I love it when they go to non elite fisheries, like when they had the bassmaster classic in Pittsburgh and Chicago. Heck they’ve even had it in my hometown in Knoxville twice and about to be a third time, the opposite of an elite fishery. It’s much more relatable watching them fish somewhere tough than it is watching them reel in constant 7-8 lbers in Texas/mexico 

21 minutes ago, greentrout said:

No thumbs down. You are entitled to your opinion. That said on the Mississippi Gulf Coast with brackish water, which has many fishing for the Bass from all walks of life, a five-pound Bass is rare and considered a monster. Most of the Bass are 1 to 3 pounds. And some very expensive bass boats can be seen on the rivers and marshes of the Coast.

Good Fishing    

You also have a valid point and I would not turn down on opportunity to fish there. ( especially for salt water fish)  I'm sure the local people living on the Mississippi Gulf appreciate the bass fishery they have and take advantage of the opportunity to catch those bass every time they can.  I grew up in an area where a 5 pound bass was a fish of a lifetime, and enjoyed bass fishing as much or more than any one who lives on the shores of Lake Fork.    However no matter how much I liked my local bass fishing, I would never  recommended having an Elite tournament there.   The fishing was excellent by my standards, but compared to other fisheries around the nation, or even in my home state, not so good.  I expect the best fisherman in the world to compete at the best fisheries  world or realistically the best in the US.  I realize that Mexico lakes would have giant bags of bass, but is not an option for an elite event.

 

There are many people with expensive snow mobiles, that ice fish for bass in Minnesota, but I wouldn't expect BASS to hold an elite event there in February.

 

Having local tournaments on less world class lakes is what bass fishing is all about.  They held a local tournament at my local lake when I was a kid and I thought it was the greatest thing that ever happened in my area.  I also thought it was fantastic when our small town basketball team won the state tournament, but I didn't expect anyone to charge $100 for a ticket, or for the game to be televised.  The pros play on a pro level, at professional venues. 

 

 I simply believe that the Elites can go anywhere for an event, so why not go to the best fisheries, at the best times or at the very least, above average fisheries, at close to peak times.  This tournament is neither of those. 

 

 

2 hours ago, king fisher said:

What are they doing fishing here?  I watched some live this morning, and they acted like a 1.5 pound bass was a DD.  I can understand going someplace where the fishing will be tough, but tough is when some anglers zero, only a few get a decent bag, and the big fish of the tournament is over 5 pounds.  When the controversy over bed fishing it weather or not the angler is targeting the spawners or the fry there is something wrong.   The winner of this thing most likely wont even have a 2 pound average and many struggle to catch 5 dinks. There has to be a better place to hold an Elite event.  BASS wont hold an elite event in a whole portion of the country because the anglers would be inconvenienced with a long drive and other logistical problems, but have no problem holding a tournament on a body of water where the bass are smaller than the crappie are in many lakes.  Go ahead and give a thumbs down for my opinionated rant, but there is no way any one can convince me this isn't completely ridiculous.

 

It's not BASS's fault that the the dam from Toledo Bend was opened all the way and it dropped the temperature.

When KVD won the Classic, 2005, Three Rivers Pittsburgh.. worst tournament I’ve ever watched. A total dink fest.. 

 

Tough to watch for sure but it really weeds out the slackers 🤣

Just now, F14A-B said:

When KVD won the Classic, 2005, Three Rivers Pittsburgh.. worst tournament I’ve ever watched. A total dink fest.. 

 

Tough to watch for sure but it really weeds out the slackers 🤣

That guy could catch them in a water fountain inside a bank 

6 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

That guy could catch them in a water fountain inside a bank 

The best ever..

Shclapper breaking the tie for the win! Congrats Pat!

BIG BASS. BIG STAGE. BIG DREAMS. 😁 @king fisher 

 

 

 

 

“Now don’t be sad, ‘cause two out of three ain’t bad.”

 

- Meatloaf

 

 

 

Ok, NOW I can say it....I'm pretty sure a tube bait contributed to his win. 

I’m with @king fisher on this one. The Sabine is not a worthy fishery for an elite event.

 

I can understand trying a venue once as an “experiment” to see how it goes. But they keep revisiting this locality and nothing changes.

 

Pretty sad when my local lake here in MN can best a southern venue by a wide margin.

4 hours ago, F14A-B said:

When KVD won the Classic, 2005, Three Rivers Pittsburgh.. worst tournament I’ve ever watched. A total dink fest.. 

 

Tough to watch for sure but it really weeds out the slackers 🤣

I think the Pittsburgh event was the best one ever. When ounces are separating everyone and they are all catching loads of fish, its interesting to see. Watching anglers pull away by 10, 15 or 20 lbs in a few days from the rest of the field presents a very stagnant last day

Why Orange Texas? 

 

Orange, Texas holds the record for Bassmaster Elite Series attendance, with the 2023 event at Sabine River attracting 42,448 people. Previous Elite Series events in Orange have also drawn record-breaking crowds, with a total of over 136,000 fans in four previous visits. In 2013, the season opener in Orange broke the previous attendance record, with 33,650 fans in attendance, and the 2021 event saw 40,107 fans

 

So the question before us now is this.

 

Is it about generating in-person fans and revenue from that, or is about showcasing the top fisheries in the country?

 

At Fork, it was the latter.  At Sabine, it was not.

3 minutes ago, gim said:

 

Is it about generating in-person fans and revenue from that

 

How much revenue do you think 43,000 fans brought in for all sponsors?

 

Where's Fork's fan base?

17 minutes ago, Catt said:

How much revenue do you think 43,000 fans brought in for all sponsors?

 

Where's Fork's fan base?

 

No idea on either one.  You know a lot more about those locales than I do.

 

I've specifically heard you say that the Sabine has "no big fish" though.  That seemed to be obvious.

On 5/18/2025 at 11:17 AM, king fisher said:

What are they doing fishing here?  I watched some live this morning, and they acted like a 1.5 pound bass was a DD.  I can understand going someplace where the fishing will be tough, but tough is when some anglers zero, only a few get a decent bag, and the big fish of the tournament is over 5 pounds.  When the controversy over bed fishing it weather or not the angler is targeting the spawners or the fry there is something wrong.   The winner of this thing most likely wont even have a 2 pound average and many struggle to catch 5 dinks. There has to be a better place to hold an Elite event.  BASS wont hold an elite event in a whole portion of the country because the anglers would be inconvenienced with a long drive and other logistical problems, but have no problem holding a tournament on a body of water where the bass are smaller than the crappie are in many lakes.  Go ahead and give a thumbs down for my opinionated rant, but there is no way any one can convince me this isn't completely ridiculous.

You're certainly entitled to your opinion. No event will every satisfy every fan of BASS. I enjoyed watching a grinder of a tournament. It was refreshing to see them fish a fishery that's closer to the ones I fish than a fishery like Fork that's 1000 times better than anything I've ever wet a line in. If I wanted to see the biggest fish being caught, I certainly wouldn't be watching people fish for bass... I wanted to see the best anglers in the world struggle to figure something out and that's exactly what we got here. 

17 hours ago, gim said:

Pretty sad when my local lake here in MN can best a southern venue by a wide margin.

For me, it's not about the lake. It's about the guys fishing. I want to watch the very best compete and figure it out. Even better if they're doing it on a fishery I can relate to. Is it cool watching a slugfest like Fork some times? Heck yeah. But I didn't learn much that translates to my fishing there. I learned a lot watching this one. 

 

3 hours ago, gim said:

 

So the question before us now is this.

 

Is it about generating in-person fans and revenue from that, or is about showcasing the top fisheries in the country?

 

At Fork, it was the latter.  At Sabine, it was not.

I suspect it comes down to money, plain and simple. How do they get the most viewers so they can then charge advertisers max dollar. You don't get a wide viewership by showing the same thing on repeat. If they only went to lakes with smallmouth, they'd lose viewership from the largemouth guys. I don't ever recall BASS's mission statement being "To showcase the best lakes in the country." I suspect they'd need a whole different business model to do that. 

58 minutes ago, JHoss said:

You don't get a wide viewership by showing the same thing on repeat.

 

And yet, that's exactly what they seem to be doing.  The same lakes over and over and over again, which includes the Sabine.

 

I don't know if the marketing appeal comes from in-person attendance or online/TV viewership.  I imagine it's from online or TV views, like most other sports.  Maybe I'm wrong though.

4 hours ago, Catt said:

 

How much revenue do you think 43,000 fans brought in for all sponsors?

 

Where's Fork's fan base?

About 5 million according to the Judge who spoke on Bassmaster live..

that's local monies not considering sponsors as in Daiwa, Yamaha motors etc..

4 minutes ago, F14A-B said:

About 5 million according to the Judge who spoke on Bassmaster live..

that's local monies not considering sponsors as in Daiwa, Yamaha motors etc..

Not buying that number. That’s what a top tier SEC football game weekend brings in

9 minutes ago, GReb said:

Not buying that number. That’s what a top tier SEC football game weekend brings in

I don’t care whether you do or don’t , that’s what the Judge stated on Bassmaster live said..

 

Take it up with him. 

8 minutes ago, F14A-B said:

I don’t care whether you do or don’t , that’s what the Judge stated on Bassmaster live said..

 

Take it up with him. 

Not arguing, I just can’t account for it. Not saying I’m right or he’s wrong although I’d love to see where the numbers are coming from. 
 

These events seem very local where people are not flying in, staying at hotels, going to restaurants/bars, etc. The majority of attendees probably live within an hour or so and drive home after weigh in.
 

Where I live has hosted a few Bassmaster events and hosts a PGA event each year and I can tell you that the average person in the city has no idea either are happening. They just don’t move the needle because the only attendees are local people. 

1 hour ago, gim said:

And yet, that's exactly what they seem to be doing.  The same lakes over and over and over again, which includes the Sabine.

They may go to a lot of the lakes regularly, but they don't fish Fork 9 times a year. The diversity is in watching them fish from Florida to Texas up to the Great Lakes. Most of the fisheries in each year's schedule are relatively different than the others.

 

45 minutes ago, F14A-B said:

About 5 million according to the Judge who spoke on Bassmaster live..

that's local monies not considering sponsors as in Daiwa, Yamaha motors etc..

One thing I picked up on was that the revenue generated wasn't just from the Elites. But the Elites coming there and showing the world that it's a viable fishery is what generates that money. He mentioned other tournaments coming to town because of it- one was a 500 boat high school event. With 2 kids and a captain for each boat, not to mention potential family coming to support, that's a tremendous amount of revenue coming into your city that otherwise wouldn't have. 

47 minutes ago, GReb said:

Not buying that number. That’s what a top tier SEC football game weekend brings in

100,000 seats at $200 and up??? Lot more than 5 million dollars on a Saturday in Knoxville. Couple more zeros on the end of that number and that’s just tickets, not counting hotels, airBNB, restaurants, etc

1 hour ago, gim said:

 

And yet, that's exactly what they seem to be doing.  The same lakes over and over and over again, which includes the Sabine.

 

I don't know if the marketing appeal comes from in-person attendance or online/TV viewership.  I imagine it's from online or TV views, like most other sports.  Maybe I'm wrong though.

 

They keep going back because the chamber of commerce or promoter is cutting a heck of a deal.  Do you think the PGA plays tournaments for free?

52 minutes ago, GReb said:

Not buying that number. That’s what a top tier SEC football game weekend brings in

 

$5M might be what Tennessee brings in for ticket sales and concessions.  What the SEC game brings into the city makes the number bigger.

 

Same goes for a fishing tournament.

 

After the crowds we saw at the Pasquatonk event, I bet we see that venue regularly.

3 minutes ago, Pumpkin Lizard said:

Do you think the PGA plays tournaments for free?

 

I still think the big money from a PGA event is with the TV ratings and online viewership.  Not the in-person attendance.