Team9nine

When the dust settles, and if the full details ever come out, it will make for one heck of an interesting read. Some stuff will be known sooner rather than later, but some stuff may take a few years before people fully understand what's about to go down.

Under the new format, and with more anglers, I think you'll see a lot less 12 inchers...a lot better mix of offshore vs bank beating.

Bass aren't the only fish that use structure Buddy and I caught close to 400 crappie today. Here's a 5 gallon bucketful (2 man limit) headed to the cleaning station.

I'm guessing they'll start leaking out at some point after the meetings since all that will be disclosed to the 80 guys selected. I've seen everywhere from 100k to 1 mil thrown out there. Most logical answer I've seen said triple, so if I had to guess, I'd say 250k to win, 50k to play....might be way off - who knows.

Sorry, site restricted - don't want to infringe on forum policy. Will have to search it out...

New story just posted online that answers a few more of the questions being pondered concerning the new tour... Highlights: - 80 Invites are out - Meetings through the weekend - Expect many anglers to be upset (that they didn't get asked) - A 2nd set of invites to go out if they don't get full buy-in - 3 year committment - No restriction on fishing other circuits, but they expect it to not be feasible from a travel/overlap standpoint - No sponsorship restrictions - Feeder circuit will be established by the end of the 3rd year. Bottom 10 fall out. "I'm sure there will be some (who decline), but I can't imagine an angler who wants a pro career making a choice other than this one, and when they see the details of it, they'll understand why. The payouts, the media platform, the potential for the growth of the sport, the whole package that they get to be a part of ... when they see the horsepower that's strapped to our rocket, they'll have a good idea of what this thing's capable of." - Also read a different piece that stated meetings will likely require signed NDA to attend, so don't expect a ton of new news or info from the anglers after this week. Also, MLF expected to hire 40-50 new staff to pull this all off.

Sounds like it's some of the anglers pushing for it.

Will be interesting to hear the final details, because from what I've heard, there will be some type of practice period going forward, just not certain what it will look like. This is where some type of practice period would be good, I think. It would definitely put some guys off the bank to begin with if they felt somewhat comfortable with what they found. The gamble for quality might pay off. If so, it also helps eliminate some of the dinkfest complaints so many guys complain about.

Me personally, I wouldn't fish it ...but since you did, I'd cut it in two and get two baits - a paddletail trailer for a swim jig or such, and a Ika style bait to be fished however you'd like. Turns a good deal into 2 good deals for the same price ?

Too much flux (and online speculation) to make any definitive statements yet IMO. Once they have their meetings; Once they start getting commitments from anglers; Once BASS has a chance to respond and fire back with their own statement, then I think we'll start getting firm details. As recent as this weekend I was hearing a scaling back of JM's part on the whole deal because they pushed back on exclusivity he wanted (but supposedly didn't get), entry fees anglers would pay to get in were back on the table (they'd pay ?), angler buyouts were falling through, and practice days would get incorporated in some form or fashion next year. What actually got signed and agreed to, only a limited number of people probably really know at this point.

Could potentially use Scoretracker live updates in combination with onboard cameras (GoPro, etc) to get near instant coverage, all run wirelessly to a central headquarters that coordinates all coverage. Could also tier coverage options so free coverage is ST Live online, then PPV or MLF membership/pass to have access to your favorite anglers onboard camera or some such. Once you get the field cut down after days 1-2 (or 3), you could then live camera everyone left and just do some nice editing for TV coverage of cut rounds. Final rounds could stay as normal.

Everyone won't all fish at once - likely 40/40 first 2 days...

MLF strikes first with their official press release now posted... MLF press release

The simple fact of the matter is that MLF is a business operation, just like BASS and FLW. Their circuit, they can set their own entry criteria or invite who they want. Don't like it, form your own circuit or fish one of the competitor circuits. Since they are limiting the field size, a lot of people aren't going to get invited initially. When McKinnis first bought into BASS, he stated he wanted to limit the BASS field to about 75 or 80 anglers. That never happened.

The thing is, they likely have a number of anglers in mind they need to have a show/tour. Not everyone on the initial invite is going to accept. Maybe a lot won't. It was the same with the original MLF Selects. Point being they'll need to start contacting other guys to fill those available openings. Seems a little foolish to be going online, whining and griping at this point...good way to make sure you never get a chance at an invite if you're not careful.

Sounds like he's on the outside looking in, trying to get answers...No cat in that bag About what?

Yes, but up to this point, it is made for TV broadcasting, not a traditional tournament. More like a syndicated weekly show you watch shot months before. In that regard, most of the audience they're trying to reach has no idea or doesn't care. Only the more hardcore bass anglers are bothered by it. But there will be changes next year, so we'll just have to see what happens.

Yes and no - depends on how they decide to cover the events. Keep in mind the 2019 shows are all being held and filmed this year, to air on TV next year. If they held to that format, anything fished next year wouldn't be shown until 2020. Being the smaller field vs BASS/FLW, they historically have waited for published schedules from those leagues then just worked around them.

Sounds like Atlanta is the initially offered/invited anglers for the new venture. Others cound get invites later if they don't get enough committed first time through.

It's still a big work in progress, though getting closer. Everyone needs to just take a deep breath and wait. It (an announcement) will come when everything gets solidified, which it hasn't yet. Some things have changed a bit, and you've got lots of personalities, sponsors and money involved trying to work everything out. It takes time. I believe Atlanta is by invite only, and they'll be looking for commitment from the anglers there. If they get it, that helps with us all hearing something sooner rather than later. No commitment - possibly no go.

I can only recall 2 in 35 years of fishing, both my fault. One trying to use the rod tip to free a lure off an underwater hang, the other trying to free a snagged lure from a drifting boat that simply built up too much tip pressure before I could get hold of the line directly.

Before the "Texas Rig" caught on, anglers got creative with rigging these new plastics out of necessity when fishing around weeds, brush, trees, etc. As such, most rigging methods used today were actually thought of and utilized at some point with the tools available at the time. Here are a few examples in reference to the above. The top rigging is essentially a shakey head...1966 from Grits Gresham's bass book. The line tie through the head of the bait from Creme's 1967 catalog of tips. Charlie Brewer showing variations of this same rigging in his book (1978).

Dates back to at least the mid-late 60s. The late Charlie Brewer wrote and pictured that rigging "trick" in various forms and variations frequently in his Slider articles in the 70s.

Denali Jadewood Custom Shakey Head rod - 843SH 7' MH with Daiwa Exceler 3000 10# Sufix 832 w/8# fluorocarbon leader 1/8 oz Jewel Squirrel Head Zoom Finesse worm ...covers 90% of all my shakey head fishing

There went 16 minutes of my day...YMMV ?