A serene, beautiful spring day. The water temperature is 50-60 defrees Ferenheit, the birds are chirping ... and the rainbow trout you just bet on got taken out to lunch by a freaking bear!
Welcome to the exciting world of Trout and Salmon betting. The advent of wildlife "tagging" or placing a tracking or contact beacon on various species of wildlife makes this all possible. Fish are tagged and monitored, and placed up for betting amongst a pool of bidders across the globe as to wether their fish survives the long, perilous swim to it's spawning site.
Fishes cannot be farm-born, trained, or otherwise harvested in order to ensure equal chances for betting. However CAN be monitored just prior to the big spawning run.
Side bets can be made as well. For instance: If your fish is fat and/or lazy, your best bet is that its intercepted by a bear or other large mammal on the way to its destination. Other side bets can be made as well. First to spawn site, first to die, better with the least amount of fish surviving, etc.
Certain streams and tributaries can be selected with different pools of tracked fish as well. One season Washington State is good, another season Minnesota might be better.
Give those betters a vested interest in conservation!-- Letsbuildafort, May 20 2004 Salmon and Trout Spawning http://www.theconte...Trout_Spawning.html [Letsbuildafort, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] Salmon and Trout Basics http://www.theconte...t/Trout_Basics.html [Letsbuildafort, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] Inspiration http://www.halfbake.../idea/Fish_20LifterFish Lifter - [calum] [Letsbuildafort, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] baked for albatrosses http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4192408/there really should be a better plural for albatross. [po, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] This would fit in nicely with the Native American gaming industry.-- Worldgineer, May 20 2004 //Give those betters a vested interest in conservation!//
or in killing the competition.-- etherman, May 20 2004 Agreed - most likely result is nobbling other bettor's fish.-- DrCurry, May 20 2004 Surely ther are at least SOME protected areas for those kinds of fish. Offlimits to fishing or harvesting because of the population is at a low.
I know someone's gonna TRY, but they have to get past the bears and other wildlife first. Like nobody has tried to fix horse racing ...-- Letsbuildafort, May 20 2004 I'm not sure you need the stipulation of no farming. I mean how well could you possibly train the fish to do something they already do for survival? There's no better motive. [+] for the thought--I got fifty on the bear getting his dinner.-- yabba do yabba dabba, May 20 2004 Ok, but do we eat the losers or the winners?-- k_sra, May 20 2004 As I hear it, salmon doesn't taste good at or near the end of spawning.-- Worldgineer, May 20 2004 I'd imagine winners would go on to swim again. Place you bets at that window right down yonder.-- Letsbuildafort, May 20 2004 Nope, after salmon spawn they die. I wouldn't bet too heavily on a previous winner.-- Worldgineer, May 20 2004 So we eat the winners AND the losers... oh wait, they taste bad. Hmmm. Maybe we could mount them on a music box that plays annoying tunes all day.-- k_sra, May 20 2004 And they're off.+-- cromagnon, May 20 2004 Great idea, but I am curious about some details. Are trout to be tagged when they are young, and then monitored as they go downstream to the ocean and back up again? Otherwise, if you tag them at the ocean inlets as they make their way back upstream, how will you know where they are heading? I think these details can be worked out, and I like it (+).-- booleanfool, May 20 2004 Yep, and this didn't end up as fish bones, like the salmon.-- FarmerJohn, May 20 2004 Thanks, [FJ] - I think I'm starting to develop a good lucky feeling ...
[booleanfool] - I think it would be best for data aquisition and in the best interests of conservation that they be tagged when they reach a specific age. Tagging them young as they return to the ocean would be best, but the chances of your fish falling victim to nature are pretty great. Therefore, for the sake of practicality, I think it would be best to tag them as they enter their respective tributaries and streams as they return to spawn.-- Letsbuildafort, May 20 2004 The house always wins my friend...-- shinobi, May 20 2004 Radio telemetry, Fort. Tag them at the mouth of the river, or I should say, have technicians tag them, and then with GPS and remote videography, we would never have to leave the viewing lounge. (Might get our velvet smoking jackets wet.)-- lintkeeper2, May 26 2004 So, we could wear our smoking jackets while feasting on smoked salmon. Mmm.. MMMmm...-- booleanfool, May 26 2004 [po] There is - "albatross" is also valid.-- FarmerJohn, May 26 2004 Mmmm, smoked salmon.
I don't care who wins or loses if there is smoked salmon waiting for me.
Or you could have farm raised salmon at the time when they would want to spawn and put them in a tank with an artificial current and place bets on who makes it to the end first or spawns first or whatever. ++-- sartep, May 26 2004 random, halfbakery