BassFan - bass fishing news, tips, tournament coverage

Dave Krantz of Albany, AL writes:

Sunday, November 24, 2024

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?

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Carl Della-Torre of Athens, GA writes:

Saturday, November 23, 2024

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.

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Bobby Padgett of LaGrange, GA writes:

Friday, November 22, 2024

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.

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John Zanlunghi of Huntsville, AL writes:

Thursday, November 21, 2024

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.

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Tom Cox of Canton, GA writes:

Thursday, November 21, 2024

The proposed slot will end traditional tournaments on the Coosa. One of the complaints about the proposed slot is that it only applies to tournament anglers. I think it should apply to all anglers. I suppose this change is a good way to eliminate traditional tournaments without having an outright ban. At a minimum, I think summertime tournaments – late June through middle to end of September – should be banned, as there's no effective way to keep those fish alive.

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Steve Ringeisen of Moon Township, PA writes:

Saturday, November 16, 2024

RE: Proposed Coosa River slot limit – Get ready for catch-and-release tournaments. Could be a positive for the river chain in the years ahead.

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John M. Orchard of Wilmington, NC writes:

Friday, November 8, 2024

RE: Elite Series pay structure change – If the sport supports good television viewership, then the sport will be rewarded. FOX was very happy with this last year and has rewarded B.A.S.S., which in turn passed this onto the fishermen. No entry fee.

Let's be honest: If you participate in a sport that has a cut line (golf, bowling, billiards, pickleball and many others), you are not expected to make a dime if you do not make the cut. Good for you, B.A.S.S. Time to perform like a pro to make money.

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Bobby Padgett of LaGrange, GA writes:

Friday, November 8, 2024

RE: Elite Series pay structure change – With fishing, the tournament entry fees have risen 5- to 10-fold. The saying from all organizations is the costs are higher. They're higher for the fishermen too.

The payouts should be 5 to 10 times more. If you look back in the old days, 1st-place payouts were 30-50 times your entry fees, from B.A.S.S. to Redmans.

If I started fishing professionally now I would not have sponsors' names on my boat or truck unless they were giving it to me free. I would take the boat decals off and the engine name too.

Too many of the Elites are making the manufacturer look good for pennies on the dollar.

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John Gaulke of Ithaca, NY writes:

Thursday, November 7, 2024

RE: Elite Series pay structure change – Al Lindner said it decades ago: "Nobody is going to pay anybody to go fishing." He's correct.

The whole pro-angler concept is doomed. It's been tried over and over in a myriad of ways. If I'm a sponsor, I can get plenty of product exposure through ad promotions, influencers (social media) and guides. Pros switch brand and product allegiances like the weather changes. Only a naive angler believes the pros after a while.

My thought is to just up the payouts and the entry fees to open tournaments. Make them big-money events. Yes, the pros will be able to do well in tournaments, but they may have to guide or get another kind of day job. Maybe that will work. I don't know, but I know one thing, Al Lindner was correct.

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Rob Campbell of Trafalgar, IN writes:

Monday, November 4, 2024

RE: Elite Series pay structure change – The new payoff structure is embarrassing to the sport. Why give out a check for $500? Club tournaments can pay that much.

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John M. Orchard of Wilmington, NC writes:

Monday, November 4, 2024

RE: Elite Series pay structure change – The poll would not let me vote. My take: I have participated in billiards, golf, bowling and fishing tournaments where there is an entry fee. Most pay back 1 place for every 5 entries. Participation of 100 will result in 20 persons winning something. Time to put on the big-boy pants. Results will equal rewards now. No more freebies.

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John Hunt of Bartow, FL writes:

Monday, November 4, 2024

RE: Elite Series pay structure change – It will fail spectacularly and go back to entry fees since only the Top 20 or so will even recoup their travel, food and gas expenses.

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Jack Covas of Waco, TX writes:

Monday, November 4, 2024

RE: Elite Series pay structure change – I understand that a lot of the pros are complaining about the payouts after the new structure. The deal is, they don't need B.A.S.S. to hold their money for them. If 50 pros want to pay entry fees, they can make a side pot and structure it however they like.

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Scott Bennett of Claremore, OK writes:

Sunday, November 3, 2024

RE: Elite Series pay structure change – This doesn’t fix the problem and I won’t watch until they stop using FFS.

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Tommy Robinson of Florence, AL writes:

Sunday, November 3, 2024

RE: Elite Series pay structure change – This is the best thing for bass fishing. Now they can concentrate on fishing.

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George Fiorille of Moravia, NY writes:

Sunday, November 3, 2024

RE: Elite Series pay structure change – New guys who don't have big sponsors and money will probably like it. Older Elite guys with sponsors who pay their fees will be against it.

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Mike Giardini of Freeport, IL writes:

Sunday, November 3, 2024

RE: Elite Series pay structure change – MLF/BPT already proved sustainability is difficult ....we saw several people drop out of B.A.S.S. and MLF due to cost issues. Might be trying to shrink the field with lowered bottom-end payouts. Hope it works out for the anglers. Remember, B.A.S.S. is a business and profit matters.

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Allan Hall of Brandon, SD writes:

Saturday, November 2, 2024

RE: Elite Series pay structure change – I feel this is a good move. With no entry fees, the overall cost for fishing each individual event has drastically decreased. The overall outcome won't be determined, though, until the end of the year when the final cost and earnings can be calculated.

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Todd A. Hammes of La Crosse, WI writes:

Saturday, November 2, 2024

RE: Elite Series pay structure change – In every pro sport even the people on the team that never see the field get paid. I think every angler who qualified for the Elite Series should get something at each event. I know this is a paid-by-performance sport, but if you've made it here on your past performance you should be paid while you're here.