FLW Tour Changes for 2015 & 16

Here is the synopsis from Wired2Fish:

• Pros will be allowed to wear their own jerseys on final day
• Exclusive FLW sponsors move from 31 to 9.
• The field has been capped at 150 pros (down from 180 in 2014).
• Co-angler competition will conclude on day 2 of all 2015 FLW Tour events including the Forrest Wood Cup
• Starting in 2016, the Forrest Wood Cup will be a pro-only event.
• Pro entry fees have slightly increased by $300 per event to $25,800 for the six tournaments ($4,300 per event) – co-angler fees are $800 per tournament.

I don't have any argument with any of the changes.  I could care less who's Jersey's a pro wears on any day of competition.  I think making The Cup exclusive to Pro's only was the right move.

Here is FLW's spin on it.

"What makes a Professional Tournament Bass Angler?"

"What makes a Professional Tournament Bass Angler?" is the question asked in a post by bass fishing blogger Steve Adams. Steve has a bug stuck in his craw over the current state of affairs.

This is how he starts:
I would love to see ALL circuits that have a “Pro” category regulate who fishes as a pro! I can’t go buy a Jersey & a Baseball bat and walk on the professional Baseball field and say; “I’m a Pro”! Or ANY other professional sport for that matter! Neither should a guy be able to do that at a Bass fishing tournament event just because he has a boat and entry fee!!! They should have to QUALIFY!!!

On the Facebook page of Tami Curtis he goes so far as to say:
The EXACT problem, from a marketing perspective is that anyone can call themselves a professional. It Illegitimatizes the sport.

In his blog post Steve raises some legitimate questions in terms of the bona fides of some who don the mantle of Professional Tournament Bass Fisherman, but I think he fails to appreciate something that I understand quite clearly about this sport. The ranks of "Professional Tournament Bass Anglers" are largely made up of people that can most accurately be described as Semiprofessional Tournament Bass Anglers.

Semiprofessional is an adjective defined as "engaging in an activity for pay or gain but not as a full-time occupation." Clearly this definition fits most of the people who don the mantle of Bass Fishing Pro. All but a select few of the Professional Bass Fishing circuits are geared to the semiprofessional with maybe a few true Full-Time Professional Bass Fisherman sprinkled in the mix. Once you understand this, there is nothing illegitimate about it.

Now I think we in some sense get to the heart of Steve's, who is a Co-Angler, complaint when he says:
It really SUCKS sometimes for those of us who fish as amateurs, pay good $$ to enter, travel, multiple practice days, etc. Then get paired with someone who SHOULD NOT be fishing as a Pro!

Some Bass Pro's are obviously more dedicated and serious than others. This is a sport where money talks and if you have it you can spend it and be "Pro" competitor. The more serious and dedicated Pro's are more than happy to take the donations of those that have the money and don't take it very seriously. Co-Anglers get to play the exact same game to one extent or another but they have to deal with the variable out of their control, which is luck of the draw. I would venture to say that most Pro's take it seriously, but some are just more dedicated, skilled, and experienced than others. If you choose to be a Co-Angler you are always at the mercy of the draw, deal with it.

Update: Steve Adams left a reply to my post in his comments section.

In the key paragraph there he says:
No, I do appreciate and understand that quite clearly. You are ABSOLUTELY CORRECT in your description of “Semiprofessional” and just made my case even stronger with additional clarification of “the current state of affairs”. That IS the problem! The tournaments I’m larger referring to are “Pro/Am’s”. They are not called “SemiPro/Ams”
Yes, they don't call them "SemiPro/Ams", but that is exactly what they are. The FLW Tour is probably the only example of a Pro/Am where most of the Pro's are not Semi-Pro's. The B.A.S.S. Opens and FLW Everstarts are full of Semipro's that want to make it to the true Pro Tour level, which is the Elite Series and the FLW Tour. I think the PAA qualifies as a true Pro Level Tour as well, but I'm not sure if the PAA has a "farm system."

Kramer On Co-Anglers

George Kramer of the blog Kramer Gone Fishing asks Does the public really want co-anglering?

Here is some of what George has to say:

If we could go back to putting all the players on an even (and higher) footing, I think some good things could happen. One, the rewards captured would be more appropriately distributed via performance. That would then elevate the most worthy performers (many now procos), and in turn, the public would benefit as the information pipeline to all the best competitors would be flowing.

Or–we can keep doing what we’re doing–and not really be satisfied.

Go read the whole thing for the full picture.

George seems to be calling for a return to the days of Pro/Pro draw tournaments. I think George is insane. Pro/Pro draw has got to be the worst fishing format that has ever been tried. Is it an accident that the Pro/Pro draw format has gone the way of the dinosaur in money circuits from sea to shining sea? I think the only place intentional boater/boater draw still takes place is within the ranks of the B.A.S.S. Federation Nation. As far as I can tell it only exists in the Federations still because of long standing tradition and clubs often have more boaters than non-boaters so they have to have boater/boater draws. My Bass Club and the MN State Federation Nation is done this way and personally I wish it wasn't. I think fishing out of someone else's boat under most circumstances is an inherently uneven playing field. I don't think it is really fair to the boater either. As far as I'm concerned it's their ship and they should get to run it as they see fit all day.

I guess I am not seeing the same problem that Mr. Kramer wants to fix. Who is dissatisfied except maybe Pro's who don't want to have to deal with Co-Anglers at all?

My Thoughts On Six Idea's

BassFan Editor-In-Chief Jon Storm wrote an Op-Ed entitled "Upon the Cliff" where he threw out 6 ideas that he would like to see implemented by the new management at BASS and FLW.

Here are the 6 ideas and my thoughts.

1. The sport needs a unifying championship to survive. Period.

I guess a unifying championship would be OK, but I don't think it's something that is vital. Also I wonder exactly what Storm has in mind as there is a lot of different ways you can go with this. It isn't clear to me what a unifying championship would look like.

2. The sport needs a joint conservation, youth and legislative body to take on the antis and polluters. We must ensure there are players and a playing field for the sport in the future.

I view this one as another nice, but not necessary. It is not clear to me that having one big centralized initiative is better than having a diverse coalition of smaller initiatives of varying sizes.

3. Tours should be exclusive, not inclusive. Billy Joe shouldn't get to fish against Kevin VanDam, Skeet Reese or Brent Ehrler just because he's got a trust fund or a gas well in his backyard. Make it tough to get on a tour and demand a multiyear performance level to stay there.

On this one I think there are Pro's and Con's for both approaches. Obviously the Elite Series is more exclusive and the FLW Tour is more inclusive. I think there is room for both models.

4. The sport needs to ditch its focus on 1st-place payout and balance the payout down the field. Once you pay your dues to reach a tour, it should be a profitable or break-even venture to stay there. And fans simply don't care how much a pro athlete wins at an event.

I tend to agree with this point as I think it's something that will make the sport more sustainable for those trying to live the dream.

5. Outlaw made-for-TV events and formats, like the BASS post-season or the FLW Tour cut to the Top 5.

Obviously there are serious flaws with the BASS post-season that need to be addressed and scrapping the thing wholesale might be the answer. As far as the FLW cut to 5, I'm not really sure why he singled this out. Cut to 5, Cut to 10, Cut to 12 whatever cutting the field down makes sense to me.

6. Distribute house money fairly. As BASS stabilizes, it should use sponsor money to cut entry fees first, boost purses second. Same for the FLW Tour. But also, performance should dictate who gets FLW sponsor-team deals, not who you know, what you look like or which boat you drive. And FLW team money should go to tour pros only, not co-anglers.

I was right with this one until he advocated cutting out the Co-Anglers. As I've made clear on many occasions, I believe Co-Anglers are good for the sport. I think it is a feature that bass fishing has an avenue open for fans to fish with the Pro's while in serious competition. I think Co-Anglers should have a shot at incentives and a piece of the pie. This kind of gets to one of the Cons about making the sport more exclusive. I think as you make professional bass fishing more exclusive you limit the overall outreach potential of the sport. Kevin Van Dam can only be in one place at a time. More people are on the radar screen when you have an army of Tami Curtis's, Chris Ricci's, Matt Peters and Ashley Rae's. I certainly think more can be done to promote Co-Anglers and to get Co-Anglers out promoting themselves and the sport.

Bassin' Grandma Wins 2nd FLW Co-Angler Title

Grandmother and BP Fuel Pro-Co Judy Israel once again proved she could hang with the boys catching 17lbs 11ozs en route to her second FLW Tour Co-Angler Title. Way to go Judy!!!

Check out the story at FLW Outdoors...

There are no women fishing the FLW Tour as a Pro this year but there were at least 5 women on the Co-Angler side.

One thing I have noticed on the live feed this year is that it seems like every Pro and Co is wearing some kind of Tournament Jersey as they weigh in on Day 1&2; This most certainly has not been true in the past for Co-Anglers. Generally I think the jersey's look nice, some of them are on the ugly side, but I don't think anyone but the big main logo gets any bang for the buck on the live stream. Maybe if my computer screen was an HD widescreen TV I'd see it differently, but I don't think the live feeds are in HD.