I am thinking about trying my hand at local tournaments in the near future. I have a few questions and figured this would be a good place to ask. 

1. How do i go about finding and registering for a tournament? I live in the Central Mass area and cant seem to find much information.

2. What is the difference between B.A.S.S. and FLW? I see a lot about them online.

3. Do most people start at this level? I know these tournaments go to the national level, but it seems like anyone can participate. However I was under thie impression that these are for pro/semi pro anglers. 

 

Thanks

Local baitshops are where i would start first.

Often there will be flyers or the staff would know about tourneys on those local lakes.

 

You could try to find local bass clubs, some clubs have co-anglers which fish from the back of the boat.

This is a great way to learn and gain experience.

 

B.A.S.S and FLW are the 2 largest tournament trails for pros.

Flw has lower levels: the Costa series and the BFL series.

A lot of guys start at the BFL level and will move up to the Costa series with hopes to one day fish FLW.

 

There is also the Bass Nation organization that has clubs all over the US.

http://www.massbassnation.org/

A local club is a great place to start.  It will let you know if you have the taste for it before you get into the big buy in.  Some are as cheap as 20 bucks and as high as 100 here where I am.  This is my second year tournament fishing and to be honest when my fishing partner has had enough or moves I'm done.  I fish to relax and have fun and a tournament does not add to that experience for me.  Best of luck.