On 4/16/2023 at 8:34 AM, 12poundbass said:

Average would put him middle of the field. 

 

Y'all are misunderstanding what I meant by "average".

 

Historical data will show a 25# sack on this lake or Rayburn for that matter is the average winning weight. 

 

If ya can't put together a 25# sack on this lake you will struggle tournament fishing. I've seen/have weighed in 20#+ sacks & not cut a check. 

44 minutes ago, Catt said:

is the average winning weight. 

There it is. Average and average winning weight are two different things. 
 

We’re on the same page now.

24 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

There it is. Average and average winning weight are two different things. 
 

We’re on the same page now.

 

Over a 4 year time frame on Toledo Bend 60 times it took a 25#+ sack to win.

Well I checked the usual good sources of tournament results on the Internet and I’m not seeing it.  I looked at Toledo Bend results from the MLF Toyota Series and Phoenix League tournaments back to 1995.  25lbs would get you 3rd place in two tournaments and would win all of the rest.  For multiple day tournaments,  averaging 25lbs a day the way Milliken did wins all of them by a large margin.  There are plenty of tournament results posted on the Internet.  Someone post some links to show me what I’m missing.

1 hour ago, Tennessee Boy said:

Well I checked the usual good sources of tournament results on the Internet and I’m not seeing it.  I looked at Toledo Bend results from the MLF Toyota Series and Phoenix League tournaments back to 1995.  25lbs would get you 3rd place in two tournaments and would win all of the rest.  For multiple day tournaments,  averaging 25lbs a day the way Milliken did wins all of them by a large margin.  There are plenty of tournament results posted on the Internet.  Someone post some links to show me what I’m missing.

Ben would have won almost every derby in recent past either for a one day with his almost 30lb bag, or for a multiple day event.   

 

He did this before Feb and March as well.  

Tournament Results | Toledo Bend Lake Country

 

I'm even more impressed now that I see he caught a bigger bag than 99% of pros who have competed on this lake recently.  What a stud.  

1 hour ago, Tennessee Boy said:

 Someone post some links to show me what I’m missing

 

I have many times over the years but sadly the #1 source Lake Caster magazine is no longer available on line. 

 

You're looking at national tournament trails, there are at least 35 local tournaments held yearly with 200-250 boats per tournament.

Search this for day one coverage of the winner's catches. No promos that I saw, and all naughty words bleeped out.

 

UNBELIEVABLE Day sends Me to the TOP of the Leaderboard!! (Bassmaster Open Toledo Bend)

Reynolds boats his second Toledo Bend 12-pounder of 2023 - Louisiana Sportsman

 

If I had a son, I'd name him Tater too ?

 

"He didn’t have to worry. His 12.11-pound fish was the biggest caught in the tournament – and the fourth-heaviest caught from Toledo Bend this year – and he and Thibodeaux won the tournament with a 30.56-pound limit."

 

So a local absolute stud hammer has a day of his life, including a 12.11, has a partner, and only barely notches past Ben's day 1 weight.  

Come on y'all, Ben is amazing at bass fishing!

 

Let's all sit down and learn some stuff from the guy and enjoy his ascent (no, not his accent his ascent ?)!

 

Congratulations to Ben Milliken on what I'm sure is not going to be his only win this season....

18 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

So a local absolute stud hammer has a day of his life, including a 12.11, has a partner, and only barely notches past Ben's day 1 weight

 

Ya wanna play that? 

 

On Feb. 5 2023, Cody Pitt weighed in 39.15 pounds to win the MLF Bass Fishing League event. It’s the heaviest limit ever recorded in MLF competition on Toledo Bend. Mr Pitt followed that with a 42.32!

 

So your point is what?

Guys, it doesn't matter.  Ben won.  If he keeps winning or not will support what either of you have to say.  Who cares in the grand scheme of things lets just enjoy watching some tourneys

3 hours ago, Catt said:

So your point is what?

I'll take a guess for him. Hope he doesn't mind. The downward spiral of this thread started not because of any particular details, no matter what you say, but because you were determined to make sure that those who enjoyed this guy's "come out of nowhere win" just enjoyed it a little less. Simple as that. I don't know if you care or not, but I still like you anyway, and I'm sincerely sorry for your back pain issues. I'm not a moody person in the least bit, but that might make me cranky too. I'm a sinner though, so I'm only partially sorry for calling you pops, pops. Please excuse me now. I need to go order my Milliken dashboard bobble-head.

3 hours ago, Catt said:

 

Ya wanna play that? 

 

On Feb. 5 2023, Cody Pitt weighed in 39.15 pounds to win the MLF Bass Fishing League event. It’s the heaviest limit ever recorded in MLF competition on Toledo Bend. Mr Pitt followed that with a 42.32!

 

So your point is what?

My point is that you had to use an early Feb. weight total to finally get something over on Ben's amazing victory that he scored during mid April when many fish were post spawn.    If you can't see how comparing pre spawn to post spawn fish is apples and oranges, then I got nothing.  

 

No use in arguing this anymore, both of our opinions are on the record in this thread.....if he bombs, you'll be right, if he makes the elite and keeps hammering them I'll be right.  

First off you cannot compare team events to individual events.  It's like comparing doubles tennis to singles tennis.  Most local 200 boat tournaments are team events.

 

The more I look at actual individual event results the more impressed I get with Milliken's performance   Looking at Toledo Bend tournaments, I see Cody Huff's name a lot.  He seems to dominate many single and team tournaments on Toledo Bend.  Let's looks at what he has done in various MLF events since 2015.  

 

Toyota Series

1/30/2020 1st place   Day 1 20-6 , Day 2 23-06,  Day 3 17-5,  Total 61-11

 

Phoenix League Cowboy Division

2/4/2023 1st Place        39-15  (anchored with a 13-03 fish)

4/13/2019 8th Place      17-04

1/26/2019 1st Place       24-05
4/21/2018 72nd Place   10-09

9/29/2018  no weight

9/30/2017 22nd             10-08 

1/23/2016 1st Place       24-05

 

 

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Ben's amazing victory that he scored during mid April when many fish were post spawn.

 

Excuse me but that area he was fishing is late pre-spawn to spawn. I discussed that area in the thread about Toledo Bend. I recently discussed that area with @LovestoFish a couple of weeks before tournament. 

 

Never said Ben didn't have a great tournament & smacked some locals around. 

 

Ben found that area by reading past tournament results & executed it.