OK folks, let's post up. Fuzzy's or Torchy's (Vote for one) in Grapevine for a 7pm Meeting tomorrow Oct 15th as proposed. Most votes wins for location! We'll announce the location via this thread at 6pm today!

DON'T BE SHY......Like there's a chance of that!

Torchy's just because I've never been..

Torchy's

I'll vote for Fuzzy's since I don't know where Torchy's is lol

Hey folks.......Can we back this up 2-3 weeks? It seems that many of the interested parties will be available later but not tomorrow. Let me know.

Thanks!

Yes, a later date would also work!

Is ok with me

OK - We'll back it up a bit and I'll get with you on an alternate date - probably a Thursday as well.....

I've kind of been reading this, and would really like to make a event or two if scheduling allows.

But one thing that's caught my attention through this, is the idea of breaking your tournament out between amateurs, and "experienced tournament anglers." I don't know how you'd really differentiate between the two. IMO, the distance between the two is alot smaller than folks are thinking. Sure there's a few "big" names on here that might show up to a event or two and blow everyone away, but at the end of the day, you really have just about as good of chance as everyone else at catching a winning bass.

Don't forget about us kayak anglers who live just outside of the DFW area.

You will have some people that want to fish tournaments that don't have the confidence to fish a larger tournament or just don't want the pressure of a full blown tournament so you have a "social " division that allows those people to participate and gain confidence in fishing a tournament series . We do have some great sticks in our area but they have bad days also and at the end of the day anyone could win a tournament . The thing we noticed with the Thurs night series is peoples confidence building as the year went along some had just started bass fishing some had just started kayaking and it is neat to watch them grow, so by having a separate division in larger tournaments hopefully it allows it to grow into something great just my 2 cents

This will be a work in progress. Folks who want less pressure in a free format or folks new to the sport will be able to participate in the recreational group like Mariner Sails Workingman Tournaments have been held recently and folks who want to fish for a chance at more "rewards" (no big name required!) can enter the "pro" division by paying into the payout pot via an entry fee. We're hoping folks will be "self - determining". Any input is always welcome.

I feel like I've been an "amateur" fishing with the more serious anglers for quite some time. I have a ton to learn still, and I'm sure most will agree, you can always learn more. Self-determining which division you feel comfortable fishing I think is the way to go. Making events as low risk and inviting as possible will definitely attract anglers that are new to the sport. You'll still have a few folks that may sandbag and try to win the amateur division if the prizes are attractive enough (my Palestine debacle), but I think for the most part, individuals will just decide how they feel about each individual event. I think the choice is driven by a calculated risk depending on the number of entries and possible payout more than a "who is fishing" each division. They may also be more likely to participate on lakes they are unfamiliar with. I agree that once a person has fished a few events to get more comfortable with formats, rules, and such; they have just as good a chance at winning as anyone else.

Those are good replies. I wasn't trying to shoot it down, just didn't know how you'd keep them separate. More of keeping better guys from sandbagging.

OK I've remained silent. Here's my opinions. First DFW is huge. A guy in Weatherford has a hard time fishing say Purtis Creek. Likewise a guy in Kaufman has a hard time hitting Amon Carter. An East and west division could help. Second, the entry fees. We already have 2 high risk high reward series here. Example, maybe Mariner has an eastern series with say a $30 entry. Backwoods has a western series. 4 events each, with overlapping dates to keep calendar as clear as possible. After those 4 events an aoy is claimed. Then there is a east vs west event similar to north vs south. Third, and maybe most importantly study the calendar and choose dates carefully. Before I get bashed I know there are a ton of events all the time. Conflicting dates only hurt these events. We as tournament anglers trust the TD's to plan accordingly. Not bashing anyone but yesterday is a good example, two events I wanted to fish but had to choose one. Most everyone knows I'm a CCKF guy but would really love to support APT as well. I'll be supporting Backwoods Sat. I love fishing tournaments not biased which. Yesterday a total of 25 guys fished tournaments, those same 25 guys could and probably would of fished both if they had the opportunity.