Conclusion about FLW Tour

anyone realize there was just a FLW Tour event at Beaver and not a single post on TFF!?! There are more Texans on Tour than any other state. Beaver is also the nearest event that many Texans have fished before.

my experience as a fan of FLW, coangler FLW, and fan of BASS has caused me to analyze and make conclusions about the FLW Tour.

• pro bass tournament fans like BASS Elites almost exclusively, very little fanfare for FLW Tour.
• however, there IS widespread individual fanfare for FLW only anglers like Scott Martin, Andy Morgan, Shin Fukae, Jacob Wheeler, Stetson Blaylock, JT Kenney...
• FLW Tour is Triple A in relation to BASS Elites, but there are MANY Major Leaguers on FLW Tour.
• FLW isn't going anywhere. There will always be demand for this type of series everyone throw $4-5k in a hat and the best that week take it back out.

what will come of FLW in the future? from the day Morris announced purchase of Ranger I thought something with FLW was coming. rumors are maybe early as next year. for all the disappointing news you hear anglers leaving FLW, I think FLW will find a way to surprise everyone with promising news.

if you are a 100% pro I would be trying to get into Elites. if you are young one trying to get established I would consider Rayovac, Tour Coangler, Tour Pro as a valid career path. FLW Tour is great place for those with some other commitments, but still want to play pro angler a few times a year.

For me its always been the BassMasters, TBS/ TNT whatever it was on in the 80's? The legends were born here!

There are opens and rayovacs in texas that never get mentioned. Rayovac is on texoma this week. No posts yet. Another thing is that its on beaver lake. Not exactly a big bag factory which for me personally creates zero interest

I have no problem with their trail or any of their anglers. They have some serious heat on their trail. There is a reason however that a lot of the FLW pros are fishing the Opens now. They are trying to get out of there. Look at Tharp, Ehler, Christie, Powroznik, etc. Once they get to the Elites, they don't come back.

The main problem I have with FLW is their coverage, website and updates. They make it VERY HARD to be a fan of their tournaments. BASS has the coverage part figured out in a big way. The FLW site is a total joke!!

I used to follow them allot, but I can't get past their horrible tv show and website.

FLW needs to listen and FIX their web site, I usually post the event when they are on but I am not going to as long as their web site stay's the way it is. As far as the choice between the two I chose FLW only because they allow the co angler to fish but, them cutting that back is starting to make me wonder if they care anymore.

I follow the Tour just because I like to see how a handful of guys are doing. Even with watching each event, I haven't heard of half the guys that fish the tour. There are some really good anglers on tour, like said above, I bet more jump over to BASS

Was watching the final weigh-in yesterday. The commentator was annoying the hell out of me, screaming "HE'S GOT A FIVE FISH LIMIT".

no big bass, no big bags, but there was a bunch of things to talk about. Close weights, lead changes, Mark Rose got a DQ, and Drew Benton DQ. i think it is a great tournament for the anglers, I agree maybe not for the fans.

maybe the only lake in United States you can catch a 4 pound Largemouth, Smallmouth, Kentucky, and Meanmouth.

You said it all right there. How many threads do you see on here, Facebook, BBC or Twitter about the Buffalo Bisons, the Columbus Clippers, El Paso Chihuahuas or the Reno Aces? What do those baseball teams have in common? They are Triple A teams. There are some major league players there but we don't care about them until they reach the major leagues.

It has been said: "Web-site" is the pits, Poor web-site, Poor Following....
even if there are some Great sticks fishing that tour !!!!

Plenty of lakes in Cali that will produce that.

And Table rock.....but yeah for me no interest. I like the great lake events for giant smallies and elites going west will definitely be cool. The shakyhead tour that flw likes doesnt interest me.

They could probably generate more interest if they would stop fishing the same 6 lakes every year. Sure its fine to re-visit certain fisheries but places like Beaver, Potomac River, Eufaula are on the schedule every year.

I have no comment on the actual post other than the tour is anything but "Triple A". If it was, several Elite guys would be hanging over there like vultures waiting to take their money. Some guys flat out love it and want to stay.
With that said, I would like to make a few comments about FLW. I fish BASS too so don't get me wrong, they are equally awesome but since the topic is FLW please note the following:
1) They run a top notch tournament trail. Their tournament directors are some of the best around, fair, hard working and for the most part their tournaments go without a hitch.
2) Their tournament staff are great people to be around and work their tails off. Always at registration or the tanks, on the stage, or any time you see an FLW staff person you are met with a smile and a genuine happiness to see you. I'm equally happy to see them.
3) Their corporate office have some talented people. The company is run smooth and you are always treated like a customer. I'm pretty sure their "Compliant Department" is pretty small.
FLW employs many caring people and I love the fact that we have so many options to do what we love because of them. I'll never be more than triple, quadruple, or quintuplet A but I can rest assure that when I register for an FLW event, I will be treated like a Major Leaguer. Same goes for BASS.

Who cares!

So Bass Champs has all of this and isn't anywhere near a professional league where the elite compete.

Exactly .

Another " I'm an FLW co-angler " post

you are both first class idiots, I know that because Texas Fishing Forum has thousands of posts a day, you personally don't have to care for every one of them. there are a thousand posts every single day on TFF I have no interest in, but have the respect to ignore them and let the people that do, enjoy. there have already been 10 different users in an hour that did care and did contribute valid posts. so please, get some respect and class.

Some sort of transition is probably coming, theres been some key FLW staff seen moonlighting over at some of the elite events this season.

wow! could be some good stories this fall. In Formula One it is called the silly season, time between the seasons when all the changes happen.

The Drew Benton DQ and Matt Arey catching 18 lbs were the story lines for sure.

After going to their Cup event on the Red a couple of years ago, its hard to become a fan. For being their championship, it was REALLY REALLY lacking. Expo was tiny, couple of hours at the most to see it all.

Needless to say if they want more fans they need to promote and give them something they want to see.

Good points. By far the nicest folks you will meet or deal with. Their Customer Service team is awesome too, always friendly.

I don't think I could name 5 FLW only pro's... Cant really say why that is, just never really had much interest in the fairy wand tour.

At one time I thought FLW was going to be the end to BASS. Not anymore. It will be interesting to see in the next few years how it all plays out.
There website is a joke at best.

ha, funny and true. I could barley name 5 before, now of course I can name 100. heck, all the BASS fans should know the Classic Champions.

Jay Yelas
Larry Nixon
Tommy Martin
Guido Hibdon
Dion Hibdon
Luke Clausen

Don't forget other classic names like Jimmy Houston and Stacey King.

FLW= Fish Little Worms..

Seriously they have a good position in the market, but will always seem like the Busch series.

imagine a merger and true tiered system like football divisions in Europe. single regional level replace Opens/Rayovacs, FLW semi-national, and then BASS national. Top 20% move up level each year, bottom 20% go down a level.

I think that would be terrible for the anglers in long run without competition, some competition is needed.

Lost me at football and Europe...

One thing that they are winning against BASS is the magazine. They do a much better job. Cheaper, more information that is current, current trends, tournaments, ect.

I canceled my BASS years ago......and I still get letters wanting me to renew for that same old blue bag...10 years later. They should save their money.

Futbol....

I've always liked their system of Premier Division, Division I, Division II, Division III. It is possible in some years for a Division III team to make the highest level if they keep finishing top of series. The bottom teams get knocked down a division too if I understand it correctly. American sports aren't like this, but I think it provides a Jack Welch type system of pushing anglers and making sure most qualified are where they should be.

Agree--FLW magazine is better.

To me, the problem isn't the anglers at all. I certainly disagree that they're like a minor league ballclub. There are a load of top-notch fishermen on the FLW. Problem is marketing, which is reall the only thing that matters in the bass fishing industry. You could take the best 50 anglers in the world and with no marketing, a bad website, inferior event activities for the public, and TV coverage that's inadequate, the series would struggle. On the other hand, if you took 50 good sticks that nobody knew with good competitions that were well-advertised and well-covered with events that were fun to attend, you would have lots of folks interested. Pretty much, I agree with everything FK says here:

Rob, Probably the vast majority of folks on here really don't care about the FLW or BASS except for the TV programs. But even at that MLF has them beat for just fishing action and for viewer interest in something besides just a weigh in.

This, plus Texas state tourney, ttt, a champs, rayovac coming up, a college event, God knows how many small tourneys. A fair amount on here may have been more interested in their own fishing rather than starting a thread about flw.

Bass fishing is dead

I coach a high school team....one of my members was fishing the National Championship on Grand Lake this weekend....the High School Fishing website said FLW was going to carry the weigh in live......could never find it on their newly "de-constructed" website......HATE it.....I did get to see the taped version......at least its something....

I personally could not care less about watching someone else fish

I have found the app to work very well on my iphone. Much better than the website.

I don't care if its FLW or BASS I just want to fish!

I need to try that James, the website has me beyond frustrated.

The lack of a qualification process hurts the perception for me. Lots of turnover every year and people who you have truly never heard of. I follow the BASS Opens relatively closely so there are only 1 or 2 guys each year on the Elite Series where I say "who?". Not saying there aren't a ton of really good fishermen on Tour, but the recent defection of some of its top level anglers is starting to give it a very AAA feeling to me. AAA is still professional, its just not the "Big Leagues".

Haha! Those announcers are horrible!!