SACA members please read and comment

[David Waters]

Ok, we are almost through our first year. A new year is around the corner and possible changes may be needed. Here are a few that I have thought about after having talked with a few members of the association. These have to do with tournaments mostly.

1. The first thing I want to bring up is the membership fee. In the first year we had some things we needed to purschase that called for $35 membership fee. Now that we have a few tournaments under our belt, we have a little money in the bank to work with. I want to suggest that in our next year, membership renewals be $20 a person. But, keep the $35 innitiation fee for all new members joining the association. In other words, $35 your first year, and $20 every year after that. This would encourage folks to possibly go ahead and join whenever possible and not wait until the next full year, and for nothing else but to encourage folks to stay in the association.

2. Next I would like to discuss possible changes in the points race. The whole idea behind getting BONUS points is to encourage our members to attend our events, mostly meetings. We do not have many meetings in the year, so every one of them are important. As far as bonuses, right not each member that attends recieves a bonus point. That m eans, 2 men teams recieve 2 points per event. This I would like to change to the TEAM recieves a point if the entire team comes to the event. If only one member attends, then that team recieves a HALF a point. This should make it a little more fair for everyone. Right now, if a two man team shows for everything, they have the huge advantage, this hopefully evens the playing feild a little.
Also under this heading, I would like to possibly change the policy for next year on what events we recieve bonus points for. The only way to receive a bonus point would possibly change to meetings only. Receieving a bonus point at a tournament would be eliminated. But, anyone attending the tournament who does not weigh in any fish will at least recieve 1 pound regardless.

3. I woul dlike to see more of our members get more involved in what we do. With this being said, I would like to deligate certain foks to do certain things. For instance, have someone in charge of advertising. Getting signs made and distributed around for our tournaments. Have someone in charge of getting door prizes for the tournament. Have someone in charge of getting meals together when we wawnt to have a cookout for the club. These are all just ideas, but honestly just to take a little of the load off of me. I could use the help.

4. I would like to change the meeting place to my new house I am building. It is a little easier to get too, and my garage or inside is plenty big enough to hast any meeting. This would make it a little easier for me to prepare for meeting, especially if we cook.

5. I would like to change next year to 10 paying tournaments, with 3 possible open tournaments for anyone to attend. I would like to pick 5 lakes and rotate them for each tournament. The five lakes staying Cedar, Little Bear, Pickwick, Wilson, and Wheeler. We can decide what the order will be next meeting.

6. The idea of a fun tournament has come up. This being a random draw tournament. We would put names into a hat and draw them out as teams. These people would fish together a tournament for the pot. Let me know what you th ink about this possibility.

7. Also, think about the possiblity of joining with Crappie USA. I have the paperwork in with me. There are both benifits and drawbacks to this. It would cost each member a considerable amount more money. But the association would get insurance. Also, we would be affiliated with CUSA which means our top teams would qualify for a CUSA Regional.

Let me know your thoughts and questions on these matters. All of these things should be discussed at our next meeting to be voted on the meeting before the Classic in April.

[keith dodd]

David,

All this sounds good. A couple of sugestions I have.
1) If we want to change the point process make bonus points for meetings only. And each team repersented would receive 1 point. If you are a two man team and at least one member can make the meeting that team should receive 1 point.

2) If possible meet on thursday night and put the five lakes in a hat and draw and the lake that is drawn is where we will fish that saturday. next meeting leave the lake we already fished out and draw again. this will make it a little level playing field for those who may not be able to practice fish before the tour.
3) Launch from anywhere on the lake. some may have a smaller boat and can't run where they want to fish. like on wheeler,pickwick
just my 2 cents worth.

[David Waters]

good things to think about , Keith.

The launch from different sites was how we started, but I found a few things out as we went. First off, getting peoples money for the tournament was a problem. Thos who didn't come to the meeting were trying to get me money and so forth and it became a problem and a legistic hastle. We talked about it at a meeting and decided to change it to one launch site. From a standpoint of legistics and safety, it works out well. Although, this subject could be brought up again.

Another thing we found was that when someone launched from the other end of the lake, if they didn't have a good day, they just left and didn't come to the weigh in. This was another reason we decided on the one launch.

The idea of drawing in a decent idea. Honestly, the reason we don't meet on THursday nights is because of me. Thursday nights are just awful. From August to November, I am on the band field every night rehearsing for the next days football game. And, because we use the band room for meetings, that kinda just isn't realistic. Monday nights seem to be working out fine so far for everyone. I guess no matter what night it is, someone has a conflict.

Meetings only is what I have in mind. THe points you recieve at the tournament are your fish weights. And, if you blank, then at least you get a pound for showing up to the weigh in.

The two man team deal work for me I guess. If the team is represented they should recieve a point. Wether or not the team gets a full point or not will be discussed at the meeting.

Also, something I ddin't bring up, I beleive if a person cannot attend the tournament, then the other member of the 2 man team can fish alone and those points go toward their team score.

All these things will be worked out and fixed before the next full year.

[J White]

I won't go into a long post, cause it sounds like ya'll have got it figured out,
and I'm fine with all the stuff being talked about.

I do sort of like Keith's idea of drawing lakes out of a hat - I'll be happy
either way.

Only thing I'd really like to elaborate on, is the launch site thing -
for me, there are good and bad about both ways. So I'm not pushing for
either way. Only thing I thought of is this, if ya'll did want to go back to
the "launch anywhere" way, the safety issue has been brought up.
Maybe if a person decided not to go to the weigh-in, they could call David
or whoever was in charge that day and say "OK, I'm off the water safe"
You know, make it a rule, account for yourself, either by showing up, or
calling.

and, wish ya'll would come fish Bay Springs with me, but know most of ya
ain't gonna buy non-resident licenses... I think they went up again this year.