Kumar Talks TV, Fed And Much More

(Editor's note: This is part 2 of a 2-part Q&A with BassFan CEO Jay Kumar.)

BassFan received several questions for Kumar about the Federation, and almost all were about the same thing, so we just picked a few. Here they are.

Doug Morris of Mableton, GA writes:
Jay, with all that's going on with the Federation and BASS, do you think they will be able to repair the damage that has been done or do you look for the Federation to jump ship

and align itself with the FLW?

Doug, I have no idea. I'm tempted to make a prediction, but I really shouldn't. If I do, it'll be taken one way or the other politically, and I don't want that.

The bottom line is I'm not about to make a recommendation to Federation members. They need to decide what to do based on their own goals. But I will say that what looks like a tough period for the Federation now probably will in hindsight be a good thing. This kind of upheaval is usually needed for any organization to refocus and restart. Usually it opens up a lot more opportunities too, like the Federation is seeing already.

Ray Coleman of Henderson, NV writes:
Having an inside look at both the Federation-level guys and BASS management, did you see the rift between the Federation and BASS as it was building?

Ray, I don't think anybody could've foreseen Don Rucks banning the Federation reps and everything that happened after that. But it might have been inevitable – a rift of this size, I mean. A quick review of Federation-related history since ESPN bought BASS shows quite clearly that there has always been a Federation rift. It just gets bigger or smaller, but it hasn't gone away.

About BassFan

Jon Clausen of Grand Rapids, MI writes:
Since BassFan was founded in 2001 it has quickly risen to become the most credible and independent source of information on professional bass fishing today. Do you feel that by entering the tournament game with the Cabela's Top Gun Championship and the subsequent promotion of the event on BassFan that you jeopardize your own objectivity as a news organization? Is it healthy for the sport for those who gather the news to become the ones who make the news as well?

Jon, awesome – I love your question because we debated this at BassFan for a long time. Here's where we came out.

First, it was obvious that the sport was getting more and more political. BASS and FLW want certain personalities – in their anglers, I mean. BASS (also) likes Triton/Mercury guys and FLW likes Ranger/Yamaha or Ranger/Evinrude guys. Throw fishermen sponsored by Citgo in there, and guys sponsored by Wal-Mart sponsors. You can see pretty quick that everything was, and still is, getting away from raw ability, or pure performance. We felt and still feel that pro bass fishing is a game of skill above all else.

Second, when you factor in all of that plus the increases in the number of events and the higher costs of fishing, it was getting less and less likely that all, or even most, of the world's best pros would fish against each other. They were splitting by tour, and weren't ever going to fish against each other on the same body of water at once. We thought that was nuts. Who wants to see the Super Bowl with only half the best football players in the world?

The next factor was that no one – not BASS, not FLW – cared. They didn't care if half the best pros in the world fished with them and the other half fished the other side. They didn't seem to care if professional bass fishing never showcased the best pros all at once. Hard to believe, but true.

And lastly, we didn't believe that the Bassmaster Classic or the FLW Tour Championship were true championships. The Classic is a BASS members championship – a championship for BASS members from all levels. The FLW Championship has only tour-level anglers, which is good, but the rules are too loose and the bracket format doesn't reflect what tournament fishing is all about – (meaning) if you catch the most weight over X number of days, you win.

So with all of that out there, what are you going to do, just criticize everything from the sidelines? What if you were worried that if no one stepped up, the sport would be hurt? And what if you could put your money where your mouth was? Would you try it? Our answer, eventually, was yes.

To get back to the meat of your question, all we could do was report on Top Gun as honestly and as thoroughly as we do all tournaments. We weren't scared of getting criticized. Why would we (be scared)? Why would anyone? How can you do something so perfect no one has a problem with it? I think it's all a matter of perspective. And confidence. Confidence that if you get some things wrong, the world isn't coming to an end.

Here's one example. Before Top Gun started, Mike Iaconelli said in a local paper that the whole format was weird, and the jury would be out on whether it was a good idea or a dumb idea until it was over. We were fine with that. He was right.

In some cases, honest reporting was a little tough. But not because we weren't asking the questions. The pros are so schooled in making positive comments about whoever is running the tournament they're fishing, we had to work hard to convince some of them that it was okay to be negative if they felt that way.

One case I remember vividly was Greg Hackney. (At Top Gun) we didn't show the pros their weights when they weighed in. (The weights) were only revealed at the nightly weigh-in ceremony.

Greg weighed in one day and looked pretty unhappy. Not because he didn't catch them, either. He went and did his interview, and I caught him when he was done. I asked him if he was okay with not seeing his weight, and he said no, he wasn't. He still looked mad. So I walked him back into the interview area and asked him to tell Jon Storm, our editor-in-chief, his feelings for the record.

If you've been around the pro scene at all, you know how unusual that is. You can tell just from Greg's first reaction, which was not to say anything bad.

So is it healthy for the sport to have Top Gun? As long as it serves its function and it's reported on honestly, I'd have to say yes.

Sorry for the long answer on that one. I wanted you to see what I saw.

Luke Dunkin of Lawrenceburg, TN writes:
Jay, I was recently reading BASS Times and the editor Matt Vincent slammed the BassFan Top Gun Championship. I was wondering what your thoughts on this were.

Luke, I don't read BASS Times so I didn't see what he said. But if your question is here, that means someone at BassFan verified it's true.

I can tell you that Matt is one of the best editors I've ever worked with. So if he slammed Top Gun, I've got to assume he did it intelligently and for a good reason. But either way, it doesn't bother me. If you stick your neck out and create something different, like BassFan.com or Top Gun, you're going to get people taking shots at you. It comes with the territory.

Carl Roedel of Spring Grove, IL writes:
Jay, in some ways was your Top Gun Championship a precursor to working with the PAA towards their desire to run an independent trail?

Carl, we did talk briefly with the PAA about working with them somehow on Top Gun. But at the time they were so new – their structure, or their officers, were so new – they weren't ready to even consider working with us – or anyone else. In the future, we're open to working with anyone at any time.

Gwin Hart of Jackson, TN writes:
So, Jay – Please give us the lowdown about the new BassFan MAG.

Gwin, thanks for asking. The bottom line with everything we do is that it's something we want to see. You create things you want to see – something not already out there. That's true of the iPod or a certain type of music or whatever you want to do. That was the case with BassFan.com, and it's the (same reason for) BassFan MAG.

Bassmaster magazine is good. In-Fisherman is good. I'm not a big fan of the FLW magazine, but some people might like it. But we want to see something different. A bass-fishing magazine that's as high-quality as magazines on other sports. Great photography. Interesting stories. Fun stuff. Stuff you've never seen in a fishing magazine before. Stuff you haven't even seen on BassFan.com before. That's what we're doing.

Tell us if you like the first issue, which will be out around the Classic in February. (For information on how to get your BassFan MAG for $1.00, click here – Ed.).

About Kumar

Brian Lytle of Dover, NH writes:
What inspired Jay to become involved in bass fishing?

Brian, these guys were moving a piano in my house when I was a kid. I was sitting on the porch stairs, and one of them tripped and the whole thing came rolling down the stairs and hit me in the head. When I came to, Bill Dance was on TV.

No, seriously. My father tells me it started when I was about 2 years old. I caught a bluegill on a fishing trip, and my eyes got as big as pie plates. After that I bugged my parents all the time to take me fishing, and I thought bass were the ultimate. I can remember every bass I caught until I was about a teenager.

At some point I realized I wanted to apply what I was good at to the thing I loved most, which was bass fishing. I had some successes and some failures, and here I am. Or here BassFan is. I feel pretty lucky. I get to do this every day.

Alan R. Ellis of Claremore, OK writes:
Looking back over your career in the bass-fishing area, what do you consider your most significant accomplishment/contribution, and what, if any, plans do you have to surpass this milestone in the future?

Alan, I've never thought about it like that. The most significant contribution would have to be BassFan. Bringing the fans and anglers together, with no filters. Covering fishermen from a performance standpoint rather than a marketing standpoint like the leagues do. Trying to make bass fishing fun for people every day, even when they're stuck at work.

Those are definitely the things I'm most proud of, but there's no way I can take credit for it. Everyone at BassFan and also the pros, the fans and our advertisers have to share credit for making BassFan what it is. I guess my wife too, for putting up with bass fishing for all these years.

Beyond BassFan we have some plans, but I can't talk about them here. But I think the most important thing anyone could do in bass fishing would be to get the politics out, or mostly out, of bass fishing. And ramp up the professionalism in the industry, which goes with the whole political thing.

You might not be aware that politics in bass fishing, meaning the industry side of bass fishing, are pretty bad. People literally make careers out of disinformation and pushing agendas that have nothing to do with whatever's best for their companies, or the industry, or fishing. It's really crazy.

But I think a lot of that is because of a lack of professionalism. Don't get me wrong here. Some great people – talented, smart people – are in the fishing business. But for every one or two of them, there's one that has no business being in the fishing business or any business. For this sport to get bigger and better, those people have to be weeded out.

I appreciate the thought-provoking question.

Regarding Loudmouth Bass

(Editor's note: Last but not least, here are some of the many, many questions we received about Loudmouth Bass and its cancellation. Fans of the show won't want to miss the last few questions.)

Pete Gleason from Washington, DC writes:
What were the best and worst things about doing the show? Was Zona one of the worst?

Pete, I've got to assume you're kidding because I think it was obvious the chemistry we had. The best thing about the show was Zona. I'm being serious here. The guy is a gem of a human being. He's a great family man, he's a great fisherman and teacher of fishing, and I hope everyone could see that he's a natural on TV. And I don't just mean bass fishing TV. He can do anything from Monday Night Football to Saturday Night Live. He's that good. I saw it in person.

ESPN is hanging onto him, which is smart. But if they were real smart, they'd use him well beyond just fishing or the outdoors. It was great working with him. I hope we get to do it again.

Another good thing was seeing how the production staff – who were great people – got so into bass fishing. We had this golf course pond stuffed with 4- and 5-pounders, and they would fish it every chance they got. They loved fishing. Catching fish is all it takes.

The bad parts of the show? One definitely was politics. Or maybe it was just a difference of opinion. What I mean by that is I'm a journalist. I take the obligation of putting all the facts before the public very seriously. But ESPN is an entertainment company, not a news organization. So we had differences of opinion on things.

I didn't realize the difference at first, so early on I was amazed at how much influence a couple of BASS sponsors had, or tried to have, on the content of the shows. But then I got it. Didn't mean I accepted it or that Zona did either, but it was there. There was a lot of fighting around that influence. A lot of stress probably no one enjoyed.

Another bad part was having to come up with opinions on major news, sometimes within minutes of going on camera. Usually it was some huge BASS announcement we'd have to give our opinions on. And someone, usually me, would be the negative guy and the other guy would be the positive guy.

I like to study things, think about them and talk to people before I have an opinion. And that's an opinion I'll share with the people here at BassFan, let alone thousands of people watching on TV. So that was a little frustrating. That whole off-the-cuff opinion thing didn't feel right sometimes.

We also couldn't just talk about stuff. It wasn't like 'here's topic X, go talk about it.' It was like, BASS or whoever made this announcement: 'Is this the biggest thing ever in the sport?' What are you going to say if you don't know? You have to say 'I don't know' or 'I doubt it' and that's where you come from, rather than here's what I see as good and here's what I think is bad.

Overall the whole experience was great. I expected some of the bad stuff and was pleasantly surprised by the good stuff. It was great being on ESPN, and I really have to thank Dan Bowen, Jerry Vaillancourt, Jerry McKinnis and the other people who recommended me for the gig.

(Editor's note: We received many questions about the change in format and the cancellation of the show. We're running some of them below.)

Tom Marrs, Peabody, MA
Jay, great job on Loudmouth, sorry to see it go. From the first show on, I thought that BASS would have a problem with you speaking your mind and telling it like it is. Were you pressured to show BASS in a positive light and change the format?

Donald Husted, Wauconda, IL
Jay, why did you get away from the issues on Loudmouth Bass? Please don't give me the cop-out answer of the network made us. The structure of the show in the beginning was more appropriate for what most of the serious bass anglers wanted – real discussion.

Howard Stephens, Columbia, SC
Who put the hammer down on you and Zona in regards to the show content of Loudmouth Bass? The appeal of the show to me was the opinion and hard-hitting editorial comment, which filled an important niche in the bass-fishing news world. Was there too much criticism from the powers that be? The show has recently degenerated to comedy sketches and how-to tips for novices. I notice the same trend with BassCenter.

Glenn Seleen, Seguin, TX
Jay, I noticed that the Loudmouth Bass show changed its tone and flavor the last half of the year. I was wondering, did ESPN and BASS put pressure on you and Zona to tone down your criticisms of BASS with regards to the changes on the pro side and the Federation problems?

Ed Clarke, Williamsburg VA
Jay, do you think Loudmouth was canceled because sometimes you were critical of BASS?

Craig Chase, Barre, VT
Jay, does the canceling of Loudmouth Bass have anything to do with BassFan's fair but often critical assessment of the direction ESPN/BASS is taking our sport?

Honestly I don't know the answer to these questions. I can't speak for ESPN, and all they told us officially was the show wasn't being renewed. But no one was surprised.

I wasn't surprised because the writing was on the wall. The behind-the-scenes politics, the fact that the show was never promoted, the bad timeslot and the fact that no one can measure shows that are recorded as opposed to watched in real time. This experience really showed me what a fallacy that whole Nielsen ratings system is. About 99 percent of the people everyone talked to about Loudmouth said they recorded it.

As far as changing the format goes, sorry Donald but yes, the network made us. They called all the shots. It's their show, their dime.

And you have to bear in mind that if you liked the show in one form or another, that form was determined by ESPN. Me, Zona and the production team had some influence, but ESPN executives gave all the guidance. So if you hate ESPN or BASS for changing the show, you have to high-five them for the stuff you liked.
_____

(Editor's note: We also received many questions like these.)

Doug Vahrenberg, Higginsville, MO
Would you be interested in continuing Loudmouth Bass or a similar-type show on another TV network, like FSN, The Outdoor Channel or OLN? Loudmouth Bass had a different view of the sport and we need to continue this side to grow our sport and increase participation. How about BassFan TV?

Doug Dulin, Greensboro, NC
Jay, you and "that other guy" at Loudmouth Bass this year took the sport of bass fishing to the next level with your hard-hitting question-and-answer show. With ESPN dropping the show in the coming year, are there conversations with any other outdoor networks to continue the good work you both have done in 2005 with Loudmouth Bass? Maybe, FSN before the FLW show?

Garry Gideon, Olympia, WA
Will the show be picked up by another network or cable channel? If not, will you or Zona be on another show in 2006 and beyond?

Dave Dieling, Elmhurst, IL
The outcry of BassFans on the cancellation of Loudmouth Bass is a clear signal that the show really connected with its viewers. Is anything in the works to create a Loudmouth Bass II through another cable outlet? If so, is there a timetable?

Bill Moore, Heber Springs, AR
What will you and Zona do now that the best fishing show on TV is yanked? We want you on TV!

Jerome Keller, Granger, IN
Jay, when can we expect the new Saturday morning TV show Loud BassFan starring you and the Z-man to begin airing? A good timeslot would be against Who Beat Up Charlie What's His Name?

Dwain Batey, Siloam Springs, AR
So Jay, when can we expect to see something from BassFan on TV, maybe something like Loudmouth Bass on steroids?

Will the Z-man and I do a show together in the future? Maybe. Possibly. Probably. I don't know. I'm sure if the right deal came along we'd look at it. Could something be on BassFan TV? I'd have to give the same answers.

Roland Willis of St. Francis, MN writes:
Will you and Zona be doing anything with the 2006 Classic?

Roland, we'll both be there, but at this point not on camera together.

Jon Jobe of Garvin, OK writes:
What up Jay? Quick question: Of all the pros featured on Loudmouth Bass, who would you say was the funniest to hang out with?

Jon, all the guys were fun and funny, but it's tough to find anybody funnier than Gerald Swindle. Spend about 30 seconds listening to him and you'll know what I mean.

JD Blackburn of Nashville, TN writes:
The biggest laugh of 2005 has to go to Jay and Zona's classic TV bit based on Peta's dog-catching billboard. When you pulled that little fluffy dog out of the livewell, my wife and I lost it. Please tell us how you came up with that one.

JD, I loved that one too. That's called "never let Jay and Z loose with a camera crew at the Classic."

Here's what happened on that one. Someone at some level of ESPN – I can't remember who – wanted us to cover this Peta billboard (in Pittsburgh during the Classic) on the show. In a serious way. Z and I were against it because we thought it was ridiculous. Fishing for fish is just like fishing for dogs? Duh! But then we saw this dog and bang! We knew the gag.

Honestly, things like that – all the gags – usually were a group effort between us and various people on the production team. But that dog was funny. It was scared to death too. Z felt bad about stuffing it in the livewell. I kind of hoped it would squirt on him on camera.

My favorite thing of all time on the show was Z's Classic-winning dream. Not only was he unbelievable in that, when Rick Clunn said "yours is bigger than mine" about the Classic trophy – a line he came up with, by the way – I cracked up. That's a side of Rick we don't get to see much.

Rick Latta of Tega Cay, SC writes:
ESPN said that when they canceled Loudmouth Bass and Schooled by Denny Brauer, they weren't dumbing down the programming. I think they are. What do you think?

Rick, maybe they're dumbering down the programming. But seriously, who knows. Do I think it's "dumber" and less interesting? Yup, but I'm also a "bass fishing enthusiast." And at this point, strictly looking from the outside, I don't think I'm the guy they want.

At the beginning of last year, the shows reflected a bet that their audience was a hardcore bass-fishing audience. But now it looks like ESPN's captive fishing audience isn't the right type of people for the shows they wanted to do, and even for what BASS is doing with the Elite Series. They need a big core of diehards, and it doesn't look like they have them. So it looks like they're going after who they know they have, which is a general fishing audience.

I'm not speaking for ESPN. That's just how it looks to me.

Larry Koch of Lakeville, MN writes:
Jay, I've noticed you sporting a new haircut the last couple months on Loudmouth Bass. What was the bet you lost and how long do you have to keep your hair that way?

Larry, you got me. I guess I lost a bet with God or my mother because I'm getting more aerated up top. Can't do anything about it, so you just have to go with what you've got – or not. Jeff Kriet keeps telling me I need to see some hair mad scientist guy he knows. Maybe he's right.

Zona from Sturgis, MI writes:
Jay, why did you struggle so badly in the E3 events? You really caught them off-camera.

Yeah right, Z. Thanks for all the back-boating. Did you learn anything watching me trying to skip under those docks? Be nice.

Jay, a few of the E3 events were pretty close. Did you ever purposely throw an event due to off-lake wagering?

What are you saying? That I wasn't trying? Okay, Stone did pay me a little. He gave me one of those sleeveless Citgo tour shirts – after he wore it. Wolak paid me too, but I couldn't help him, poor guy. He was all about the bent-rod pattern.

Jay, what was going through your head when you had the meltdown and threw your reel in the lake during the Davy Hite E3 event? I've always wanted to ask you about that, but was scared to in person because of your reaction.

I can't answer that. It's all a blur. A red blur. Did anyone get hurt?

Jay, you left your personal refrigerator next to your desk in the office. Can I have it?

You must be confusing me with Byron. But go ahead. It's yours.

Jay, after we went to dinner after the last episode, I saw you wiping your eyes with your sleeve. Be a man: Were you crying? And if so, were they tears of joy or sadness?

Z, that wasn't me. That was our producer. And I think they were tears of joy.

(Editor's note. Yes, those are real questions from Mark Zona.)

– End of part 2 (of 2) –