RE: Balog on bass health – I agree with your article. I am 57 and have bass-fished my entire life and used to fish tournaments but no longer care to due to several reasons. More pressure, more pre-fishing during week by competition and now LiveScope, which I don’t think should be used during any tournament! I have also quit watching tournaments on TV due to LiveScope making it boring as hell. We will see what happens in the future.
I was planning to fish as a co-angler for the first time this coming season. I even had my deposits in and was in the process of making arrangements for places to stay when B.A.S.S. decided to end the program. As a result, I am done with B.A.S.S. and will not be back. Congratulations on turning bass fishing into a rich man's sport!
RE: MLF lock box – It has come to this at the highest level of the sport. Where is the integrity?
RE: MLF lock box – Big fail. You can't move backwards in life. Once we move forward in technology, we need to continue. Can't fish in the past.
Joe, I'm sure you have more information than I do because I have none. What happened to innocent until proven guilty about the guy who got arrested that is a member of the B.A.S.S. advisory board?
I am 57 and have loved bass fishing and B.A.S.S. since I was a kid. With FFS, I can’t watch it or MLF anymore. Sad to see this sport going to hell!
RE: NPFL president cited – Sure hope they put out the video from the diner. Great look for the president of a league.
RE: Balog on MLF Magazine – I too long for the print, probably because I'm 72 years young and would rather turn a page than scroll or enlarge print on a screen. Keep up the great articles, Joe.
RE: Balog on MLF Magazine – Outstanding article, Joe. You hit the nail directly on the head. Keep up the excellent work.
RE: Balog on MLF magazine – Thanks Joe, you are right on with this one. I couldn't agree more with you. I would try and add something, but you've already said it. Please keep writing here on BassFan, I thoroughly enjoy it.
RE: Balog on MLF magazine – No one cares about MLF or Boyd Duckett!
RE: Balog on MLF magazine – So right on ... I will miss it too. I read your articles every time and enjoy them. Thanks for being there!
RE: Balog on MLF magazine – Hey Joe, I have to agree with you. It is a shame not being able to sit down in the evening with a fishing magazine and relax and read a little. I guess it comes down to we are getting a little older!
RE: Balog on Thanksgiving – Thanks, Joe. Great read. Especially taking a kid fishing. A good bream bed is pure magic with a child. I have a grandson on the way. God willing, I will get to do it again with him.
RE: Balog on Thanksgiving – As always, a great article and a true friend. Thank you for the mention. We’ve had some fun times. Hoping for many more.
Good comment, Carl Della-Torre – catch-weigh/measure-realease should be the format for the future if we really want to protect the resource.
RE: Proposed Coosa River slot limit – Several years ago, Auburn did a tournament mortality study on Eufaula. It was mid-summer, hot as hell, and I warned the tournament director to not participate, but he did anyway. They took the bass, put them in a basket and hung it underneath the walkway leading out to the gas pumps at Lake Point marina – worst place in the lake to have placed the fish. Shallow, probably the hottest water temps in the entire lake, plus no current or wave action to oxygenate the water. I believe they had a 50 percent mortality rate or more ... those fish had no opportunity to swim to deeper, cooler and more oxygenated water. And if tournament mortality was so harmful, why are there numerous examples of heavily fished lakes having better fishing now than they did 30-40 years ago?
RE: Proposed Coosa River slot limit – I think the future of tournaments has to change with the technology of the fisherman with mapping, FFS and SideScan. More fish are being kept in livewells longer and death rates are high probably 80 percent. The kayak tournament formats make sense – go by total inches. If you're going cheat, it doesn’t matter what format.
RE: Proposed Coosa River slot limit – I truly believe the studies they did to be dead on (excuse the pun). I really think the kayak tournament people have it down. Give a measuring board to everyone at boat check with a number on it and take a picture of the fish. Submit it and tally at weigh-in. I fish Eufaula and it is rare to catch a fish over 3 1/2 pounds with all the summer tournaments this year.
RE: Proposed Coosa River slot limit – The Alabama DNC also needs to do this on the TVA lakes as well. Only the Coosa lakes would just send all the tournaments to the TVA lakes and kill them.
By B.A.S.S. Communications Staff
EVANS, Ga. – A true winter showdown is on tap for anglers fishing the first tournament of the 2025 Bassmaster Opens season
By John Johnson BassFan Senior Editor
It doesn’t seem like all that long ago when Brent Ehrler was one of the bright young stars in professional bass
By John Johnson BassFan Senior Editor
Truth be told, Stephen Browning isn’t crazy about returning to a five-fish limit tournament format this year. Weight-determining
