Congratulations 2020 Elite Series Rookie of the Year Austin Felix

 

Austin had a fantastic rookie season finishing 7th in Angler of the Year. Great Job!

Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour, My Thoughts:

Putting my pundit cap on and weighing in on the coming Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour.  I don't see how this idea will be sustainable.  I hope I'm wrong and this turns out to be a fantastic success, but I just don't see it.  FLW and B.A.S.S. are not what they once were not by choice, but because it's what the market dictated.  Tournament bass fishing is a niche sport with limited appeal.  I don't think the MLF BPT changes that reality.  I will be shocked if it does.

Will B.A.S.S. Or FLW Come to Mille Lacs Now

I doubt it!

Allow tournaments to keep and cull whatever they can, no restrictions.  Then and only then will bass fisherman flock to Mille Lacs.

BASS Fantasy #Fail

What in the heck is happening with my fantasy picks this year?  My best angler in this tournament is in 33rd Place and only got that because somebody got DQed allowing Tietje to fish today.  My best angler in FLW came in 31st Place.  I put extra time into researching my rosters this year.  It looks like I am sunk in both BASS and FLW for the year. #Fail

Rich Lindgren-The Contender

The B.A.S.S. Nation Championship is next week at the Ouachita River down in Louisiana.

Good Luck Rich!!!

Ike Wreck's On the Sabine

From B.A.S.S.

Lucky this wasn't worse.  Apparently he hit something and lost control.  I'm guessing his day is over.

Update: Blogger Chris McDonald wrote a post saying something should be done.  Personally I disagree. Anglers and their riders except the risk going in. Even riding in a boat going 20 miles an hour can be dangerous if you hit something. It's like wringing our hands over a car accident when some one was following all laws. Accidents happen.

B.A.S.S. Federation Nation Name Change

The Federation Nation is now to be called the B.A.S.S Nation. I'm not sure this branding change will change anything.  What does it accomplish in the "era of social networking"?

If someone has a clue feel free the leave a comment.

Th name change isn't going to get me to join

Bass Zone Comes Up with The Golden Ticket Concept

Basically the idea is to have a lottery for B.A.S.S. Members to get 1 of 8 Golden Ticket's to fish in a tournament, where the winner gets to fish in the Bassmaster Classic.  The idea has potential to significantly raise revenue that B.A.S.S, could use to increase the payout at the Classic, in the Elite Series, for B.A.S.S. in general and for conservation.  The revenue would depend on how much it costs to get a ticket and how many are sold.  You can view the full details at Bass Zone.com

I personally like the idea.  Why not have 1 more avenue to reach the Classic for B.A.S.S. Members?  It will be interesting to see what B.A.S.S. thinks.

Elite Series Day 1 Big O

My Fantasy Line Up

Ish starts the weigh in with the big boys 34-5, nobody is even close at this point with more than a 3rd of the field weighed.
Yep nobody came close to Ish.

Mercer made it sound like the guys were really catching them and the weights would be huge.  Other than 2 guys I wasn't impressed.

Elite Series St. John's Day Final

Looks like it's gonna be a nail biter for Jones, as Faircloth has a pretty good bag.

Allton beats Faircloth by 1lb 2oz!!!

Elite Series St. John's Day 3

I slept in later than I thought I would today.  B.A.S.S. has the War Room today and Basstrakk.  And  I can't forget the Blog.

Elite Series St. Johns River Day 1

Well it looks like we'll be able to watch the weigh in and see some photo's on Day 1.  No Live Blog, No Basstrak, and No War Room.

I see Bass Zone doesn't go Wide Open today until 1PM, so I won't be able to catch that. Should have got up earlier!

B.A.S.S. War Room Maybe Back for Elites

       Today Jerry indicated they might have the War Room for the Elite Series this year.  Good!!!

Bass Fishing Archives A Cool New Site

Bass Fishing Archives is a new website that seeks to document the history of the sport.  Pretty Cool! Definitely worth checking out.

Interesting facts: Flipping was first called "Controlled Structure Fishing" and an original title of the B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year was the "Points Scoring Crown."

Check out "Sittin' on the Throne" Funny!

The War Room- Ask For It!

If you liked the War Room Coverage for the Bassmasters Classic and want to see it continue on for the Elite Series.  Now is the time to be heard.

Contact B.A.S.S. through Facebook

Contact Jerry McKinnis on Facebook

bassmaster@emailcustomerservice.com

Well it kind of looks like a no go for this year.

Nate Wellman No Classic

I read someone that predicted this would happen. Wellman bowed out of the last Bassmaster Northern Open and thus is ineligible to fish the 2012 Bassmaster Classic. I think this is as it should be. On BassEast someone complained that the guy who got 2nd at the Erie Open should get the Classic birth, but personally I don't see it that way.

B.A.S.S. Press Release here...

I Don't Think So Dude!

BassFan.com published an opinion piece by some dude named Steve Chaconas who uses the Nate Wellman scandal as a pretext to make the suggestion that the Bassmaster Classic should be an Elite Series Angler only tournament.

Here is his thesis in a nutshell:
But an even stronger argument that the Bassmaster trail is off track remains. The case is made for only Elite Series anglers to qualify for the Bassmaster Classic. Allowing anglers to qualify for the sport's biggest championship from lower-level competitions only opens the door for desperation and dishonesty.

No winners of the Opens, no collegiate champion, no Federation Nation anglers, no Bassmaster Weekend Series champion. Only Elite Series anglers should be in the “Big Game."
In my opinion this is nothing but crazy talk. I don't know about the collegiate champions, winners of the Opens, and Bassmaster Weekend Series champion, but if B.A.S.S. were to take the Federation Nation anglers out of the Classic than I as a fan would be done with the Classic. No blogging about it. No caring about it. This is something I have already done with the sport of professional baseball and hockey.

As far as I'm concerned it's the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society with it's Federations that built the foundation of the sport of bass fishing and the Bassmaster Classic so it could grow into what it has become today. Cutting out the grassroots tradition of participation in the Bassmaster Classic would be a monumental mistake. I highly doubt the new owners of B.A.S.S. would even entertain the idea and Elite Series Pro's would be cutting off their nose to spite their face to suggest such a thing. However K-Pink on Facebook seems to endorse the idea. I think less of Kevin Short now than I already did and he already wasn't one of my favorite pro's to begin with because he has put his foot in his mouth in the past.

As for the Chaconas contention that "Allowing anglers to qualify for the sport's biggest championship from lower-level competitions only opens the door for desperation and dishonesty." I think the desperation part is in the equation if it is Elite Series Pro's only. There certainly have been a fair share of unfortunate instances of lack of sportsmanship in the Elite Series over the years.

The only area where I think he has a point is where it comes to dishonesty. The more people you exclude and the more you put that smaller group under the microscope the less likely you are to have people try and cut corners because they simply wouldn't be able to get away with it. But I don't think the trade off is worth sacrificing something that makes this sport go round. The Bassmater trail is not "off track"; However, implementing Steve Chaconas ideas would do just that.

Elite Series Angler Nate Wellman Fined

“Bassmaster Elite Series angler Nate Wellman has been fined and placed on a one-year probation due to violation of B.A.S.S. tournament rule 3(vii), which prohibits ‘suggesting to another competitor that he violate these (B.A.S.S.) rules.’
For the story at Bassmaster.com go here...

Apparently Nate offered to buy a big fish off of his Co-angler a few times. Nate says he was joking, but apparently the Co didn't see it that way and reported the solicitation to tournament officials. Nate has offered an apology, which can be seen at the link.

Honestly, I think Nate probably got off easy on this one. He didn't deny the allegations, just gave them a different interpretation. Naturally some people are kvetching that Nate didn't get a DQ for this. In my Solomonic wisdom I do not think a DQ was called for because he won the tournament fair and square. The fine should have been at least 5 Grand IMO. I also think the Classic berth should have been stripped and vacated because I don't think probation is much of a punishment.

Update: Big Bass Specialist and Bass Blogger Jason Holmer left a comment wondering why a polygraph test wasn't given? I think that is a very valid question. I think that is in the interest B.A.S.S., the integrity of the sport, and Nate provided he really wasn't trying to cheat.

Update: Jason Holmer wrote a well thought out blog post about what he thinks should be done.

Update: BassFan now has an article that gives fuller info from Wellman, the Co-Angler, and Jerry McKinnis.

Update: BassEast has an audio interview with Joe the Co, who is at the center of this. Worth a listen.

Bass Parade B.A.S.S. Speculation.

Bass Parade blog put out a post entitled Something's Brewing at B.A.S.S., which is a jump head long into speculation about what might be coming from the new ownership at B.A.S.S.

Here is an excerpt:
At this point I think it’s safe to say that Jerry and Co. have something cooking that’s either going to impact how anglers qualify for and/or maintain their Elite Series status. Lane says he knows “how good it’s going to be”. So there’s already some hype attached to it as far as the anglers go.

Are we about to see the end of the Elites as we know it? Based on B.A.S.S.’ timeline of scrapping one format in favor of another, we’re about due for a repackaging. Maybe it’s some kind of new TV deal? It’s all speculation at this stage of the game, but I definitely smell smoke.

Anybody out there have any thoughts as to what all this means? What would you like to see happen? Is the Elite Series fine as is or does it need some tweaking?

In the comments some of the speculation centers around B.A.S.S. making it so the Elite anglers don't have to pony up entry fees and get a guaranteed payback.

In regards to this speculation I have some questions and thoughts.

How will anglers "not having to pay to compete" (these were the words used by a commenter) differ from the current system where the idea is for anglers to get sponsors who will pay the anglers entry fees?

Obviously the anglers and organization need sponsors to put up the money. That doesn't change. So what changes and how?

Maybe all anglers get a guaranteed minimum payback from B.A.S.S. and the anglers can make sponsor deals on top of that???

How do you get there other than with a basic redistribution of the total purse with a lot less going to the top finishers?

The way I see it you have risk and reward. The higher the reward means higher risk for individual fishermen. I don't see how you lower the risk without reducing the reward at the top. It's a zero sum game.

For it not to be a zero sum game, somehow you have to create more value for the sponsors than what already exists. It will be interesting to see if the new ownership can figure out a way to accomplish that. Maybe skillful leveraging of new media is the answer. (But then again maybe not, there are a lot of children at that table already and those hi-tech secret formula's are notoriously fickle.)

Some suggest shrinking the field is a way to increase value and that no doubt is probably true, but it seems you will still have the same basic problem where a few at the top reap great rewards while it just becomes more difficult for everybody else to reach that level. If this is the case it might prove a disincentive for people to try to "live the dream" and you end up going backwards. Then again if done right maybe the incentive to try is actually increased and everybody is happy.

And then of coarse the really big question is, what are the implications for Fantasy Bass Fishing?

Go read the Bass Parade article and throw your thoughts in the ring.

Yeah Baby!

Outdoor Channel to re-air The Bassmasters

I don't get ESPN, but do have the Outdoor Channel. This will be a huge step up from Bass Champs.