Any live or rebroadcast tournaments are pretty much must watch for me.  However, when the tours make their northern swings and the focus becomes more smallmouth oriented, I struggle to stay engaged.  I wonder if it’s that smallmouth fishing in our parts is, for the most part, very limited and therefore more difficult to relate to (at least for me).  I’m not dissing smallmouth, they may be one of the funnest freshwater species to catch.  I’m just curious if other’s find it more difficult to watch smallmouth v. largemouth focused tournaments.

I’m the complete opposite.  I can definitely relate more to the events in the north when they target more brown bass and northern strain largies.

 

Probably has a lot to do with where a guy lives.

7 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I’m the complete opposite.  I can definitely relate more to the events in the north when they target more brown bass and northern strain largies.

 

Probably has a lot to do with where a guy lives.

Me too.

Although I did enjoy Both Of Randy Howell's recent green bass catches.

#giants

A-Jay

Opposite for me, whether it’s green or brown anything in the north peaks my interest. Obviously has to do with where i live.
 

I guess you can say the tournaments they fish on tours depict a certain image about smallmouth fishing which isn’t necessarily true. It’s not all deep water and fishing with your nose glued to electronics trying to drift your bait into the perfect spot. I can concede that is a bit boring for most people to watch. But the fights from the fish are awesome to watch. You can power fish too and fish dirt shallow for smallmouth too. 
 

I’m most excited for the Mississippi River event on the elite series, always a good mix of both smallmouth and largemouth. 

Other than Strader and Montgomery hammering LM pitching into pads, which was fun, the final MLF last year was dominated by Neal staring down at his graph. Wheeler whacked them one day doing the same thing. Not too much drama, but I still watched. Bussy Break last week was far more entertaining. They actually had to fish.

30 minutes ago, Finessegenics said:

It’s not all deep water and fishing with your nose glued to electronics trying to drift your bait into the perfect spot. I can concede that is a bit boring for most people to watch.

I’ll admit this too. When they start drop shotting and staring at their screens, I lose interest quickly. Unfortunately drop shotting is a preferred method in midsummer when smallmouth stack up in deeper water on structure. Not my cup of tea and never will be.

9 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I’ll admit this too. When they start drop shotting and staring at their screens, I lose interest quickly. Unfortunately drop shotting is a preferred method in midsummer when smallmouth stack up in deeper water on structure. Not my cup of tea and never will be.

Your right, in that it can be pretty unexciting to watch someone stand at the front of the boat staring at a screen, and I agree that it is not the most fun way to fish either, but when you feel that little “tick”, at the end of the line, and a 5lb football rockets out of the water, it can make all that “downtime” worth it. 

Our NorCal Smallies behave similar to northern states.

Our SoCal Smallies behave differently as do our FLMB species have adapted to deep structure lakes with wild changes in pool levels.  Both LMB and Smallmouth seek the same Threadfin shad populations at different locations. Wind is a big factor catching Smallies, they like wind and brighter color lures then LMB. Finesse presentations work for all bass species in SoCal.

Before MLF B.A.S.S. It FLW rarely fished northern or western states, 90% was the heartland of  LMB fishing. 

The Great Lakes could have been on Mars, if you wanted to fish B.A.S.S. you relocated to Texas or Alabama. 

Tom

22 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I’ll admit this too. When they start drop shotting and staring at their screens, I lose interest quickly. Unfortunately drop shotting is a preferred method in midsummer when smallmouth stack up in deeper water on structure. Not my cup of tea and never will be.

The problem is there was a bunch of them doing that at Harris Chain this weekend also, we might as well get used to it cause it is here to stay

2 hours ago, RDB said:

However, when the tours make their northern swings and the focus becomes more smallmouth oriented, I struggle to stay engaged.  

 

Since we're talking about watching and not fishing I agree with the OP and others it is hard for me to "stay engaged" watching a guy drop a tube or ned rig while drifting in featureless open water. 

 

Now if I was fishing that featureless open water I would definitely be engaged.

48 minutes ago, Dogface said:

Now if I was fishing that featureless open water I would definitely be engaged.

Of course! I didn’t mention that in my post either, actually fishing it is a different story LOL

I’m a smallmouth junkie 

I'll add that if & when this thing makes an appearance,

for a couple of reasons, 

I'm out.

Don't be a flogger

A-Jay

2 hours ago, A-Jay said:

I'll add that if & when this thing makes an appearance,

for a couple of reasons, 

I'm out.

Don't be a flogger

A-Jay

 

Now that "thing" could make some of those TV shows more enjoyable to watch.