redux

Arey has jumped to BASS and said there's another FLW angler who is coming with. No word on who that is. JT Kenny is no longer fishing the BPT and instead is doing commentary for BPT and maybe fishing the Gator BFLs. He said he's done fishing Pro tours. Makes sense since he has been doing terrible since he cut his hair. Funny enough he's growing it back out and things are starting to work for him again. Keep it growing JT. Gagliardi is moving to the BPT following Kenney's shuffle. Seems like there is a lot left to shake out for the BPT and it is not anywhere near as cut and dry as the initial press release made us all think.

I'm glad we are starting to hear from some BPT invitees who turned it down. Feider and Benton both make some good points in the Bass Zone article and I appreciate how self aware they are.

This appears to be coming from public info for BPT and FLW while the BASS info is being leaked from private communications to the elite anglers. And some people are being critical about the BPT selection process. BASS is doing the same thing with keeping things under wraps and offering better deals to the existing elites. BASS has not publicly canceled the CA events either which is odd.

From what the source article says, that BASS incentive is not for everyone so that number is not accurate for all 80 elite qualifiers. Someone with maths should redo those numbers and give an accurate account of what BASS is offering. B.A.S.S. Details To simplify, entry fees for the 2019 Elite Series will be $43,000 for qualified anglers. If an angler finishes 80th in every tournament next season, he is guaranteed to earn $23,500 ($2,500 per tournament plus a minimum $3,500 at Texas Fest), reducing the entry fee liability to $19,500. In addition, B.A.S.S. will be offering a limited number (possibly 50) of early registration incentives worth $20,000 each, meaning some anglers will have their entry fees covered with a $500 surplus.

Just saw Bass Pro has extended/expanded their sponsorship of the FLW high school and college tournament series.

What it tells me is that, despite him being so annoying, Ike has been right for saying BASS is greedy. Being able to toss millions of dollars into the pot to wipe out a large portion (if not all) of entry fees and also increase payouts is very suspicious to me. How long will it last? Did the communication to anglers give any info on that? Would like to have someone post details. I like the BTL guys but would like to read what BASS sent out instead of hearing a summary/interpretation second hand. This looks likes something they could have done years ago and are only now making concessions to save their BASS. I hope the anglers can see past the next 12 months and are not blinded by a minor increase in revenue.

Joking, dude.

There is also a new BASS acronym they failed to announce at the end of that release. I found it in a memo that somehow found its way to my Spam folder. Bass Angling is a Southern Sport

I missed that last part about FLW not having a qualifying system. Didn't they just announce that they are going to a qualifying system, reducing field size, and dropping co-anglers to move to a more professional model and to address the concerns of the field? Did that change in the past few weeks? Definitely weird to think about the BASS legacy walking out the door and rebuilding somewhere else. They ran a sound bite from the Ike Live show three years ago after the EE interview. It was obvious who Ike was complaining about, but does anyone know what large endorsement deal KVD did for "free"?

Ike is definitely going which kinda sucks because he is so horrid to watch on MLF. Between the screaming, tantrums, and terrible fish handling I've gone from being mildly entertained while he annoyed Deny to being disgusted by how childishly myopic he is while competing...YO! He did a Live with Lucas after his Open victory and outright said the existing tours are greedy during a minor rant about dwindling pay outs. Lucas was non-committal. Ike's been yakking about this for years and has been very open about not liking BASS from the get go. Heck, they DQd him at an event years ago and made a rule just for him. No love lost there. BASS and FLW are going to be reeling over the next few years and will probably be relegated to Farm Team status unless they make some major changes ASAP, if not sooner. I'm just glad there is something more interesting than Berkley's take on the Whopper Plopper going on in 2019. As much as I love bass fishing, it can get awfully repetitive and predictable and this is a shakeup fans will be able to enjoy. Although, I'm not sure all the organizers are going to be happy in the coming years.

Hack with the Johnny Morris Award from the MLF World Championship...naaahhhhhhh. Nothing to see here, folks.

After iCast there's been a few interviews (Stray Casts?) where there's been talk of a 3rd league and it sounds like that league is MLF. As a tournament fan, I really like the idea for one reason--the amount of Greg Hackney in the world will increase exponentially. Period. End of story.

“My marshal was about the same size as me, and I’m not a small guy,” Wheeler said. “He got out, we started pushing and we got it off the sandbar.” https://www.bassmaster.com/news/wheeler-self-reports-violation-has-catch-disqualified

Yes I am joking about bowling. ? My point about the scores is no one drops scores during the course of a single game or match.

Like I said, No professional sport does that! ? No sport zeros the scores for each period/quarter/half during a game/match. I agree they should not carry over the previous day's weight to the next day like they did in the recent cup. That's just silly and creates a false sense of drama. In the recent event in Texas you think it would have been a good call to drop Horton because he was in last place going into the second round? Horton went on to rally for the win that day once he figured out the pattern and the location that Martens ignored. Martens found the spot Horton won on but passed it up for what he thought was a safer strategy and finished out of the cut (complaining the whole way once he realized what he missed ?). There is a great story there that teaches viewers/anglers about understanding a lake, how bass behavior changes during the day, how to figure out patterns by looking into bottom structure and anomalies in cover, and persevering through hard times.

They used to do this on the bigger lakes a few years back (2013 at Lake Istokpoga, FL). They seem to be fishing smaller lakes so this isn't an option. At least they are going to different lakes in the area for different rounds.

Dropping the weights at the end of each period and pulling competitors is silly unless you are trying to change the outcome of the day's fishing. It doesn't happen in any professional sport. No one should be penalized for having a bad morning, and no one should be penalized for having a good one. It sounds to me like you don't like the competitive nature of competitions. ?

Shimano Curado K - http://fish.shimano.com/content/fish/northamerica/us/en/homepage/Shimano_Product_Page.P-CURADO_K.html

I'm starting to plan a trip (3 nights and 2 days) with my friend to NC in October. We have been trying to plan this since his younger brother passed away a few years ago but have let kids, family, work, moving, etc. to get in the way. We are looking for some fishing, hiking, and to be somewhat close to a city with good restaurants. Ideally, I would like to have one day of guided bass fishing on a lake and one day hiking close to a river (stream or creek works too) where I can fly fish for trout and wade periodically. Any recommendations?

Talking to a guy at Bitter's and he mentioned some people having an issue with getting the K's side plate to relock. He figured out it was due to the spool tension knob being tightened down a bit much which puts lateral pressure on the spool and pushes it towards the plate enough to keep it from relocking. Could that be part of the issue for the OP? P.S. I broke down and got a second K yesterday for a Loomis GL2 6'6" Heavy...oh man...sooooooo nice.

Righty with lefty reels. When I cast lefty I have to switch hands and I don't notice a difference in it being "harder" or "slower". I use lefty reels because using a rod on my left hand feels terrible. Whatever works for you and gets you fishing is the "right" way to do it.

^^^Time on the water.^^^

Kinda surprised this isn't already a topic. http://bassblaster.bassgold.com/who-pays-the-payouts I'm not 100% shocked by what this shows--the anglers are footing the bill for payouts--but it would be more interesting to see all the other dollar amounts and %s that play into the total budgets for each league. It'd be nice to get some anonymous input from anyone involved with either league. Also, http://ikelive.com/ has a short segment where they talk to Kevin about the article.

I'm in the same boat as 0119. I love fly fishing but it's really hard to get after it from a bank in Florida. Roll casting only works so well for open water and few rods can handle heavy cover. Heck, fly lines are only rated to around. 30#.

Hopefully we can get out a good amount this year. Bassmaster.com has a story on WS and the tournament. Head some major drama going on back home that week. Anglers have to compete in all the division's opens for a win to qualify a trip to the Classic. He has to fish two more to go. It should work since there aren't any schedule conflicts with FLW.