OBBT Staff

We will be serving food at Bass Pro in Springfield from 3-7pm and as always during the event at Long Creek Marina on Saturday and Sunday. Payouts for our events are guaranteed and clearly listed on the website. Thanks everyone.

Registration is open online through Friday. The onsite registrations are: Thursday May 14th 3 - 6 PM Bass Pro Shops Springfield, MO Friday May 15th 3 - 6 PM Long Creek Marina, Ridgedale, MO See everyone this weekend!

One more week! We can't wait! All reg info at www.oakleybigbass.com

This^^ As we've discussed in the past multiple weigh in locations aren't an option and our overall set up can't be replicated at another venue. We are there for a reason and that reason is Bass Pro Shops. If someone chooses not to fish because of that we understand that they're entitled to their opinion/decisions but we can't for the life of us imagine why someone would want to miss this event. You can trailer to the weigh in location and/or fish a little closer to the weigh in location. Lot's of options. Looking forward to seeing everyone in a couple of weeks!

Right around the corner, be sure to get registered. Going to be a great event. May 16/17 All info at www.oakleybigbass.com

The early entry rod promotion for KVD is being extended through this Sunday the 25th at midnight. You may register at www.oakleybigbass.com

No it's never been a rod for a one day entry, alway's two. See you there.

The direction this thread has taken is the best possible example of why guns have no business in a tournament anglers boat during an event. I fully respect everyone's opinion and as stated we offered the information behind our decision. We never want anyone to miss out on our events for any reason and can make a strong argument that they're not like any other event and well worth attending. Regardless, we will take care of those who show up and put on a great event as always. Thanks everyone, maybe this part of the dialogue can be over...

Our first two rules basically cover any local, state or federal laws and regulations regardless of whether or not we list them. The reason for the "call out" of firearms is that most people assume that if they have a carry license that it doesn't apply to them and that's not correct. We want to make sure people see it. We aren't fans of it but it is what it is. Certainly has the added upside of mitigating risk of an incident on the water between competitors or others. We understand why it's an issue and respect your decision.

The Army Corp of Engineers does not allow carry on its properties which include many of the lakes where we host events. If you are carrying on a Corp property you are in violation and therefore in violation of the first rule in our tournament. We do host events on lakes where carry is legal but we aren't making that rule applicable at one event and then modifying rules at another. There's no "agenda". If you choose not to compete based on that rule we respect that 100%. Now can we get this post back on topic?

The 2015 schedule is live and online registration is now open! Up on Table Rock May 16-17th. All info at www.oakleybigbass.com

To Ozarkanglers.com for all their help during the year and to everyone who fished with us this year. We appreciate you. All results are up at oakleybigbass.com See everyone next year. Come join us on Grand Lake in a few weeks if you'd like! Take care. Mark

Current leader Jonathan LeCrone 6.24lbs

Start time (first cast) will be 6:00am both days. If you'd like to follow the updates this weekend we will have a live leaderboard at the following link: http://tini.ly/tablerock2014

Yes, you can pick them up either Thursday or Friday if you qualified. You must have registered for a two day entry on or before February 9th

Yes

Next weekend! If you haven't already, be sure to get registered for the event. You can register online through Friday at www.oakleybigbass.com We will have onsite registration Thursday evening at Bass Pro Shops in Branson from 4-7pm and at Bass Pro Shops in Springfield on Friday from 3-7pm. Going to be a great event this year. We've increased the payouts and number of paid places for 2014. Come join us!

Here's TV Show from last year.

Thank you. Love to have you join us James. We are on the road as "visitors" at 10 of our 11 events and we do take our fish care efforts seriously and respect the fisheries we visit. We believe our anglers do as well. I respect your passion for The Rock. Mark

James, If you'll re-read your original post, there were a number of assumptions that you made that were answered in my reply. Yes, of course the premise of your post was the timing of our event but I wasn't arguing that with you was I? I was addressing the fact that while we may or may not (depending on a number of variables beyond anyone's control) be on Table Rock during the spawn, I addressed the real numbers and likelihood of bigger fish being brought to the scales. This simple fact is regardless of the timing of the event the actual success rate of anyone who might be "targeting bedding fish" was relatively low. We simply only see 5-10 "large" fish per tournament event regardless of the fishery or time of year. Those are statistics proven from four years of Tour data. Therefore providing some facts against your blanket statement that OUR event is the most harmful. Any other event on the lake during that time frame would probably have similar data. Now in regards to your latest reply let me respond: 1. Your reply assumes that only anglers in a "big bass" tournament are targeting bigger fish. This is ridiculous. ANY tournament angler fishing on Table Rock at anytime of the year is targeting "bigger" fish. That's the point in a tournament. Are you telling me that a five fish event on Table Rock in April/May/June time frame isn't? Of course they are. I guess if they see a fish on a bed they'll pass it by so that they can catch five three pound fish... 2. Our's is one event with factual data showing no more or less "big fish" being weighed in that any other type of tournament. So you might want to direct your issue to any tournament organization that visits any lake during April/May/June. Not just OBBT. 3. Last May the "facts" were that there were fish in all phases of the spawn. The winning big fish wasn't caught off of a bed. There are anglers fishing a number of different patterns and finding success. Most likely that will be the same this May when we return. I can tell you there are a number of other events in and around that time frame that will bring a larger number of fish to the scales. So maybe take a minute and find the tournament schedule and let them all know that you disapprove. Thanks again for the feedback regardless. We respect this sport, we respect the fisheries we visit and we are an asset not a liability. I take offense to anyone who attempts to portray otherwise. I respect your right to your opinion but I have a right to defend our Tour and our position as well. You came to my thread to voice your opinions and I addressed them respectfully. We'd love to have you come participate in the event and I think your tune would change considerably. If not, that's okay. Good luck and good fishing to you. We look forward to being on Table Rock in May and we will see everyone there. Thanks.

James, Thanks for the post and I'd like to address. I'll do so with actual facts rather than my opinion so there's nothing to argue about. At last year's event we had just over 500 anglers compete in the KVD event. Less than 40% of the field weighed in, which is typical of our events. The average weight of the fish weighed last year was 3.12lbs. We had 139 fish on Saturday and 137 fished weighed in on Sunday. Other important notes: 1. Anglers in our event can only have 3 fish in their live well at any one time. Most rarely have three at any point as they are coming back to weigh in throughout the day. 2. Fish are not kept in the live well as long in our events as compared to a five fish stringer event as we keep the fish once they're weighed in. 3. We are meticulous with our fish care and all fish are returned to the lake at the end of the day. 4. You can't weigh in a dead fish in our events, so that's another very big part of the fish care puzzle that a five fish event can't say. 5. You can look at the results from almost any event that we have an there are really very few large fish weighed in regardless of the fishery we visit. That holds true at Table Rock as well. We rarely see many 6-7lb fish and that's why when we do they're normally the leader/overall winner. If we saw a slew of 6-9lb fish then your "big fish" targeting argument might hold some water but based on the facts it just doesn't have any merit in our events. So in all actuality a Large 100-150+ boat regional event, PAA, BASS Open, FLW Rayovac, FLW Tour or Elite Series event would have a much greater impact in terms of overall fish caught/held and potential impact to the fishery. Certainly not pointing fingers at any of these groups because they do an outstanding job with fish care but just giving you the real math so that in the future when you state YOUR OPINION it's based more on facts... Thanks for the opinion but those are the numbers. Mark

We have a keyword for every event and you can text our short code to that keyword and in most instances it will add you. We haven't set the 2014 keywords yet but as we get close to the event you can contact us and we will give you the keyword. Just make sure to remind us.

Yes, there are some carriers that block mass text delivery. Think of it as similar to a "spam filter" on your email. The carrier prevents our manual add of the phone number into our system, however we don't receive any notice of the block. Most anglers are able to do a manual entry once they realize they're not receiving the texts. It resolves the issue 99% of the time. As always though and as mentioned in our rules, the text updates are simply a courtesy that we provide and since it's done through a third party we can't guarantee delivery. We do however provide the hourly updates on our website, on our Android/iPhone app, Twitter and through text throughout an event so there's a way for everyone to get the updates/results even if the text system isn't working for them. Hope this helps. Mark

Not aware of any bugs in the text system. What issues are you experiencing?