.

FRIDAY NIGHT
EAST WINDS 15 TO 20 KNOTS AND GUSTY. SEAS BUILDING
TO 4 TO 6 FEET.

SATURDAY
NORTHEAST WINDS 15 TO 20 KNOTS DIMINISHING TO 15 KNOTS
DURING THE AFTERNOON. SEAS SUBSIDING TO 3 TO 5 FEET BY AFTERNOON

[johnnydinx]

Is this weekend still a "Go"? Or is there a possibility that it will be postponed again?

BONITA BEACH TO ENGLEWOOD OUT 20 TO 60 NM-
331 AM EDT FRI MAR 23 2007
...SMALL CRAFT EXERCISE CAUTION IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM EDT THIS
MORNING...

Last time I checked the tournament was Saturday, March 24th

Tournament is still a go Johnnydinx!!!!!

[Petra]

woohoo! Seas looking a little calmer, eh??! 2-4 is better than 3-5!

[fishkilla]

it was blowing 15 to 20 knots against the mangroves at the little manatee river all day long. i was going to shoot the tournament from the bay but there is about 3 ft of vis in the channel.

good luck folks. i'll be snook fishing tomorrow night.

[huntinfish]

TBSC winter invitational report.

Overall it was a great day for diving, getting together with friends and slaying some fish. We all put in alot of effort to make this a great time, it's just too bad Mr. Bill Hardman disgraced his own tournament and the TBSC. I just can't help thinking if I showed up with my cooler 8 min after the deadline would I be able to say "I'm so glad I called". I don't think so! According to your own rules (which changed when it was your boats cooler that would have been disqualified and your personal fish) No fish will be allowed to be wieghed that were not in line after the 5:30 deadline. While I'm sure that most of the TBSC club members have integrety, what I saw happen was unbelievable. Mr Hardman I believe you owe an apology to all of your fellow Speros. What was the point of synchronizing our watches to yours? Good luck with your future tournaments.

Dennis Tonge

[hogsniper]

Dennis, no rules were changed for Bill or anyone on his boat. According to the weighmaster, they were late along with 2 other coolers. This tournament has no provisions for phone in weighins either. Bill had a discrepancy with his time, but the weighmaster makes the call. Thank you for shooting the tournament, we all had a great time. I think things went 99% perfect considering it is the first year. Let's not make assumptions about TBSC or the integrity of the tournament based on a weighin line cutoff dispute.

[bgbill]

Originally Posted by huntinfish

TBSC winter invitational report.

Overall it was a great day for diving, getting together with friends and slaying some fish. We all put in alot of effort to make this a great time, it's just too bad Mr. Bill Hardman disgraced his own tournament and the TBSC. I just can't help thinking if I showed up with my cooler 8 min after the deadline would I be able to say "I'm so glad I called". I don't think so! According to your own rules (which changed when it was your boats cooler that would have been disqualified and your personal fish) No fish will be allowed to be wieghed that were not in line after the 5:30 deadline. While I'm sure that most of the TBSC club members have integrety, what I saw happen was unbelievable. Mr Hardman I believe you owe an apology to all of your fellow Speros.It made me question weather or not this tournmament was rigged. What was the point of synchronizing our watches to yours? Good luck with your future tournaments.

Dennis Tonge

Originally Posted by hogsniper

Dennis, no rules were changed for Bill or anyone on his boat. According to the weighmaster, they were late along with 2 other coolers. This tournament has no provisions for phone in weighins either.

I know I shouldn't comment on this, but here goes....


If they were late, it is automatic DQ, according to the rules.

So how can you say the rules were not changed for him? maybe they weren't changed, but they sure weren't followed.

To quote Bill Hardman from last night at the Captains Meeting.

"If you are late, Too bad, I don't give a crap who you are"

I think the rules were very clear, and clearly they were not followed.

I am not going to get into a pissing match with you guys on this, but I do agree with Dennis on the late weigh in issue, as far as the rigging of the tournament, I do not agree with that portion of his statement.

I had heard several people make comments about how unhappy they were with the way he was allowed to weigh his fish, and then when it was mentioned to Bill that two other guys were late, Bill allowed them to weigh their fish.

I spoke with a guy from another boat on the way home tonight, and he was about 45 minutes late, because he didn't reset the time on his GPS (Luckily I did) he had some nice fish and probably a bigger bug than Scott Hookers, I told him he should have mentioned it, but he said he was late, had no excuse, and that they follow the rules, so why should he say something about it?

I have always had respect for him and his fellow team mates, but this goes to show me why I do, and merely reinforces it.

Bottom line is, Rules are Rules, and Late is Late.

I know I followed the rules, I originally was going to have Chris Hudgeons diving with me on my boat, but at the Captains meeting he had concern with the weather, so he decided not to register, according to the rules, One of the team members from my boat had to attend the Captains Meeting, so as soon as I found out, I left my house in Plant City and drove approximately 50 miles one way, to attend the meeting, because that is what the rules state, I followed the rules, why can't everyone else?

[Spearchucker]

Well, to be honest with you, I just can't get too worked up about it. The tournement was designed to be fun, I have no knowledge, nor do I care, about whatever the hell went down. I had a great time, on a relaxing day, and I now have plenty of fish for my fish fry in two weeks.

I do want to give props to my team, while I did not quite make the top 5 (I was close), Ritchie (Aquaman) won the whole damn thing, and Pat Bennet (the beanbag guru) came in second. That makes five straight tournaments that the boat "Relentless" has taken multiple glass in.

[bgbill]

Originally Posted by Spearchucker

I do want to give props to my team, while I did not quite make the top 5 (I was close), Ritchie (Aquaman) won the whole damn thing, and Pat Bennet (the beanbag guru) came in second. That makes five straight tournaments that the boat "Relentless" has taken multiple glass in.

Congratulations

[KrazyTrain]

Sorry but I spear in alot of the tournaments and also hook and line in alot of kingfish tournaments and we did have an issue here. I have never heard of a "time discrepancy" and being alllowed to jump in line after the cut off time. I think it would have been more respectable if they just admitted they were late and stuck with the rules. If you have not fiqured out that we turned the clocks up a few weeks ago then you must live on Mars. We put alot of effort and time into this tournament and made sure we were there on time. Had to rush, bust our ass and drive a hour and 15 minutes through traffic just to get there. What would have happened if we got pulled over for speeding and caused us to be late? would a call in have saved us? It makes no sense to say that they did not win, what if they did.