They both very well may make the move. I just think the way FLW is now they could really rake in checks with the field strength rather than having to compete with a much more skilled field in a format neither of them have participated in yet. I think if you see them heavily participate in the Opens next year then you will know what their intentions are.

Just looked at the dates, be interesting to see how many of them sign up for the central opens no conflicts there, only one date conflict with the eastern opens and its with the AOY event only the top 50 qualify for.

Surprised no one looked at the payouts. Based on 7 events total MLFLW Tour payout is 5,733,000. Total money based on 150 entries for 7 events is 6,000,000. That's a 96% payout. Find another trail anywhere with that kind of payout. Why wouldn't you want to fish that? BASS opens next year are around 71%. Hope MLFLW applies a somewhat similar approach to payouts for the Costas and BFLs.

Good info here. Definitely clears up a lot of the talk

They most certainly will not. Last year the Costa's had a joke of a payout at 69% and I believe the BFL's were even worse than that. Surely they can do better than that this year, but it won't be near 96%.

All Costa and BFL anglers are doing is fishing a charity tournament and supporting the pros.

The payout isnt good.

You would be hard pressed to convince the IRS fishing is a business not a hobby if all you wanted to do was actually fish these events for a living.

The new tax law is not good for tournament fishermen not making a profit. If it is a hobby, you must claim the income but get to deduct none of the expense.

" Due to the suspension of miscellaneous itemized deductions in the years 2018 through 2025, deductions for hobby expenses under Sec. 183 and investment expenses under Sec. 212 are not allowed in those years (Sec. 67(g), as added by the law known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), P.L. 115-97).

The inability of a taxpayer to deduct even a portion of the hobby expenses while recognizing all the hobby income in adjusted gross income makes establishing a profit motive for a hobby activity even more desirable. The determination of whether an activity is engaged in for profit is based on the facts and circumstances of each case and can be very subjective; however, a statutory safe harbor is provided under Sec. 183(d) that, if met, causes a presumption that the activity is a for-profit endeavor.

To meet the safe harbor, an activity must generate a profit in at least three of five years (two of seven years for activities involving horse racing, breeding, or showing) ending with the tax year in question (Sec. 183(d)). If this safe harbor is met, the burden of proof for lack of profit motive is shifted to the IRS. The IRS can still rebut the profit motive presumption by proving that the activity is not engaged in for profit (e.g., by showing that the profitable years generated immaterial profits while the unprofitable years generated large losses). In most cases, if the safe harbor is met, the IRS will not attempt to rebut the presumption unless there are extenuating circumstances."


It can really get messy real quick if you are taking large losses against your wife's or your other income. I personally know a couple former BASS pros who had their deductions disallowed because they were financing their tournament fishing with the wife's income.

They released the FLW Series Payouts.

They bumped up the payout from 69% (of total entry fees accepted) to a whopping 71% based on 160 boats. 75% based on 260 boats.

The jersey deal is not a good deal for the anglers since this is how they make their money. These things benefit a marginal FLW guy but they do not really benefit a top level guy like the three or four mentioned above (Cox, Thrift, Dudley and Martin.) As pointed out if any of these guys has a bad season, then the odds of being Top 10 over the combined two seasons is not really good, but possible.

I am skeptical about the increased media coverage. If you watched MLF, and I will say I support both and what for 2019 was all three organizations, the reality is was if you caught them you were on camera, or on cut day if you were a bubble boy you were on camera. If you were number 30-40 you did not gain any of this increased exposure that was said to happen. You were treated no different that a guy at a golf tourney, minimal to no screen time. They can make arguments that MLF had all these Discovery Channel hours, and that sounds nice, but other than diehards that will record it, let's just be honest , no one is browsing at 6 am on Discovery Channel and being soaked in to watch fishing.

Now if they so choose to stay and work to get the no entry fee every fish counts, I do think the four will make it. I also think from an MLF perspective, the demotions quite likely may never get back to the big tour. Unless numbers are adjusted, fighting a field of 150 for 10 spots is not easy. If you look at spots 71-80 right now on the BPT, had there been a cut at the end of this season, I can honestly say I think only one of those guys would qualify after a season in the minors to get back up to the big's.

I would also question calling this the strongest five fish field around. You have four guys that are better than most on the big tour but after that, you have good anglers but not nec. great anglers. And there is nothing wrong with that, everyone eventually hits their stride. It sounds good but it is up for debate.

With the complexity of the federal tax code and specifically with respect to the "safe harbor" in this context, are you aware whether or not there are any clawback provisions? I.e. Should your fishing business fail to make a profit in the first three years and be recharacterized as a hobby, can they reach back into the prior tax years requiring amended returns or is it go-forward from year four?

Couple questions, I’ll try my best to not come off as a hater.


Do the FLW anglers themselves get any of the sponsorship money from the sponsors that demand/get the black letter A spots or does mlfflw get all that money? (Same question for BASS, do the anglers receive any compensation from the major BASS sponsors or does just BASS.)


If this new deal is so great, why haven’t the big 3 of FLW committed to it yet? I thought for sure Dudley was going too, but he says he has not decided yet. Randy Blauket (prob misspelt that) said he was gone from the FLW. Many of the anglers are finding something wrong with this deal apparently.

I doubt the anglers see a penny of that money. But FLW has always had jersey rules. I don't think Randy had a choice. He didn't qualify for next year.

For what it is worth, Randy said he declined his invite to the FLW Tour for 2020.
Others must be declining also to make it down to Randy. These others could be 2019 FLW Tour anglers or qualifiers from the Costas.

Or that's just Randy saying he declined when in fact he wasn't invited. You really think he turned down a spot if he was invited. To fish the opens

I believe the black blocks identified by letter A are for the Angler to place sponsor logos. What they get paid is between them and the sponsor. Some gets cash, others will do it for a 5% discount or a pack of worms.
The blocks identified with L & # are for FLW/MLF sponsor logos. Highly unlikely the angler gets direct compensation for the placement of those logos.