35 minutes ago, gimruis said:

 

We've all seen photos of you here.  You LOOK old.  lol

Age is just a number…… and a sore feeling…… and a hair color…… and afternoon naps…… and 4 o’clock dinners 

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

……and 4 o’clock dinners 

Well ok now……you done gone to meddling!!!  4:00 is my favorite time to eat dinner 😜🤪👍.

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

Age is just a number…… and a sore feeling…… and a hair color…… and afternoon naps…… and 4 o’clock dinners 

Honestly there a good number of posters on here that just show their fish in the photos, and we never see their faces.  So its hard to gauge whether they may look just as old as you do.  Or as ugly.  

 

My brother who is 2 years younger than me looks like he's 10 years older.  So you're not the only out there that looks older than their age.  Whenever people see us together they just assume he's the older one now.  Haha

24 minutes ago, gimruis said:

My brother who is 2 years younger than me looks like he's 10 years older.

So he looks about what....70?

 

(runs and hides)

 

When I'm 64...

(Ya...that song now fits me)

2 hours ago, newriverfisherman1953 said:

Well ok now……you done gone to meddling!!!  4:00 is my favorite time to eat dinner 😜🤪👍.

I eat like there’s no tomorrow anytime between sunrise and about 8:30 pm. After that I’m going to sleep no matter where I’m sitting if my belly is full. It can lead to problems such as wife telling you to quit snoring and wondering where all her leftovers went 

 

 

back to the matter at hand, this may be the first time that Jordan Lee hasn’t fished against his brother Matt on their major circuits 

Legendary????  

Dakota ebare is leaving the BPT and entering the BASS open EQ trail 

3 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Dakota ebare is leaving the BPT and entering the BASS open EQ trail 

He's an exceptional angler......when I watch him fish everything is so squared away.  

 

Look forward to rooting for him this year in the EQs.      

 

 

Randall Tharp's entering the Opens. On IKE Live now.

I couldn't imagine the stress associated with leaving the MLF and then having to run the gauntlet that is the EQ Opens schedule.  

 

Huge props to those dudes who realized the sinking ship they were on and had the tamales to step into the Opens.  

 

 

Dakota Ebare and Randall Tharp along with the others that bailed on mlf in favor of B.A.S.S. are smart men. 

On 11/15/2023 at 10:57 AM, Troy85 said:

https://www.bassmaster.com/elite/news/jordan-lee-makes-legendary-return-to-bassmaster-elite-series/

Happy Mardi Gras!

On 11/15/2023 at 10:57 AM, Troy85 said:

 

 

14 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I couldn't imagine the stress associated with leaving the MLF and then having to run the gauntlet that is the EQ Opens schedule.  

It would be tough. In my thinking the opens are the major leagues of tourney fishing with   the combination of established pros, local sticks and young guns giving it their best shot . Winning an Open is quite a feat.

I think Boyd and the MLF are about done. I think he tried to destroy BASS and now good old Karma is stopping by. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy 

I agree with you. Irwin Jacobs tried  boyd's route years ago, didn't work out for him either. Found out that it was better to sort of work with B.A.S.S. than against them. I was a member of both organizations.

To me it's the youth that will be the final death nail in MLF's coffin.   B.A.S.S. has a strangle hold on the future of the sport right now with folks like last year's rookie class, along with the incoming rookie class.    

 

MLF built a business around poached long time big named pros, and even if they all stay, over time attrition will end the league as long as the brightest and most talented young anglers keep funneling into the B.A.S.S. pipeline.    

 

I mean this year's Elite series product is one HECK of a product.  I couldn't be any more excited than I am, on the other hand I don't even know where BPT will be fishing this year.   Wheeler will dominate half the events, and now they don't even have KVD.     Very unexciting product for the viewer.   There isn't any new life being pumped into that organization, and the end product reflects as much.  

Ebare won at Clarks Hill last spring and had big fish to boot with a9 plus pounder.it was the first time he ever fished there and it’s very unusual to hear of someone winning on The Hill on the first go round.

 

MLF has more flexibility because they are a catch and release format.  If BASS ever embraced this, they would become even more popular.  There are some events on some locations that do not permit live weigh ins at certain times of the year.  This was on full display Sept 22 here in MN.  BASS wanted to have a smallmouth event on Mille Lacs and they were denied because smallmouth season is only open for catch and release after the second Sunday of the month.  MLF pounced on this and had an event there instead.

 

I'm not saying that BASS should completely quit their traditional live weigh in format, but if they were flexible so they could take full advantage of every locale with a live release platform, that would be an added bonus.

20 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I'm not saying that BASS should completely quit their traditional live weigh in format, but if they were flexible so they could take full advantage of every locale with a live release platform, that would be an added bonus.

They are though. They did a catch, weigh, and release tournament a few years ago per that states DNR with the exception that one bass 8lbs or over would be allowed at weigh-in. Taku was killing them and brought in a few if I recall.

2 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

They are though. They did a catch, weigh, and release tournament a few years ago per that states DNR with the exception that one bass 8lbs or over would be allowed at weigh-in. Taku was killing them and brought in a few if I recall.

Was not aware of that.

20 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I couldn't imagine the stress associated with leaving the MLF and then having to run the gauntlet that is the EQ Opens schedule.  

Randall Tharp seemed ready and excited about going into the EQs on yesterday's IKE Live. It's worth a watch. Said he was glad it's 9 tourneys now instead of 3. Also said he qualified 3 times for the Elites before he accepted because he felt that under the old minimum 3-tournaments-fished requirement, he wasn't ready for the big leagues. He also reflected on how many guys who made it in the past under those rules but who bombed out badly and left broke and discouraged. He felt that they weren't conditioned for the big time or built enough of a sponsor base.

5 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Was not aware of that.

I thought it was a great template that they might adopt going forward, and a reasonable compromise to what they do traditionally.

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

Was not aware of that.

It was the 2022 Lake Fork Tourney. Can't find specifics doing a normal search, but I believe it was one 24"er for 8lbs allowed in the live well for weigh ins. Something like that. There were marshals in every boat weighing fish. That was the one where Livesy, Palaniuk, and Swindle all got century belts with swindle and Palaniuk with the same final weight and Livesy winning.

Fork has a 16"-24" slot, so everything inside that slot has to be C&R unless exempted. 

 

Will be interesting to see how long some of these guys stay relevant when they don't qualify through the Opens and can't get back into either professional circuit beyond the lower tiers.

Yeah they have Marshall with scale In the boat at the fork tournaments and they can bring in one fish over 24” for the weigh in (or their under 16s). Most of them just weigh and release the over 24” so they don’t have to baby sit it 

 

I believe they also used a Marshall with scale at lake Travis one year 

12 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Yeah they have Marshall with scale In the boat at the fork tournaments

I just found where they're explaining it. ping @gimruis

 

Scroll to the 16:50 mark if it doesn't begin there automatically. Explanation concludes at the 19:20 mark