Guys,
Obviously we do not all have the same opinions on this matter. Let me start with this is the only tournament I can recall being asked for my input(before the tournament actually started). Jersey Joe has given us all a chance to offer our ideas, and for that I commend him. Now that more people are giving input, it gets more complicated. I am going to enter regardless of what the final ruling is. I always enjoy competing on the water with a decent bunch of local guys with similar interests. Truth be told, in all of the Barnegat Fishin' Hole tournaments I root for the regular members on this site (after myself of course).

I have a 30' boat with two regulars, my 15 year old son and myself. Throughout the season there will be between two and six anglers on board every trip we make. Sometimes the other anglers will be my son's friends from high school, other times it will be my relatives (wife, daughter, father, nieces, etc), and yes at least three or four times a year my buddies that are die-hard fisherman will join us. With all of these different people it would be impractical to have them all pay the roughly $80 each, especially since none of us know when and if any of them will go fishing with us this year. On the other hand, I have no problem with paying the per person fee for my son and I. However, this causes another problem, my son is a minor and technically he is not allowed to compete in a 'money' tournament.

I agree that the guys in the roughly 17' boats are not going to fish the ocean with four to six guys on board, ever. This clearly puts the larger boats at an advantage, especially on not so great weather days. I also want a level playing field, for the 17' boats, the 30' boats and the 42' boats. On the other hand, there is some shallow areas of the Barnegat Bay you will not catch me or the guys with the big boats fishing.

As you can see we all have different ideas of what is best.

I did not intend to beat a dead horse, my son and I responded within a few minutes (not planned).