I just heard about this shake up a few days ago while youtubing Ike Live. I don't quite understand what is happening. I am sure it has been discussed to death on here but would someone please dumby it down so a coonass can understand ? First off why do the pros have to Choose who they will fish with? Some of them have already been fishing multiple circuits. I am way confused!!!! Sorry for being late to the party..

okay, here goes:

The BASS Elites got pissed at the managment at BASS because they felt like they had no voice in any decision making in the sport. So, Boyd Duckett (MLF co-founder) started the BPT (Bass Pro Tour) backed by BassPro and Outdoor Sportsman Group Money (Outdoor Channel etc.). Their founding pricipal is that the fisherman will have a say in ALL decison making. They will fish by Major League Fishing format but have 8 tourneys (like the BASS ELITE series) and a Championship (like the Bassmaster Classic). However, they are paying back buccoo money to the anglers. Also, they will continue with the regular MLF tourneys.

In response, and knowing they were about to lose their highly recognized anglers, BASS offered ANY current BASS angler who would commit to fishing next year with BASS a huge incentive. They essentially waived the $43,000 entry fee to fish in all 8 Elite events, and raised the payout for the Classic and all the regular events.

Thus, this left each angler with a big decision to make. And...most opted to go with BPT and MLF. In my opinion, BASS was too late in reacting and thought that the Anglers would never make a move like this, and Duckett and the rest called BASS's bluff.

FLW decided not to respond, or change anything due to this. Except, they are making the change to Marshals in the boat instead of non-boaters (but I believe they had decided to do this before all of this other turmoil).

I think that's about as short as I can sum it up. There are many threads on here that can get much more into the specifics.

But, basically, 99% of the upper echelon of BASS anglers are now with BPT.

Hope this helps.

^^^^^^^ Well Done!!

Hahaha looks like MLF will be the new big dog when KVD made the announcement of going ro MLF thats when all the other heavy hitters followed

Thanks! So can a Pro fish only MLT or Elites or can they fish both if they choose? Or did they just get mad and give BASS the finger?

Due to scheduling conflicts the angler will have to choose a tour to fish. The Bassmaster classic qualifiers (from 2018) will still be fishing in the Bassmaster classic this spring (this will be their final BASS tournament for those that left for MLF).

Interesting. We shall see how it pans out. It will give several more guys an opportunity to move up. We will see long term what happens...