Bass Pro Tour Changing Tournament Fishing Forever

[Quillback]

2 hours ago, abkeenan said:

Only bummer to me in all of this is the Bassmaster Classic. If all these guys switch that event just won't be the same with watered down talent. Will be interested to see how they fill the voids left by the guys that qualified for the BMC and are switching over to the MLF BP Tour. Does BASS fill those spots with end of season AOY pts with whomever is staying on the Elite Tour for 2019 or do they have regional/local qualifier events to fill those spots with new blood????? What a monkey wrench for BASS.

it really does foul things up for BASS.  I wonder if since they've qualified for the Classic that they let them fish it next year?  

I would think we'll see increased focus on the Opens, at least next year as people will want to get on the BASS tour and compete for the $1 million pots.  Not as much of a gamble now to fish the Elites with the new payout structure.

[Mhyde]

49 minutes ago, Quillback said:

it really does foul things up for BASS.  I wonder if since they've qualified for the Classic that they let them fish it next year?  

I would think we'll see increased focus on the Opens, at least next year as people will want to get on the BASS tour and compete for the $1 million pots.  Not as much of a gamble now to fish the Elites with the new payout structure.

saw a couple of the announcements of the guys leaving BASS to go to MLF and they did say they will get to fish the classic, but that was last night BASS might change their minds by the time this is all said and done.

[abkeenan]

3 hours ago, Quillback said:

it really does foul things up for BASS.  I wonder if since they've qualified for the Classic that they let them fish it next year?  

I would think we'll see increased focus on the Opens, at least next year as people will want to get on the BASS tour and compete for the $1 million pots.  Not as much of a gamble now to fish the Elites with the new payout structure.

What would be REALLY cool is if they two circuits could somehow come to an agreement that the Classic would a pool of the two organizations. The only time during the year that the two combine/intermingle for the granddaddy of them all bass tournament. Probably impossible as there is bad blood now between the two. But pooling prize money and resources could make for an even larger event with more funding. Not necessarily adding anglers to the field but adding money to the pot to make for an even more spectacular event that it's ever been. Better live coverage (we all know about BASS shortcomings here), better fan participation, better EXPO and better pay for the few that qualify.

[Quillback]

I could go for that.  Big showdown, bring in the top 25 or so from each circuit.  

[Royal Blue]

Just saw that Seth Feider turned them down to stay with BASS.

[Quillback]

And they just dropped the Columbia river and CA Delta from next years schedule and replaced them with Guntersville and, I can't remember now, someplace in NY.  Having lived in Washington state I was looking forward to the Columbia river event, so I am a bit disappointed.  Long wat to travel so I understand the reason.

[moguy1973]

I thought KVD had announced his move to MLF but he was just inducted into the Bass Fishing HOF.

[swelbo1]

KVD has announced he’s fishing the BPT. 

[abkeenan]

Saw more names move over to MLF BPT on my FB feed from Scout.com/Wired2Fish about an hour ago.

Jordan Lee and his brother Matt

Christie

Ehrler

Watson

Dustin Connell

Justin Lucas

Bradley Roy

At this point who is left?????  I believe the only bigger names that haven't switched as of yet are Palaniuk, Ike, Ish and Feider. I wouldn't have imagined that the mass exodus from BASS would have been this bad. Figured about half the guys might leave. But at of now it's darn near 90%.

[Hunter53]

I have seen there are 76 committed to MLF. I think Ike, Ish, Palaniuk and Mark Daniels Jr.  will be the last ones to fill out the 80 man field. 

Here is the list of those already committed.........

1. Timmy Horton
2. Edwin Evers
3. Boyd Duckett
4. Mark Davis
5. Zack Birge
6. Marty Robinson
7. Gary Klein
8. Skeet Reese
9. Jason Lambert
10. Chris Lane
11. JT Kenney
12. Kelly Jordon
13. Greg Hackney
14. Alton Jones Jr.
15. Alton Jones
16. Mike McClelland
17. Gerald Spohrer
18. Randall Tharp
19. Fletcher Shryock
20. Jeff Kriet
21. Andy Montgomery
22. Dave Lefebre
23. Michael Neal
24. Jared Lintner
25. Roy Hawk
26. John Murray
27. Ott Defoe
28 Justin Atkins
29. Scott Suggs
30. Cody Meyer
31. Brent Chapman
32. Keith Poche
33. Jacob Wheeler
34. David Walker
35. Cliff Crochet
36. Jacob Powroznik
37. Russ Lane
38. Greg Vinson
39. Brandon Coulter
40. Dean Rojas
41. Gerald Swindle
42. Terry Scroggins
43. Mark Rose
44. Randy Howell 
45. Aaron Martens 
46. James Elam
47. Takahiro Omori
48. Bobby Lane
49. Brett Hite
50. Jonathon VanDam
51. Fred Roumbanis
52. Kevin VanDam
53. Luke Clausen
54. Stephen Browning
55. Todd Faircloth
56. Shaw Grigsby
57. Tommy Biffle
58. Adrian Avena
59. Casey Ashley
60. Cliff Pace
61. Bradley Roy
62. Josh Bertrand
63. Wesley Strader
64. Gary Clouse
65. James Watson
66. Jason Christie
67. Paul Elias
68. Shin Fukae
69. Brent Erhler
70. Britt Meyers
71. Matt Lee
72. Justin Lucas
73. Jordan Lee
74. Andy Morgan
75. Dustin Connell
76. Jesse Wiggins

77. Brandon Palaniuk                                                                                                                                                                                                

78. Ish Monroe

79. Mark Daniels Jr.

Edited to add Brandon Palaniuk has announced MLF also. Now Ish Monroe announced MLF as well. Mark Daniels Jr. going MLF not too.