OBBT Staff

Dave Mercer's Event Recap on FYI

I'd venture to guess that with the tournament trails (AIA, Central Pro Am, & Others) and with the general angling traffic that there are over a 1000 + anglers pulling fish off the beds on Table Rock and any other local lake for that matter. Never heard that complaint before. Again, thanks for the feedback. Just goes to show you that a large group of anglers can compete without things getting out of hand. I'd also like to commend our anglers on their fish care. Our staff was pleasantly surprised by the low number of struggling fish that were brought in. Our mortality numbers were closer to an event held in the spring than early summer and everyone should be commended.

We will be looking at all the options but there are a large number of variables for scheduling considering all the partners involved. With regards to the weigh-ins our rules are simple: an angler only has to declare with our staff that they intend to weigh in that hour. If it takes a few minutes to get them in line and through the process that isn't a rules violation. Thanks for the feedback as we are always open to it.

I want to thank all the anglers who participated. The people of Missouri were great to us and we can't wait to come back next year. We are planning next years event for April. Should be some great fishing.

The inaugural Kevin VanDam Big Bass Classic was held this past weekend on Table Rock Lake as nearly 300 anglers from nine different states and Canada competed in the tournament. Anglers faced tougher than normal conditions as warmer temps forced anglers to work harder to find fish throughout the two days of the event. Despite the conditions anglers brought a total of 218 fish to the Toyota Tundra Main Stage with an average weight of 3.23 lbs. Big Cedar Lodge provided the incredible backdrop at Bent Hook Marina and tournament anglers were treated to three days of hospitality courtesy of Oakley, Bass Pro Shops, Tracker Marine and Toyota Trucks. The tournament got of to a fast start on Saturday with over 138 fish brought to the scales and Brent Compton held the day one lead with a 5.45 lb largemouth weighed in the 10-11 hour. The weather conditions improved on Sunday as temps cooled and the wind provided some much needed relief. The quality of the fish brought in on Sunday improved as well and we had a new leader in the 10-11 hour when Kelly Power weighed in a 6.18 lb largemouth. The lead didn't last long however as the eventual tournament champion Brady Meredith brought in a 6.98 lb monster in the 11-12 hour take the lead. Brady's big bass held up and earned him the keys to the $43,000 2010 Nitro Z9 with a 250HP Mercury Pro XS. After all was said and done, one in every four anglers were paid as 70 hourly checks were cut and anglers who participated were rewarded with a total cash and prize payback in excess of 190%. This event could not have happened without the incredible contributions from Oakley, Bass Pro Shops, Tracker Marine, Big Cedar Lodge, Toyota Trucks and Quantum. We would also like to thank Lake Fork Trophy Lures, Mercury, MotorGuide, Lock-n-Haul and Power Pole for all their support. Finally a very special thank you to KVD for making this an unforgettable event for all of those involved. His 5 hour performance on the Rolling O Lab Grill was definitely the highlight of an incredible weekend. See everyone next year.

Brady Meredith wins the 2010 KVD Big Bass Classic on Table Rock Lake with a 6.98lb fish brought in Sunday during the 12-1 hour. Brady's win earned him a $43,000 Nitro Z9 with a 250HP Mercury. Congrats Brady and thanks to everyone who participated this year. Full story and event wrap up will be posted soon.

Approx 6am.

Reg at Bass Pro Shops in Springfield and Branson Thursday 5pm-9pm and Friday 9am-9pm. Hope to see you there.

Yes, the pre-reg rods are all accounted for. You can still register online for the event though or come to one of the registrations at Bass Pro Shops next Thursday or Friday. Mark

Chris we will have half the rods in Springfield and half in Branson. Looking forward to it. Someone's a week away from setting the hook on a $43,000 fish.

Thank you. There's always a little resistance anytime you set up an event for the first time. We have no problem answering questions and giving people a comfort level. It's what we do. We've seen it all in the last 14 years. Part of the process. Look forward to seeing all the anglers at the event next weekend. It really is going to be something special. Mark

Kevin will be at the Springfield store from 12-6pm on Friday June 4th for the KVD Big Bass Classic event registration. There will be an autograph session from 3-4pm on Friday. The public is welcome regardless of whether or not you're fishing the tournament. More information can be found at www.oakleybigbass.com

Yes, you are correct, in that highly unlikely event, that particular angler would need to weigh in his big bass at the point when he reached the rules limit for our event. Our 3 bass limit per angler is in place for conservation reasons only to keep the overall number of fish carried throughout the day to a minimum. This is a courtesy that we are extending to a handfull of teams who've inquired about fishing both events. Those teams intending to excercise this option will have to notify both organizations in advance and will be made aware of the rules parameters. Hopefully that helps.

The anglers fishing both the AIA stringer event and KVD Big Bass Classic will obviously be culling at 5 so they won't be utilizing that rule. However, they will need to account for their "big bass" and the angler that caught the fish must be the angler that weighs it in. Think of it as a traditional side pot bet that has a potential hourly cash payout or ultimately a $43,000 payout. I'd hate to be fishing the AIA stringer and weigh in a 7lb big bass and then find out it would have won the KVD event also. I've seen it happen before. Those of you fishing AIA on Sunday, think of the $110 entry for a one day entry as insurance.

The rented mule line was funny. There won't be any issue with fish care. Both organizations will be working together. This decision was made to accomodate a small group of anglers. Thanks for the feedback.

Update: We have worked it out with the AIA for anglers who'd like to fish our event and the AIA on Sunday. We will weigh your fish on Sunday, mark it, take pictures and return the fish to you so you can weigh it in with your stringer to AIA. We will also have a list provided to AIA of anglers that are fishing both events so that they can monitor. For more info or clarification please call 877-958-8687. Thanks to the AIA officials for being flexible and allowing anglers to participate in both events. Reminder that anglers can still register for one day entries for either Saturday or Sunday. Info at oakleybigbass.com

We are excited to announce that Facts of Fishing's Dave Mercer will be the emcee for the 2010 Kevin VanDam Big Bass Classic. Dave will join OBBT Tournament Director Scott Gordon on stage to entertain anglers and attendees alike. Learn more about Dave at www.factsoffishing.com Check out the announcement video on this week's FYI.

Got it. Thank you. Here's a new video from Dave Mercer explaining the format and our tour. http://www.youtube.com/user/oakleybigbass

For those who've registered online you can pick up your rods at the Thursday June 3rd or Friday June 4th registration at Bass Pro Shops in Springfield. Call with any questions.

Don't have an exact total because of responses by mail but our early online is averaging 5-7 per day. Those are really good numbers considering approx 10 percent of anglers utilize the web to register. Most entries happen at the in person registrations before the event. We had 80 online entries for our Lake Conroe event Hogfan and we had 600+ enter the tournament, so there's no real way to guage overall participation by looking at online entries. Reminder to those that do want to register online we have a $100 Quantum PT Energy Rod for the first 100 online entrants to register for 2 days. If you're going to fish then you'll definitely want to take advantage of this offer. That's $10k in prizes given away before the event even begins! You can grab yours today by registering at www.oakleybigbass.com Mark

We will give hourly updates via radio, text message and via our website live during the event. If you have a radio and/or a phone then you'll get all the updates. You can even call in if necessary to get the updates if you don't get text messages or don't have a radio in your boat. You can even follow the event on our twitter site and our facebook site. We've got all of the technology covered. Thanks and let us know if you have any other questions.

Thanks, as mentioned earlier in the thread we will evaluate this year and determine if a second possible weigh-in location may be needed at future events. It will depend on total participation. Again, the primary driver for the weigh-in location is related to our 2nd largest sponsor/partner and they're the reason we are in Missouri for Kevin's event. We hope you'll come fish and can assure you it will be a good time. If not at least come out and watch the weigh-ins and enjoy some Oakley and BPS hospitality.

Gentlemen, I can assure you of one thing, it won't be a cluster. We've been running these type of tournaments for 14 years with events from 500-1500 anglers. Before you make a negative assumption, I'd encourage you to do some homework. Spend some time on our website and review our most recent event in Texas. Same scenario, it's on the South end of the lake and if you're fishing up North it's a pretty good run back to the weigh-in. That's just the way it is. Bass Pro Shops is our partner and therefore we are going to host the event at their facility. From our standpoint that makes complete sense. I'm confident that the payouts, prizes and overall event experience will be well worth your time and effort. Secondly, if you'll send me an email to mark@oakleybigbass.com I would be more than happy to provide you references to anglers who've competed in our events for over a decade. You can let them tell you how well we process anglers through weigh-ins and how enjoyable our events are and then make an educated decision. We've had over 10,000 anglers fish with us and paid out over $2 million in prize money. That wouldn't have happened if we didn't have a pretty good system and run a pretty good event. Here's our website. www.oakleybigbass.com spend some time on the site and look around. If you have question, please call me at 877-958-8687. We look forward to having you at the event should you choose to fish. Mark Jones mark@oakleybigbass.com

Official Press Release http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/pdf/2010/04/27/press_release_148526.pdf