helo martin catch any crappie today hows your crappie fishing coming along!

Do you think that it might make sense to be able to poll the membership vote on some of the upcoming issues. Does the CAT website have that ability? This might help to get more members involved in the tourneys. The other change I am hoping for is the ability to pay for tourneys online.Plus we could sale some those awsome CAT items.
I can't say enough good things about the club from the board to the membership when moved back here from CA this gave me an opportunity to meet some great people and make some great friends.
The raffles are great and it would be nice if we could have more BBQ. I know that at lakepark on Lewisville seperate area that you can rent for $75.00 for the day. It has seperate bathroom ,horseshoes,volleyball,plenty of private parking, running water,aswell as bbq pits. we had a family outing there it awsome. The area can handle about 150+ and is covered with fans to cool the area that is covered. Just a thought for next year.
Hopefully we can finish strong. Those who have not fished in a tournament you are really missing out. I can tell that i have more confidence now and embrace the opportunity to fish agaist what I consider the best in TX. The crazy thing is that they are the ones teaching me how to do it. I also credit my partner for alot of help also. He is a great coach butI don't think the push-ups, jumping jacks,and laps when I don,t land fish are nesscary but after listening to the Paul and Jerry fishing over 300 trees to win at lewisville. I am starting to see tho logic, stamina.
You guys that are missing the meetings are really missing out having that many pros to talk to one on one is priceless.It really reduces the guesswork when your on the water.

Good Luck on the water and be safe

Brian, you bring up a good point. To be honest, being on the board would not scare or bother me with one exception. Having been to every meeting since inception, the board members running the meetings without exception had very meaningful information to share regarding their experience fishing for crappie. As my experience fishing for crappie or anything else for that matter dates back only 1 year, I honestly don't think at this point I have anything to share. I'm still in the extreme learning phase myself.

This in no way lessens my beliefs in my previously stated opinions, I just don't think at this point that I am a qualified fisherman for election to the board. I'm sure there are much more experienced non boat owner fishermen in the club than I. Heck, up until a few months ago, you were a non boat owner yourself and even you have tremendously more experience fishing than I do. I just don't think I would be what the board or the club would be looking for for board membership at this time.

Not that I needed to explain myself, but I wanted to let you know my thinking on your comment.

Tracy

Tracy,

Just a thought.....maybe a lesser experienced crappie fisherman is exactly what the board needs.

You ever sit around and listen to a bunch of men/women talk about something that they know an awful lot about, but you have no idea what they're talking about? It can seem like you're listening to a foreign language.

What if you had a translator? Someone that could translate that meaningful information in to ways that you would understand.

Sometimes, those who know already know what they're talking about when talking to others who already know what they're talking about. Make sense?

Maybe the board could use someone that doesn't know so that they can make sure to reach all persons that know and don't know.

I appreciate that of a non boater for sure Tracey. I was a non boater for almost 18 months since i sold my last boat. I did not in any way mean anything more than i truly said. I wasn't thinking when i said you should get a nom and be on the board. I forgot that wassupposed to be private. And when i said it's supposed to be fun i meant exactly that, because it should. It had nothing to do with your post directly, it was more to the effect that if the rules are making these draws tuff than something should change. I think i stated months ago that maybe there should be a set dollar that a non boater may pay. And a set dollar % that a non boater could win. That would keep anyone from being "outed" or get mad.


Anyhow, Tracy I apologize!

Brian Spagnola

I have appreciated all the efforts put into this club. I was first in line to join up. And am a Proud member. I havent been able to make all the meeting due to driving distance(75 miles one way) but have made a few and enjoyed them. I really havent met that many new folks, but already know half them through the past years of tournament fishing.

I was O.K. with the first schedule with a few area lakes in my neighborhood, then things began to change. No big deal just, already had plans. Very Busy Year for me and even more so now. Draws can be fun for some, but not my cup of tea.

I like the febuary tournament(Lavon)I just like winter fishing and trolling period.Theres a handful of lakes around that havent been fished much in all directions.

All in all everybody and everything is fine with me,just a busy person trying to cover all areas of the outdoor world in 365 days.

Amen Reveran your write on target!

Great Sugestion! and believe me he's telling the truth!

No ofence!

Ill Donate some of my jigs to the raffles! its something anyway!

You do and i have big boat payments, wonna help!

LOL

All of what I'm about say is my own oppinion.

What did I learn?
Not sure I learned any new ways to catch crappie. But I did learn things that I need to do to win tournements in the future.

The important?
NOT TO CATCH THE BIG FISH IN PREFISHING!!

What I liked about the club?
Getting to talk to good people.

Dislikes?
That all the meetings we're in north Dallas, they need to be more centralized.

What would I change?
I wasn't a fan of the draw tourneys. I understand we (myself included) need to educate more people to get more people involved, but it was hard to go from partner to partner. I didn't have clubs to teach me how and what to do to catch crappie. I had to learn on my own from trial and error. The number one thing it takes to catch crappie is time on the water, or hire a guide. I don't like to say that because I'm a guide but it's the truth, it will help you as the draw tourneys have proven. One last thing hold some tourneys at lakes further south or west.

Favorite lake.
CedarCreek.

Least Favorite.
Didn't really have one.

Wish I had fished more tourneys but had other things that interfeared and hopefully will attend more next year. I would like to be more involved. In the begining I offered my help but for some reason was kinda overlooked, hopefully I can help more next year. With all the wishes, next year should be better than this and I'm looking forward to it. All in all I had a great time at every event! Plus Jerry,Paul, and George's friendships are very funny they act like there're having the time of there're lives and that's great to be a part of that.

GoodLuck
CrappieMaster

Patmando,

Polling the membership online is available, but would require anyone who wanted to participate to register on the club site (currently disabled).

Online payments could also be configured with a little bit of work. It could cost the club a little bit more to accept credit card payments through paypal or some other online ecommerce provider. The board would probably want to know that this was desirable for almost everyone before doing it.

Did you learn anything? Yes I can say I learned a little.
What was the most important thing that you learned? I can't think of any one thing.
What did you like most about the club? Meeting and talking to new people and visiting with friends and seeing how others gave up their time to help teach others about crappie fishing.
What did you dislike the most about the club?� The membership not having more say and or decision making on club business. I know that i was unable to attend most of the meetings. Being a full time guide my first responsibility is to my clients. I joined CAT to share any knowledge that i could to help others in any way that i could. And that hasn't changed. It was nice that Paul asked me to speak somewhat before the RR tourney� and i was more than happy to. It would have been nice if i would have known ahead of time so i could have helped more.
What would you change for next year if you were making the dicisions?� Give the final vote on decisions to the membership on club business and run the meetings with parliamentary procedure as was stated at one of the first meetings.
What was your favorite tournament lake? Least favorite?� I only fished the RR tournament so i guess it will have to be�������� ���� RR.

I would like to thank Ernest, Paul, Guy and the others for all the time and effort they have put into this club. Crappie fishing is one of the most enjoyable and relaxing types of fishing one can learn. I have had people tell me even what great therapy it is. So it is great seeing more people starting to take part in learning this great sport. In my opinion crappie tournaments are not for everyone. I would hate to see someone get discouraged from crappie fishing by fishing the tournaments because fishing a tournament and just going out crappie fishing is totally different. A person can learn a lot about crappie fishing at the CAT meetings but for people wanting to learn on the water even though yes they will learn things it is not the same as going with a guide that his main focuss is to teach you.

In a sense, this is a poll of the members. Right here, right now, you can give us your opinions on anything.

We investigated the possibility of credit card or Pay Pal payments and for now it created many problems for us. We have to be able to payout, in cash, at the tournaments, almost instantly and the board members have only so much time to devote to this job. Maybe later, who knows.

Just FYI on the meeting location: If you marked a map with the members home locations, the current meeting place is almost exactly in the middle of the most. Some are obviously to far to attend any meetings. No place would suit everyone anyway. Finding a place to hold the meetings is also a problem. We tried to hold the meetings on the Tues. prior to each tournament but scheduling the room is not always possible. Looks like Mondays are a better possibility.

Just a summary of likes and dislikes on here and in PM's that have popped up the most so far.

Some members want all draw tournaments.

Many members and potential members don't like the draw tournaments and don't want any.

To many tournaments at the same lakes, spread them around.

More member input on the rules and scheduling.

Schedule more distant lakes. Closer lakes, Lakes West, Lakes South.

More time spent at the meetings on "How to's". (We're running out of "How to's".)

I agree with Cliff, tournaments are not for everyone. They put a lot of stress on the participants and are not really a lot of fun most of the time. However they are competion and humans like to compete for some strange reason. Usually, you are on a lake that you really don't want to be on, at a time you probably shouldn't be there, in all kinds of adverse weather, and for some really strange reason "I LOVE IT".

"Who would have thought that catching 7 little fish could be so hard?"