Ultimate Angler announced no FFS world championship bass tournament at lake Guntersville Oct 5-11, 2025

Tom

October on guntersville will be a frog fest! They have snag proof frog only tournaments there as well 

This one has a huge purse as well.  

 

B.A.S.S. should pay close attention to this derby, and if they were wise they'd realize there is a huge demand for non FFS derbies.     This is the second major derby that's being marketed as a non FFS event.   

2 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

This one has a huge purse as well.  

 

What are the winnings for it? 

7 minutes ago, gimruis said:

 

What are the winnings for it? 

$500k to the winner, and over $1mil total in the purse.

 

Now that's a real derby 

Whoa

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

$500k to the winner, and over $1mil total in the purse.

 

Now that's a real derby 

Yeah but they said the last one would be huge prize and it ended up about 1/3 of the original prize money with only 47 participants 

Didn't Chris Johnston still win $60-70k for winning it?  

I agree though, the turnout on the Lanier one was a bit disappointing, however that derby was loaded with absolute hammers.   That was basically an Elite Series event without FFS.   

 

I've read they've already secured the prize purse, but who knows.    

 

I suspect this one will be different....or maybe I'm just hoping it will be different. 

 

The fishing world only benefits from having more non FFS events, @gimruis shared a story about his parents and the Walleye derbies they fish that really illustrates this point.   At the top level this isn't as big of a deal, but it trickles down to even parking lot derbies.   Whether age, finances, or personal objections to the tech, a lot of derby anglers are getting pushed out of that side of the game because of this tech.

 

It's also eliminating the co angler aspect of the sport.   Nobody wants to fish co angler anymore because of this technology, and the B.A.S.S. numbers show this to be the case.  

Yeah somewhere in there but i think it was originally billed as a lot higher

 

and Johnston is a great with FFS 

Jay Kumar's Bass Blaster just had some more info.   The State has underwritten the prize purse so I'd imagine this thing is going to go down how they say it will.   The payouts are amazing.

 

Some interesting parts:

 

"1. $500K for 1st in the UA Championship, 2nd is $130K, 3rd $80K, 4th $70K, 5th $50K and it goes all the way down to 100th.

 

2. No entry fee but at $500 fee (I think annual?) to join the nonprofit. It's possible that the membership – maybe along with the state of AL? – will own the nonprofit.

 

If there's a backstory to this deal, it appears to be that someone(s) managed to push through the AL state gov't the idea of a huge "birthplace of bass fishing" tourney that will help publicize, promote and fund AL bass fisheries. I think.

 

The team's concept was driven by passionate pro anglers and other industry folks looking for a way to unite and raise bass fishing to an entirely new level for "the love of the game." In combination with the state of AL – as well as local partners City of Scottsboro, Jackson County and state leadership – the group also wanted to raise awareness of the state's healthy bass fisheries and help raise funds for conservation, ultimately to fund grants for federal-matched dollars for conservation grants."

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wonder if Randy is going to enter this one, or hide like he did during the last one.   

 

Y'all know I'm going to laugh when someone who wins using FFS wins this tournament without it.   

I’m thinking a lot could change in more than a year. That’s a heck of a check to be writing on their end.