Bass Pro Tour Changing Tournament Fishing Forever

[arsenal1477]

Man, this is great news. Finally. 

 

[Seth]

I'd like to see a mix of MLF style and Bass Fest style tournaments. All the fish get weighed and released in both tournaments and the only difference is the math used to calculate your "score".

[Guest]

i think with today's technology, it is a great step in the right direction for having a tournament.  it does two things in that the fish are released immediately, and two, they are also not displaced.  i do hope that it will still be the heaviest limit that is counted and not cumulative of total bass caught.

if everyone was honest and having the use of cell phones, i've wondered why even local tournaments are not using somewhat the same format.  it would require each team to have a digital scale, which could be determined style and brand to use, and then the bass and weight would be recorded via a pick, which does have a date and time stamp.  add the weights of the 5 biggest and there it would be.  

i watched the texas shoot out or something like that, and they were using the mlf format of weighing the bass and releasing it.  i believe it to be a great stride forward.

bo

[Quillback]

2 hours ago, abkeenan said:

I only read the one article and they didn't mention that (or intentionally omitted it). Boy, if that is true....gonna be some REALLY tough decisions for these "elite" anglers on what tour to join. This is certainly ruffling some feathers, no doubt. Can you imagine KVD leaving BASS to join MLF exclusively? Johnny Morris certainly has the pull to do so and make it happen since he's cut quite a few paychecks to KVD over the years. If that were to happen, would there be a domino effect of others shifting to MLF if the biggest name in the game leaves? Will be watching this for sure.

I just remember reading that somewhere, but I could be wrong, or it could change.

There has been some history built up in BASS over the years as far as AOY winners, tourney winners, etc., and that will change if a bunch of guys bolt over to MLF.  Elite series won't be the same without KVD and a bunch of the other "names".  Thinking of the names that are currently fishing MLF - KVD, Ike, Ish, Hackney, Wheeler, Amart, Duckett...

I wonder if Watson will be part of it?  

[fishinwrench]

I've been crowing about this for years.  I sure hope it spreads like a virus.   I am so sick of all the bass relocating,other needs to stop, like yesterday.

[Gavin]

All for it! Hope it is successful and that local tourneys adopt something similar. Figure that some will worry about cheating but why risk your reputation to cheat and win a bass tournament? Not much money in the big picture if you to win,even for KVD. 

 

[abkeenan]

11 minutes ago, Gavin said:

All for it! Hope it is successful and that local tourneys adopt something similar.

 

The only problem I see with this and what Bo put forward is cheating. Cheats will always cheat. In a perfect world you trust your fellow man and trust the honor system. But that's a pipe dream and there are always dirtbags when money is on the line. In the weigh, record and release scenario you must have a 3rd party referee or marshal to curb the bad actors. Finding those volunteers is not a problem for the big shows where people lineup for a chance to marshal/ref a pro. But in the rinky dink small local tourneys.....who the heck are you gonna find to sit a boat and not fish? The photo and release kayak style is good but is recorded in length so it somewhat has it's limitations when tournaments have always been in weight. One angler cut the friggin tail off a fish and with a little slight of hand in the photo added a couple inches to shorter fish.

 

[Gavin]

Yep cheaters will cheat, looks like a 14" fish with an extra tail. Very obvious.

[tjm]

I've always thought that every fish should count,  first three or five or fifty fish caught weighed or measured and done. Go for average or for total but no culling. Culling fish is like saying all the missed shots in a basketball game are practice shots and giving the shooter a free throw for every miss.

 

[vernon]

I am 1000% in favor of this deal but have to wonder what sort of effect it will have on the fan's following of the tournaments?

Who's gonna show up to watch guys not weigh in fish?

Trust me, I don't care in the least what the impact is and am thrilled at the potential positive effect on fisheries but am curious nonetheless.  

Some of these events are very well attended but what are they gonna do now?  Go watch on the big screen in some theatre?

I've been to a couple of BASS weigh-in's only because I was nearby and wanted to see what it was all about.

Other than the actual weighing of fish there didn't seem to be a heck of a lot going on that would attract many folks.

Great news regardless.