BassNJake

Here are the rules that have been set for now: Following the 2021 season and every year after, the Top 10 anglers in the FLW Pro Circuit points standings will be promoted to the no-entry-fee Bass Pro Tour. Advancement to the 2022 Bass Pro Tour will be based on 2020 and 2021 point total, then single-year point total every year after. So pretty much the pros were given this first year as a get to know the format trial run. Points will count for the next 2 years and then people will be promoted/demoted. If that happened this year the 10 bottom guys would have been:

As a Browns fan, we dont know what being in the lead is like. We usually suck from the opening kick-off of preseason to the last game of our pathetic season. Nowadays, We just pay better players to suck

Tim Horton who is a part owner of MLF said they were getting over 223,000 viewers on discovery channel compared to 120 thousand for BASS on ESPN. He also said he promised you that their live coverage was not second to BASS in numbers either. He also mentioned that depending on the company those numbers may not lead to more sponsorship dollars. If you dont like it, dont watch it. I enjoy tournament fishing, I love the pressure scoretracker puts on the anglers and I love watching the fight to make the cut line. Come Saturday and Sunday I'm on the lake so I dont get to watch much live coverage. Thats where they lose me and BASS still gets me to watch the weigh in. I didn't like that a bunch of big name talent joined the USFL either. But I still watched the games because I like football.

I think I fell asleep reading this .... hahahaha I gut hook every other fish on a carolina rig so I don't throw it anymore. #shortattentionspan

Yep, right after presents until right before dinner.

It looks like the 3rd Eastern Open at Oneida is on August 6-8 That aligns with the start of FLW Title Championship August 8-13th Although I think that Sat the 8th is the first practice day for the FLW Title Championship It also looks like the grumblings about sponsor pay is beginning. This is from Randall Tharp BPT pro- “I don’t know that the format is 100 percent perfect or 100 percent for me,” Tharp said. “I’ve been bass fishing a few times for fun and I don’t try to catch as many as I can. I still try to catch biggest one or the biggest few fish. I like catching big ones. My fans like that and the companies that pay me do, too. I signed up for this deal for three years and I want it to work, but’s it’s been a tough offseason financially. The fishing industry doesn’t like what we have going on. There has to be some change.”

This reminds me of FLW 15 years ago. They had sponsors like Walmart, Chevy, Tide, Kellogs .... the non fishing sponsors. As soon as things started to get a little tight, these sponsors dropped like flies. Leaving FLW to try and scramble to make things right again. They never could make it right financially and had to be bought out.

It's funny because I just watched a youtube video where That Guy Skimpy(sponsored by do it molds) Shows how to make chatterbaits using do it molds. He begins by showing you how to open the eye of the hook using a punch so you can direct connect your blade. Guess you cant stop everybody?‍♂️

I have caught all my largest bass near the spawn right where the water loses clarity. Sure I've caught quality fish on beds up shallow However, in my experience my biggest have come where you lose sight of the bottom I also think that they spawn deeper the earlier it is in the cycle. I rarely see shallow beds first. If I do, I missed a large portion of the spawning cycle IMO.

Well MLFLW announced their roster for the FLW Pro Circuit .... John Cox is the biggest name and probably the favorite to win every event A pretty good mix of veterans with some up and comers Wishing them all luck with the changes

I guess it just depends on who you ask and what type of studies have been done. https://www.fws.gov/northeast/marylandfisheries/pdf/FINAL_Blackwater-Fish-Community-Comparison.pdf From the study: We replicated the 2006 and 2007 surveys (preSnakehead) over a year from 2018-2019 (post-Snakehead). Over all sampling periods we caught 35 species (32 fish species and 3 invertebrate species) totaling over 50,000 individuals. Of 21 species that were captured both pre- and post-Snakehead, 17 declined in relative abundance with percent reductions ranging from 30%-97%. We found that five of six sites had significantly different fish communities when comparing pre-Snakehead and post-Snakehead surveys. The main difference in fish communities was a reduction in overall biomass of most fish.

Glad to hear that you were able to get out!! I got a couple on a toad on Sunday. So I got to break out my topwater dance in December I had about 40 lbs of clothes on the back deck by the afternoon as I found daybreak to be pretty chilly so I layered up

It was a 37 minute show, I left out a lot of things. The president never called him, he sent him an email asking for Luke to call him back. The email was responded to and Luke explained that he was in the hospital watching his mother fight cancer and he was not going to call him. He invited him to appear on the Low Budget Live podcast to discuss any issues he had with the last podcast. The president responded by declining the invite and saying he was sorry to hear about Luke's grandma. So that's the small part of the story that was left out. So you think after the guy refuses to discuss things for everyone to hear and then says he's sorry about the guys grandma and not the guys mother things could have been settled with a phone call? Especially after reading your posts I find it hard to believe you are on the side of the guy trying to limit someone else's free speech. I'd guess if you were Luke Dunkin you'd want to beat ol' Jim Wilburn half to death for trying to get you fired by going behind your back. One person is trying to get the issue discussed publicly and the other tried to use his position of President of a company to try and put pressure on the other persons employers because he did not like what was being said.

Luke Dunkin is a former FLW pro. He is the National Sales and Marketing manager for TH-Marine(huge sponsor in the fishing world) and he also has a podcast called Low Budget Live. After a podcast where Luke gave his opinion that everything was not roses over at MLF. The president of MLF went to Lukes employers at TH-Marine to have a "discussion" over what was said. On his next podcast he said that MLF proved his point by going behind his back to "discuss" this with his employer

Brandon said it was pretty standard to have a buy-out clause in these type of contracts. He did not disclose how much. G-man straight up said it cost him 50 grand to buy out. I heard the kid quit his job so he could focus all his time and effort into this "Living your Dream" package he won. TBF is going to uphold their side of the agreement and pay their half of the entry fees and provide him a truck and a boat to fish out of. MLF is not paying their side which is 1/2 the entry fees. ( I say their side but it was actually FLW that made the promises) Since MLF bought FLW I believe the right thing to do would be to honor this. However, I do not know of any of the legal stuff that might prevent this. MLF did not buy FLW's debt- so paying off one person and not another might be illegal. So then duckett rods should have stepped in and sponsored the kid and there would have been no negative publicity. Now, he looks like the grinch

Boyd needs another private jet and could care less that this was a young mans dream ripped away from him. Someone is gonna step in and be the hero and cover the half of entry fees that MLFLW will not. One sponsor will get a pat on the back while MLF will be standing there with its hand outstretched for the 20 grand in entry fees. So much for caring about the grass roots of the sport. I'd love to see BASS step in and give this guy free entry to the opens taking all the positive publicity, helping someone out by doing whats right and sticking it to MLF. It's not like MLF just didn't squeeze a hundred grand from 2 former members

I agree with @Dirtyeggroll above about how the bait enters the water being an important part of pitching. Although I have caught fish on my patented "splash technique" which is when I make my cast(unintentionally) look like someone threw a brick into the water

Cant wait to see how it shakes out. I like the twist but if a cold front comes in on the last day, getting a 3 lb Florida strain will be a tough test.

Thanks for the video- it speaks volumes as to what Gerald was thinking and going through the past year. He says a lot and it is very informative plus he drops the redneck knowledge lol ... ... 50 grand to buy out his BPT contract Regarding leaving MLF- "it was more about the money than it was about me" Glad to see that he is gonna fish the opens helping his nephew. If you have followed Gerald's career, his brother dying was a very difficult time for him. I get emotional everytime I think about all the anglers idling out with the passenger side live well lid open as a sign of respect. https://www.bassmaster.com/blog/livewell-tony

He's just trying to get Boyd's affection It is that business law that says: if there is a boss then there will be an employee trying to kiss his *** asterisk

Are you heating the first layer with a heat gun before adding the second color? This has helped me from having the 2 layers separate

Ever tried the figure 8 once it gets close to the boat?

Gerald Swindle and Brandon Palaniuk are going back to BASS. They qualify for a legends exemption and will fish the BASS tour in 2020. This will open 2 spots on the BPT, no word on if they will invite 2 more. https://m.bassmaster.com/news/swindle-palaniuk-returning-elite-series Not sure how they got out of the 3 year contract with BPT, but with Boyd being involved $$$ is king. Makes Luke's comments about it not being all roses at the BPT hold up even more

Like already mentioned I'd try a jerkbait (soft or hard) or a small swimbait I like to drag a jig when its cold too