Posted by Mark Roberts on 11/7/2007, 10:06 am, in reply to "Re: Just a thought"
If those with the will to win want to fish harder and travel further than the rest, I do not believe they should be restrained in any way.
However, I believe there should be a bit more emphasis on fishing smart and a bit less on fishing hard.
The way to achieve that is through the points system. The changes I initiated last year were along the right lines but not nearly radical enough.
I would further reduce points for run-of-the-mill fish such as gurnard and snapper under 1kg, and average size kahawai and smoothhounds. Points for hard-to-catch fish such as snapper over 2kg, blue moki over 4kg, trevally over 2kg, smoothhounds over 10kg and so on would remain significantly higher.
This would mean that those who travel north and fish hard would have to direct their heroic efforts into catching big fish, not just a bin full of little ones. Where those big fish are would be their problem. Champions are supposed to know such things.
I don't agree with some of the comments directed at poor old Dunky. He has to consider Tania and can't just motor off north with his mates. If my points system were put in place, Dunky's approach would be to target big snapper and blue moki, both of which can be caught locally. Dunky would have to accept that he will get bugger all points for 5 kahawai, but let's face it Dunky, that's a hopeless strategy under the current system even if you do catch them.
The question to Chad and Kane is this: Do you want to slug it out as before, or would you like to see who can find the bigger fish?