California's Jimmy Reese thoroughly dominated the Western Strens this year – he won two of the four events and fared no worse than 14th in the other two to turn the Angler of the Year (AOY) race into a one-man affair.
Next year, the new four-tournament FLW Series Western division will visit three of those same venues. He's eagerly looking forward to four cracks at a $100,000 top prize, plus the chance for some long-sought national exposure for himself and other anglers from his region.
"This is a dream come true, for sure," said the older brother of Bassmaster pro Skeet Reese. "This is awesome. We've been waiting a long time for something like this, and I'm very, very excited."
The Series will feature stops at Arizona's Lake Havasu, the California Delta, Washington's Columbia River and California's Clear Lake, and 1st place at each event will pay $100,000 (plus the possibility of an additional $25,000 for Ranger owners). The Top 30 in the points will be invited to a 3-day, head-to-head fish-off against their Eastern counterparts, and the winners of those matchups will gain berths in the 2007 Forrest Wood Cup and a chance to fish for a top prize of $1 million.
"This is just the beginning of the future for full-time fishermen in the west," Reese said. "There's a big buzz in the air in California – the whole West Coast, actually. Everybody's talking about it."
Dobyns Can Stop Campaigning
Gary Dobyns, another northern Californian, is the all-time leading money-earner on the WON Bass circuit and a former Bassmaster Classic qualifier who's won 39 boats during his career. For years, he'd been trying to convince the top brass at FLW Outdoors to bring a high-level tour to the region.
"I've sent a bunch of letters and emails to (FLW Outdoors chairman) Irwin Jacobs," he said. "And I know (CEO) Charlie Evans, so I never missed a chance to twist his arm. He's probably tired of me doing that.
"Everybody out here is super-excited. I know I'm beyond excited. Even some of the non-Ranger guys are excited, because there's going to be some big money to be won."
Gary Dobyns has won 39 boats in western tournaments and is eager to start fishing for $100,000 checks.
Rumors about the circuit had been circulating for a while, and he said the top western pros knew about the forthcoming opportunity for $100,000 paydays. They didn't know that decent money ($3,850, or $350 more than the entry fee) would be paid down to 75th place.
"That's not a 1-in-2 payback (based on a full field of 200 pros), but it's better than 1-in-3," he said. "It's a great deal."
Top 50 Will Sit Pretty
Entry fees for the Series will be higher than anything seen in the west before. But as former Bassmaster Tour pro Brett Hite of Arizona pointed out, you only need a couple of decent outings to cover those for the year.
The payout down to 50th place is $10,000 per event.
"The way I look at it is you could have four 50th places, which isn't doing great by any means, and still make $40,000," he said. "If you get one of those $10,000 checks, that's almost three entry fees right there. That's a huge step for out here."
How Many will Bite?
There is a flip side, though. Because anglers who ply their trade exclusively out west haven't gotten much national exposure, few have lucrative sponsorship deals.
California's Dave Rush, a member of the Triton pro staff, said that will likely result in less than full fields – at least in the beginning.
"I'm going to go play – that's not a problem because I have the sponsor help and whatnot," he said. "There's a ton of guys out here though who like to play the game, but when it gets that extreme, they don't have good enough sponsorship to do it."
So what are the chances that the fields will be full? "I think there's probably a better chance that it'll snow today," he said while sweltering on a 110-degree day in the Central Valley.
Dobyns agreed.
"I'm not trying to be negative here, I'm just trying to be honest," he said. "I don't expect it to run even close to 200 to start out.
"About 150 would probably be closer, and maybe we can get some of our guys back (who've been fishing in the bigger-money events in the eastern part of the country). That might get us closer to full fields."
Reese doesn't expect his well-exposed little brother to come scurrying back, but he said others who aren't as well-set financially just might.
"It'll be interesting to see what some guys decide over the next 6 months," he said.
Notable
> California's Greg Gutierrez, who's 41st in this year's Bassmaster Elite Series AOY race, said he won't be fishing the FLW Series. "It's kind of like poker right now, and I've almost gone all-in with BASS," he said in reference to the $55,000 he'll pay in entry fees this year. "My roots are with BASS, and I'm going to ride that out and see where it takes me."
> The west hasn't hosted a tour/series-level event since the Bassmaster Tour hit Clear Lake and the Delta in 2003, but it will be home to six next year. BASS announced last week that both of the aforementioned venues are on the 2007 Elite Series schedule.
> Reese's Stren victories this year were at the Delta and Clear Lake (his home water – he owns a janitorial service in nearby Witter Springs). He finished 5th at Havasu and 14th at Shasta.
