Dude Wipes Dude and Brandon Palaniuk Returning To The Elites

Article Here...

After one year on the Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour two of the biggest names in bass fishing are going back to B.A.S.S..  This may or may not be an ominous sign for Boyd Duckett and the boys over at MLF.  Who knows how the MLF FLW take over is going to work out in the long run.  I think going back to B.A.S.S. is the smart bet.  When I lost Outdoor Channel last Spring when we switched to Direct TV my interest level in MLF nose-dived.  In fact, it wasn't until I was doing this post that I looked up The Bass Pro Tour on Discovery Channel which we do have.  I now have the DVR set to record.  I got to do something with my time this winter because with these back to back Thanksgiving week snowstorms it looks like my ice fishing got done before I could even get started.

Apparently Gerald Swindle is a Smoker

Swindle Wins, But...

Swindle's First Win in the Books

Question: Does an Open win really count?

My answer: NO! An Open is a Class AAA, not a Tour level event. Sure the Open field is made up of pretty good fishermen and some of them are full time anglers, but most are not.

When he beats the field with KVD, Skeet, Ike, Martens, McClelland and on and on, then I will give him some credit.

That's my take! Anyone disagree?

More- Well it seems some disagree and there is more I can say to make my case, so I will.

I follow tournament bass fishing pretty close and in the 194 Angler field I recognized just 34 names. Of the 34 names I know I would only consider 12 of them to be on or near the top shelf of tournament bass fishermen; Only 2 of these 12, Bobby Lane & Terry Scroggins, can be considered best of the best and they only are considered for that status because the Tournament was on Toho. It's simply NOT a Tour (top) level win and shouldn't be considered as such. Any other conclusion is "dumbing down the world."

More- B.A.S.S. Opens don't count in the BassFan.com World Rankings. According to the BassFan.com World Rankings Swindle was the best angler in this tournaments field, he didn't have to beat a single angler in front of him in the BassFan.com World Rankings.

Bassmasters Classic Day 1 Take 3

AnglersChannel.com Blog- Looks like it is a pretty good place for Classic Info

Big Indiana Bass is has run the unofficial Basstrakk numbers vs. the actual results.

Boyd's Biz blog- Nothing like blowing up your boat

Alton's Angle blog- Day 1 disappointment

Gary Klein's Classic diary... This was written and posted this morning but it is well written and worth the read.

Gerald Swindle appears on Skeets Classic Video Blog... Good Stuff! For some reason the video and audio are now synched unlike a couple of days ago.

John Murray Blog- Classic – 1st Day

Kramer Gone Fishing is writing off most of the field at this point.

Note- I am kind of a little shocked Hack did so poorly, I thought he might do well.

Official Standings Here...

More to follow...