There are several reasons for its popularity....Great line-up, the unknown/blind surprise format, excellent on the water coverage and the real time updates are awesome. I just think the dink factor round after round gets a little old and that by giving them more incentive to go for quality as opposed to quantity it would open it up to a more interesting format. Heck you could come up with several different scenarios to make size more of a factor than what it is and you wouldn't have to do it every time either, they could mix it up a bit and throw another surprise at them once in a while. JMO.

well i was spared 2 hours of my life i would have wanted back. i absolutely love mlf but i have no desire to watch kvd catch a bunch of dink smallmouths on his jerkbait and win on every smallmouth fishery they go to

There are several reasons for its popularity....Great line-up, the unknown/blind surprise format, excellent on the water coverage and the real time updates are awesome. I just think the dink factor round after round gets a little old and that by giving them more incentive to go for quality as opposed to quantity it would open it up to a more interesting format. Heck you could come up with several different scenarios to make size more of a factor than what it is and you wouldn't have to do it every time either, they could mix it up a bit and throw another surprise at them once in a while. JMO.

You're forgetting one very important reason to watch the show......

What do you think is going to be the outcome when all you do is fish in KVD's backyard. I am tired of seeing all the shows basically up north. I guarantee that he has fished there before just like all of the others. You can tell by listening to their comments during their ride thru. Want to really make it a test - Put them on a lake somewhere in a place like Belton, or some place in Arizona any place where you can put a guarantee none of them have been. It was great when Scott would put them on a plane and fly them some place. I say take away any electronics (accept for depth finders) with no access to the internet prior to going out. I also would like to see some amateurs in these events. Let some top ones get in by elimination events for the finals. I think the penalty ought to be a weight loss not time just like what happens in real tournaments. I agree it should be the 5 best so we can see them having to cull. That way it would really put pressure on them when they know what they have. It would place a premium on culling. You could tell watching this that after a while several just gave up.

They have been to Grapevine, Roberts, Caddo, East TN, KY Lake and many other non northern locales. Actually I think there has only been 2-3 up north. I bet most have fished that area in the past as well considering the Elites went there a couple of years ago.

So you have the hots for Marty Stone, huh?