Rosey Co Flap: Which Priority Was The Priority?

FLW Outdoors has long had the clearest progression from co to pro and from the grassroots to the tour level. Start in the back of the boat then move to the front. Fish the BFLs, use priority entry to get into the AFS (formerly Strens), then move up to either the Series or the Tour.

Through the good times of the past decade, there was seldom an issue with the progression. And both pros and cos could gain coveted "priority entry" the following year based on criteria like prior-year performance and boat brand. There was also a long-held tradition that favored anglers who registered for an entire season over those who entered just an event or two.

But with fields woefully short this year and last, FLW's priority-entry system has come under fire from several co-anglers who feel shortchanged by the system. It appears that for co-anglers in at least the Western FLW Series, priority registration now means little. The only guaranteed way into an event, whether you choose to fish one or all four, is to find a pro to register with.

The final Western FLW Series event of the season took place last week at Roosevelt near Phoenix, Ariz. Several co-anglers who fished the three prior Series events this year were wait-listed. Many of those co-anglers weren't confirmed into the event, including several who had a genuine shot at the Forrest Wood Cup. Meanwhile, while 31 Arizona pros (about a third of the 97-boat field) who hadn't fished a single event this season were granted entry.

FLW Series Rule 2

At first blush, it would seem logical that co-anglers who were granted priority entry based on rules criteria, or who registered for the full four-event season, would be given priority over local one-event signups. Not so.

The 2009 Western FLW Series Rules state, in part, "Pro and co-angler priority are granted when matching pro and co-angler entries (listing each other's name and membership number) are received and are contingent on both anglers paying their entry fee by the entry/balance deadline and competing in the tournament entered."

But it's more complicated than that, because there are several other priorities listed in Rule 2. At some point during the FLW Series season, ultimate priority was granted to co-anglers who signed up with a pro, no matter how many events they registered for, with the other priorities pushed aside.

Here's the 2009 Western FLW Series Rule 2 in full:

Participation is open only to members of FLW Outdoors who are 16 years of age or older. Any person under the age of 18 (19 in Alabama and Nebraska) entering a tournament must also have the signature of a parent or legal guardian in the provided space on the entry form.

All contestants must have a valid fishing license.

ENTRY: The top 100 pros and co-anglers from each division of the 2009 FLW Series and the top 10 pros and co-anglers from each division of the 2009 Stren Series must pay deposits for all four tournaments in a division by December 15, 2009, in order to secure their priority entry position.

For Ranger boat owners (Ranger owners with current registrations who will use their Ranger boat in FLW Series competition) and sponsor entries (FLW Outdoors may reserve sponsor spots in each qualifying tournament) deposits will be accepted to hold spots for tournaments beginning at 8 a.m. Central time December 15, 2009.

For Champion and Stratos boat owners and TBF members, deposits will be accepted to hold spots for tournaments beginning at 8 a.m. Central time December 16, 2009.

For other entries, deposits will be accepted to hold spots for tournaments beginning at 8 a.m. Central time December 17, 2009.

Pros entering all four qualifying tournaments in a division and providing co-anglers (with membership numbers) by December 17, 2009, will be given priority. Co-anglers entering all four qualifying tournaments in a division and providing pros (with membership numbers) by December 17, 2009, will be given priority. Pro and co-angler priority are granted when matching pro and co-angler entries (listing each other's name and membership number) are received and are contingent on both anglers paying their entry fee by the entry/balance deadline and competing in the tournament entered. Pros and co-anglers who enter all four qualifying tournaments in a division by December 21, 2009, will be given priority over anglers who enter less than four events.

Entries may be made either by mail, phone or on the Internet at flwoutdoors.com. Entries will not be accepted for a tournament after the first day of the off-limits period for that event, at which time FLW Outdoors will balance the field. Do not make entry by more than one method.

Each tournament will be limited to 150 pros and 150 co-anglers.

Deposits are nontransferable and nonrefundable once accepted into a tournament. Entries received after a tournament has filled will be placed on a waiting list. Waiting list anglers not accepted into a tournament will receive a full refund after the tournament.

CONFIRMED ENTRIES ARE CONTINGENT UPON COMPLETE ENTRY FEE BEING PAID BY THE ENTRY/BALANCE DEADLINE DATE. Entry fees (minus the deposit amount) may be transferred or refunded if FLW Outdoors is notified prior to the entry/balance deadline. Entry fees will not be transferred or refunded after the entry/balance deadline.

Resulting Confusion

Rule 2, as written, appears to set no clear order of priority.

There is a difference in language between past-performance criteria (described as priority entry) and boat/sponsor criteria (described as the "hold" of a tournament spot).

There's a priority assigned for signing up with a pro or co, and another priority assigned for entering all four events.

Roy Desmangles, Jr. of Lincoln, Calif. was wait-listed for Roosevelt and ultimately did not fish the event. He's fished FLW as a co-angler since 2004, was Western AFS point champ in 2008 and Western AFS points runner-up in 2009.

He registered for all four Series events during the priority entry period (on or around Dec. 16) based on his Stren points finish. He told BassFan he was assured by FLW Outdoors officials, including then-CEO Charlie Evans, that all was fine.

"When we all signed up, we were signing up for what we thought was an agreement to fish the Series," Desmangles said. "This isn't my first dance – I know exactly what to do and what not to do. They claim to have a Series and they asked us to do our part, as they have in years prior, by entering all the events. We read the rules and did just that. The rules have now changed, and they changed them at their convenience."

Co-anglers were wait-listed at several events this year, as often happens. But when the sport was healthier, there was seldom a problem for priority-entrants. But amidst the falling boat count, the situation reached crisis stage as the Roosevelt finale neared. With a bulk of the Series pros living in Northern California, several pros who were out of the points race opted not to make the trip to Roosevelt.

Desmangles made repeated attempts to contact FLW Outdoors – he speaks with the league regularly and often writes letters to help support its efforts in the West, he said – but he never heard back. Thus, he told BassFan he never heard an explanation about why he and others were wait-listed despite priority, four-event-entry status. In fact, the first explanation he heard from FLW Outdoors operations president Kathy Fennel was yesterday morning, when BassFan read him an open letter Fennel provided.

Text of that letter appears later in this story.

"What was the priority according to the original rules?" Desmangles said. "And to go beyond the rules, let's talk about the spirit of the game and the spirit of the rules. Are you going to tell me that Johnny Come Lately should get into an event ahead of guys who fished all year and are maybe in the Top 10 or Top 25 in the points? In business, you need to make smart decisions, and you should take care of your customers who committed to fishing with you for an entire season.

"Kathy's trying to be protective in her letter, and rightfully so, but her carefully crafted language has nothing to do with how the sport of bass fishing is actually run. Changing rules in the middle of the game isn't good business acumen. We're competitors and we wanted to compete against each other – against the best and the guys who earned the right to be there. They snatched that from us. The competition was taken out of the game in the playoffs – the last event of the year."

Jason Caine's another co-angler who registered for all four events but was wait-listed and unable to fish the Roosevelt finale. Like Desmangles, he's baffled by what seem to be gray areas within the priority-registration rules.

He penned a letter to Fennel about the matter. When he spoke to BassFan yesterday, he hadn't received a reply, other than the open letter BassFan read to him.

"I'm sure the same thing (wait-listing) happened to a lot of other people, but they're probably not going to say anything," Caine told BassFan. "I'm disappointed, of course."

Fennel's Letter

FLW Outdoors, at press time, had not addressed the issue in a public forum, but as noted, did send an open letter to BassFan from Fennel dated Sept. 28. Following is that letter, printed verbatim.

Recently there have been some chat room posts accusing FLW Outdoors of "cheating" FLW Series Western Division co-anglers out of their opportunity to fish the Roosevelt Lake tournament. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our goal is always to fish a full field of pros and co-anglers in every tournament. Unfortunately many more co-anglers than pros entered the Roosevelt Lake tournament, which made it impossible to accommodate every one of our valued co-anglers.

Due to the unbalanced nature of the field, co-anglers on the waiting list received a call on Aug. 18, 2010 explaining the situation and requesting assistance with recruiting pros to compete. Ultimately seven waiting list co-anglers recruited pros by the Sept. 13, 2010 entry cutoff and were confirmed into the tournament along with 90 other co-anglers who had the highest entry priority based on entering all four tournaments with a pro by Dec. 17, 2009, entering all four tournaments by Dec. 21, 2009 and time and date of entry. No entries were accepted after the Sept. 13, 2010 cutoff.

While it is unfortunate that some co-anglers did not have the opportunity to compete, the allegations that FLW Outdoors somehow cheated them out of their opportunity are unfounded. All of our actions regarding this matter are consistent with the letter and spirit of the 2010 FLW Series rules. Confirming co-anglers who provided pros in order to keep the field balanced in no way affected the entry priority of the co-anglers in question and thus had no affect on their ability to fish.

The truth is that had one of our most vocal critics entered on the first day he was eligible or had he provided a pro prior to the Sept. 13, 2010 entry cutoff, he too would have been confirmed into the tournament. The other vocal critic did not enter all four tournaments until after the Dec. 21, 2009 deadline and thus was never eligible for a top priority entry, but he too could have fished had he provided a pro prior to the Sept. 13, 2010 entry cutoff.

We always make every effort to accommodate all of our anglers, but sometimes it just is not possible.

Desmangles said that Fennel's reference to "most vocal critic" was likely a reference to himself, and that the other critic mentioned is likely Max Bauer.

Fennel, in her letter, seems to clearly state that the ultimate priority for co-angler entry this year in the Series was granted to cos who signed up with a pro for all four events, followed by cos who signed up for all four events. There's no mention of priority for single-event entries with a pro, and thus the letter doesn't seem to address why priority status was given to the 31 cos who only fished Roosevelt.

And Desmangles, for one, remains troubled that such a hierarchy was never spelled out in detail during time of registration.

It's also at least a little curious that Fennel makes no reference in her letter to priority for prior-year Series and AFS (Stren) performance.

FLW Rule 1 states in part: "These rules will remain unchanged during 2010." FLW was likely thus prohibited from re-organizing its priority-entry rules during the season as fields plummeted, and perhaps chose an interpretation to "balance" or more correctly "help fill" the field – a decision that left several full-season co-anglers out in the cold.

However, if past practice is any indication – such as the rule rewrite in 2005 to clarify the horsepower rating-plate controversy – FLW Outdoors could likely change the wording of its Series Rule 2 sometime prior to 2011 registration.

The Bauer Case

The priority-entry confusion is perhaps most apparent in the case of Bauer, a first-year co-angler from San Diego who was 14th in the points prior to Roosevelt – just four spots away from a Cup berth.

Bauer told BassFan that the priority-entry system did in fact undergo a mid-season change. He was initially under the impression that signing up with a pro would assure him a spot. He did just that, but he registered for only the first event at Shasta. His pro registered under the Ranger priority, Bauer said, and both received email confirmation of their spots in the Shasta opener.

"Two days after that, I got another email that said I was placed on a waiting list," Bauer noted. "We'd already made travel arrangements and reserved a hotel. I wondered what the deal was. I contacted Chris Hoover, the tournament director, and he explained that the priority wasn't for anglers who signed up with a pro, but for anglers who signed up for all four events. I said I was fine with that, so he transferred me over – that was the 30th of December – and somebody took my deposits through the end of the year."

Bauer's pro backed out after Shasta for financial reasons, and Bauer said he learned at the second event that priority was now instead given to co-anglers who signed up with a pro – not co-anglers who registered for all four events. So it was, in effect, a flip-flop, and he never was able to fish Roosevelt based on the seemingly new priority system.

"I couldn't find anybody to sign up with," Bauer said of Roosevelt. "There were (other co-anglers) trying to hustle and get pros by offering rods or money. I posted that I was looking for a pro and somebody contacted me who I didn't know. He said, 'Hey, I know you're 14th in the points race and the minimum (prize) at the Cup is $1,500. It's a good investment if you pay $1,000 of my entry fee.' I was kind of disgusted and I didn't do it. There was no way I could spend another $1,000 on the event.

"My experience was so negative, I'm not going to fish the circuit again next year," Bauer added. "I initially signed up with a pro at Shasta, received a confirmation number, then had it taken back. Then I registered for all four and had that taken back too. It's 100% contradictory. As co-anglers, we know the show's about the pros, but in speaking out, it's not about earning respect (for co-anglers) or anything like that. I just don't want it to happen to other guys in the future. It's not fair."

Notable

> BASS, in the past, suffered an opposite problem. Several times, it was short co-anglers for its Bassmaster Opens. BASS paired pro with pro to compensate.