Glenn

We had some very serious flooding last year and the year before that. In fact, 2 years ago our major freeways and railways coming in/out of the state were blocked due to flooding...or snow in the mountains. We were cut off except for flights and ships for about a week. Really makes you aware of how much you rely on truckers! Last year, the flooding nearly trapped me on my way to work. The flooding was really bad, and it DID make the national news. In fact, a lot of the footage shown was within a few miles of my house. And no, they're not very well equipped to handle this...at least the snow. We normally get maybe a week of snow and few days here and there thrown in for good measure. Certainly not worth buying all that equipment just to have it sitting around. Last year they went deeply into debt trying to keep the roads cleared. I will say the power crews are better equipped, and do a good job of fixing downed power lines relatively quickly. That said, the big wind storm we had required linemen and power crews from across the country and Canada to help restore power.

Platinum bid $70 million for the companies. Platinum is a very large company that has deep pockets. While I would expect Ranger to continue to run independantly and stay in Flippin (they were already showing profit again 5 months ago), I'm not too sure about the future of Champion and Statos. I hope they continue to stick around and offer great choices for bass anglers. Irwin Jacobs, the former Genmar CEO who had attempted to retain most of the boat companies, wound up with what is termed the "yacht group," which includes Larson and Seaswirl. Jacobs and a partner offered $6.05 million. Another company, MCBC Hydraboats LLC, offered a winning bid of $1 million for Hydra-Sports. Despite the rumors started by a another website, Ranger Boats will remain a major sponsor of the FLW fishing tournament circuit, according to Ranger President Randy Hopper. "We just signed a new contract with the FLW a couple of weeks ago," Hopper said. "Obviously, it's been a very trying economic environment for everybody in the boating business, but we look forward to another season with the FLW and better times ahead for all of us."

I can remember when there was a 150hp limit on BASS tournaments. A lot of guys were "amping" up their motors with aftermarket parts (aluminum heads, racing pistons, reeds, airplane fuel, etc), so maybe the cowling said "150", but really they were running 185-200hp. So it's really hard to enforce a HP limit. But I'd fully endorse any circuit that could and does. Personally, I think 60-65 is plenty fast enough on the water. It gets downright dangerous above that. Witness the recent accident where a fellow angler lost his leg and another was severely injured when they hit an underwater obstacle at WOT, resulting in the engine breaking off and landing on top of them. I haven't done any research, but it seems there's been more bass boating deaths and injuries in that last 5-10 years than in the previous 20 or 30. My guess would be due to speed. I usually don't run WOT unless I'm in a tournament, when I have to during blast off in order to compete. Otherwise I back off, conserve fuel, and enjoy the ride.

And that's why he's in Cleveland now? Because Holmgren is stupid, or greedy, or both?

Rising from the ashes of the destruction of the WBT Tour comes opportunity. I just got word that US Anglers Choice is contemplating the formation of a national women's circuit. Since they have trails all over the US (Regions) they have a lot of options. Nothing is set in stone, but the intent is to have the women up and running for 2011! They are looking for input from former WBT pros to assess the feasibility of running it. If you are a lady angler, please feel free to email Dave Kilby (VP of US Anglers Choice). He wants to hear your thoughts and ideas. His email is limitfinder@yahoo.com. I also understand there are other tournament trails that are also interested in having a national (or international) women's trail. So keep checking back to learn the latest news. Glenn

I think the point here is that - for whatever reason - some people prefer brand X over brand Y. No big deal. Why should everyone like the same brand anyway? That would be....dull. However, to the extent people get into a catfight over which is better is absurd. It is, after all, just fishing. If you like brand Y, great! Let's hear why you like it. But please refrain from bashing brand X in the process. That's all I ask. Thanks! Glenn

You guys are too kind. I do appreciate all the accolades. But as a few have already stated, it's YOU that makes this site so great. But oh my goodness! The confusion reigns yet again! ;D I started this site back in 1996, making this our 14th year in existence. I eliminated the old forums and switched over to this forum software in 2004, hence the 2004 start date. Hope that helps!

Great idea Bobby. Let me work out the details and see if the sponsors are on board for this (I know you and Dow are!). If so, then I'll announce it here. Thanks! Glenn

You know, last year my neck of the woods got hammered by snowstorm after snowstorm. At one point, we were getting 10" of snow every 4 hrs with single-digit tempuratures. But did it make the national news? Nope. I doubt anyone in other areas of the country even knew about the power outages, closures, and even deaths as a result of the storms. But the east/SE gets a little chilly, and WOA!! Call in the National Guard and sound the alarms!!! It's plastered all over the national news as if it's a national disaster. That cracks me up! It's funny, whenever we get a giant, damaging storm, there's no word of it in the national news. But the east coast gets a little more rain than normal, and it makes the headlines. A few years ago, we had hurricane-force winds that resulted in the loss of power to over 4 million people (some for over a week), and caused millions and millions of dollars worth of damage and even deaths.....not a peep in the national news. Nobody knew about it. It's not that I think we should get more media attention (far from it), but I don't understand the stark difference in coverage when it comes to weather events. The media overreacts to the weather in the east, and ignores everything in the west. What gives?

While I'm ecstatic they fired Mora, I'm not thrilled with their replacement pick. After the Erickson fiasco, I'm not inclined to have another college coach lead the 'Hawks. Even though Carroll has some NFL experience, his record is not worth getting excited about.

Details are still not fully available yet, but it's clear that the Genmar assets were auctioned off to several buyers. Platinum Equity was bidding on Ranger, Stratos, Champion, Wellcraft, Four Winns, Glastron and Larson. The assets also include facilities in Flippin, Ark.; Cadillac, Mich.; and Murfreesboro, Tenn. but did not include Carver, Marquis, Seaswirl, FinCraft, Hydra-Sports, Javelin and other brands, or real estate and production facilities in Little Falls, Minn.; Pulaski, Wis.; and other locations. The bid also did not include the ownership of approximately 93 percent of VEC Technology. Irwin Jacobs was also bidding on Genmar's assets, but it's unclear on what specifically he was bidding on, or if he won any of the auctions. More details to follow....

I wouldn't worry about that. A webmaster needs to implement code on every single page in order to track correct rankings. I did this for a number of years, in which BassResource.com dominated the standings. Since then, their servers have proven to be slow and inconsistent, which ruins the page load times on our site. So I discontinued the practice and removed the code from our site. Only a few do it these days, and most are either spammers, or cheat by placing the code on hundreds of non-bass fishing pages. I think dozer's site is the only site that's legitimately following the rules. That's a long way of saying the rankings are incorrect and don't mean anything. :

Here are the official comments from the IGFA:

We beat them to it: http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1262975946/0

Today, the IGFA announced its decision on Manabu Kurita's world record application. On July 2, 2009, Kurita reportedly caught a 22-pound, 4.97-ounce largemouth bass from Lake Biwa, one of the largest lakes in Japan and one of the oldest in the world. After 6 months of review, the IGFA concluded he tied the The 77-year-old record! Since Kurita's bass does not exceed the weight of Perry's fish by more than 2 ounces, it is not eligible to qualify as a new world record according to IGFA regulations. Nonetheless, a tie with the much sought after world record is an amazing feat in itself. This is indeed a major milestone in bass fishing history!

50 Degrees and scattered showers today. But we've had gusty winds to 50mph for the past 3 days.

Time to start a 2010 thread?

Outstanding! Congratulations!!

The International Game Fish Association (IGFA) will be holding a news conference on Friday, January 8th at 1:30 p.m. ET to announce its decision on a potential All-Tackle world record of a 22 lb 4 oz largemouth bass caught this past summer in Japan. The announcement comes six months after it was caught July 2, 2009, by Manabu Kurita of Aichi, Japan, and nearly four months since the documentation was received at the IGFA's world headquarters in Dania Beach, Fla. USA. What followed was extensive research and information gathering by the IGFA and its sister organization the Japan Game Fish Association (JGFA). The IGFA never announces a decision via a press conference, so this is a major shift. And this could indicate a new world record is about to be announced. Stay tuned....

MARKETING or simply LACK OF MARKETING drives (or inhibits) participation. The abismal failure of BASS to promote and market the WBT is directly accountable for the lack of participation. Not only that, but concentrating the Tour events into a relatively small geographic area severely limited who could/would participate. No sponsor is interested in sponsoring a tournament trail that isn't promoted, marketed, nor supported by the parent company. As fishfordollars noted, the payouts were trivial at best, underscoring how little BASS put behind their effort. Pretty obvious.

This is very sad news. Debra and Dean were absolutely instrumental in the growth of BassResource.com in the early years. Much of what you see today can be traced back to their generosity. We lost contact with each other back when they closed their business. I am deeply saddened by the news.

Yes, we'll be doing them again this year.

You guys need to watch Bob Lusk's video on the site to find out what makes a big fish get big. There's a few misconceptions I'm seeing in this thread. As for the record, what kind of bait or lure you use shouldn't matter, so I voted "no".

LOL!! That's funny! I never thought of that happening before, but it makes sense. Probably would have happened to me someday had I not read this thread.

Nitro, I'm sure there are a number of WBT anglers who would be happy to help you out. They're a bunch of friendly, approachable gals that can really fish! We also have a large number of articles on this site, as well as these forums with helpful, knowledgeable folks. Marcia - good to hear from you. We were beginning to wonder where you went. It's unfortunate what happened to you, but I know you - you're not a quitter. I fully expect you to triumph over adversity and become even more of a role model than you already are! As for the WBT - if ESPN had put half as much effort promoting it as it does for the Elite series, there wouldn't have been any participation issues. It failed because they failed to market it properly, not because there isn't an interest in it.