Dale Hollow... I am HERE! Gas is $1.47 at the ONE Stop

Seminars will be at Cabin 10 next to the Motel not in the big cabin as last year.
So far I think only about 6 people are coming..
Expenses for food... $60.00
Gas Expense $20.00
Plus !0 pounds Deer Meat and 5 pounds deer sausage..

Dinner is at 6PM Celina Time and Seminars at 7PM.
Breakfast at 6AM Tournament at 7AM

Breakfast and Dinner are $3.00
Next year I am going to rent the big cabin and take reservations. $10.00 per person by October 1, 2009 and the 15th of November $20.00 more to stay in the cabin. Late Reservations after December 1st will be $35.00 plus $20.00 for tournament.
Seminars will be $5.00 per person who does not stay at Horse Creek, since Horse Creek is supplying the facilities.
Dinner will be $3.00 again as is breakfast. Iwill fix it but I am going to have to have at least 10 reservations by October 1st or we are not going to do this again.. Just not worth it for less than a dozen people each year and Thomas had to put off a tournament to next week for us.

Jim Dicken

Well 3 folks showed for the Seminar and 3 for the tournament.. so we canceled the tournament.

Total cost: $15.00 in gas so far
$45.00 in food
Cabin $35.00

Guess next year I will get reservations.
Jim

I think taking reservations by Oct. 1 is a bit extreme. I'll always be interested in this event, but you just can't predict your schedule that far in advance for a 1-2 day event. This year, I had (potentially) the state football finals (my team didn't make it) and a family get-together. If I had made reservations back in September, I would have just canceled them. I wish I could be there, but it just didn't work out for me.

How far in advance to you have to buy the food anyway?

why dont yu guys hold the tournament in jan or feb.... becasue last week was the billy westmoreland and the week before that was the smalljaw.com tourny... i wanted to come today but i have a family xmas to go to. but whydont u try and do a poll and see when the best time for everyone would be... just a thought i know durring dec i am always busy but i slow in jan i dont knwo anyone else schedule though...

I posted twice about moving it to mid January for the very same reasons that Ryan says above over the past couple of weeks and both post have disappeared. My reasoning was the same, many fellas prefished the weekend before the smalljaw since the couple of days immediately before was Thanksgiving, Horse Creek was completely sold out last week starting Tuesday and almost on Monday with people down there fishing all week prefishing for the Billy, which made this weekend the 3rd weekend in a row. Throw in Xmas in a couple of weeks and all the gifts being bought probably limits the wallet as well. Just my opinion again, mid January would be enough time to let everyone spend time with the family and get a few more greenbacks in the wallet. I do know the Billy is the first weekend of December and the Smalljaw is the second weekend of December for 2009, which makes mid January excellent. 100% guaranteed that if I am not physically in the hospital or just discharged from the hospital I will be there in January 2010. I do know a lot of other fellas that would have made it January this year but they had spent all their away from the family time for the first 2 tourneys of December.

I'm with you guys. All the prefishing for Smalljaw and Billy burns up a lot of time for most guys. January-February would be best plus "The Guru" has got to be there.

[QUOTE=thebassman30;347801]I'm with you guys. All the prefishing for Smalljaw and Billy burns up a lot of time for most guys. January-February would be best plus "The Guru" has got to be there.[/QUOTE]

Same here........I'd probably go, but this is WAY too close to Christmas, the Westmoreland, and the SmallJaw tourney.

Make it second weekend in Jan, and I bet turnout would be MUCH better.

People coming off the holidays.........wanting to use their NEW F-n-F rod their kids got them......that new spool of XPS 6lb flourocarbon.......THAT new Bronzeback........

I know my Jan and Feb will be FILLED with trips.

Later,

Geo

Well guys i was one of the 3 there! lol Even though nobody showed up it was still great to be out on the lake. IF there would have been a tournament I would have had a fish over 21 to weigh in. Also I caught another under 16..lol and then a slot. Had 3 for the day. Couldnt really get a pattern together but hey it was fun. Will be back down after christmas. I would Like to thank Jim, thomas, and Bob Coan for being there and talking to us with not many people there. It was fun sitting in cabin 10 friday night hearin storys and stuff about the fnf and shootin the bull with jim and bob. Whenever and if you have this again I will be back down cause 1. its on my favorite lake. 2. always great to meet fellow fisherman. Oh Yea It was nice meeting you One eyed willie ( Im bad with remembering names ) Thats your screen name though..lol I did remember that. Great talking to you and wish you would have stayed to fish a little bit. Anyway Thanks again to everyone who put this on.

[QUOTE=know1;347791]I think taking reservations by Oct. 1 is a bit extreme. I'll always be interested in this event, but you just can't predict your schedule that far in advance for a 1-2 day event. This year, I had (potentially) the state football finals (my team didn't make it) and a family get-together. If I had made reservations back in September, I would have just canceled them. I wish I could be there, but it just didn't work out for me.

How far in advance to you have to buy the food anyway?[/QUOTE]

It Is not the Food.
NONE of the get togethers (PLEASE DONT TAKE THIS WRONG... I like all the people I have met, it is no ones fault, but I am no longer paid to do this so the money I spent hurts..) has ever produced more than 20 people. The winter ones got smaller and smaller. IF I can not get enough promise of participation it is not worth my time. I took 2 days off work. That is another $128.00 in income lost, plus time working on my websites. Why would I want to do this for 3 people??
PLUS Thomas kept the weekend open and he deserves to know soon enough to be able to book his cabins. He could have booked a tournament this weekend and decided to hold the weekend for us. This cost Horse Creek. (AGAIN not blaming anyone, but in the end we DO need to be responsible and not tie up resources better left to another group.)
Food can be bought 24 hours ahead... but I bought for 10, and 3 showed. LOTS of extra Deer Meat was defrosted, I only used half the beef, less than half the eggs, bought coffee, and used about 4 teaspoons. (AGAIN MY FAULT... for buying, but I THOUGHT 10 were coming)
The main reason for the October Deadline is to prevent Horse Creek from losing revenue in December that is needed. Lets face it, with the economy, the situation with Lake Cumberland affecting how Dale is managed, and the depths of the lake, Thomas and Horse Creek can NOT afford to trade a weekend with a 50 boat or more tournament for 3 people.
That is why the October Deadline for a deposit that is NOT refundable. I have pretty much eaten the costs in the past. Now that I am no longer an employee of Fishin.com it does not benefit me to spend this money. I dont mind doing it, if folks are going to show. I love the board, fishing and the environment, but it is irresponsible of me to continue to do this at a loss.

[QUOTE=elnutsmalljaws;347797]I posted twice about moving it to mid January for the very same reasons that Ryan says above over the past couple of weeks and both post have disappeared. My reasoning was the same, many fellas prefished the weekend before the smalljaw since the couple of days immediately before was Thanksgiving, Horse Creek was completely sold out last week starting Tuesday and almost on Monday with people down there fishing all week prefishing for the Billy, which made this weekend the 3rd weekend in a row. Throw in Xmas in a couple of weeks and all the gifts being bought probably limits the wallet as well. Just my opinion again, mid January would be enough time to let everyone spend time with the family and get a few more greenbacks in the wallet. I do know the Billy is the first weekend of December and the Smalljaw is the second weekend of December for 2009, which makes mid January excellent. 100% guaranteed that if I am not physically in the hospital or just discharged from the hospital I will be there in January 2010. I do know a lot of other fellas that would have made it January this year but they had spent all their away from the family time for the first 2 tourneys of December.[/QUOTE]

The smalljaws tournament was not scheduled when I did this. I started this LAST YEAR the week we had the tournament. It was scheduled with Thomas so moving the date was not possible. Then the Smalljaw tournament came in and wanted our week. Since Thomas had given it to us he held ground and they scheduled on top of Westmoreland, which hurt since that was 3 straight weekends of Small Mouth Tourneys. I have not scheduled a weekend for next year and have contacted Smalljaw.com to ask if they will work with me on their tournament next year. I will do promotional and sponsor work and they can run it, and I will post the get together on here... Fishin.com folks can meet the smalljaws folks and participate if they wish. This should increase participation and help with the costs.
I can cook with some help for all of them, and we may be able to use the Firehouse Again since there is no Restaurant in town any more that I am aware of.
Jim

Jim,
This is usually a really good time for the jig, cranks, jerkbaits, bigger baits, and the fly is better for dinks or unders at this time. Jan-Feb would be better for a FNF tourney. My 2¢.
Mark

[QUOTE=fishbum;347847]The smalljaws tournament was not scheduled when I did this. I started this LAST YEAR the week we had the tournament. It was scheduled with Thomas so moving the date was not possible. Then the Smalljaw tournament came in and wanted our week. Since Thomas had given it to us he held ground and they scheduled on top of Westmoreland, which hurt since that was 3 straight weekends of Small Mouth Tourneys. I have not scheduled a weekend for next year and have contacted Smalljaw.com to ask if they will work with me on their tournament next year. I will do promotional and sponsor work and they can run it, and I will post the get together on here... Fishin.com folks can meet the smalljaws folks and participate if they wish. This should increase participation and help with the costs.
I can cook with some help for all of them, and we may be able to use the Firehouse Again since there is no Restaurant in town any more that I am aware of.
Jim[/QUOTE]

There is a restaurant in Celina that opened up earlier this year. We ate there last week and the food was excellent. I is on the same roads as the Valley View hotel but on the opposite side. It is a maybe a 100 yards up from the Valley View. Excellent menu with MANY choices from Steaks to Seafood to all in between. Just FYI