They did have some changes. Tommy Dickerson was very close to coming home with the win after catching some good fish when live went off. I typically dont watch the long 200 boater/coangler weigh ins but I will listen to the elites and watch the final days.

I heard Ike say that there wasnt a BPT championship this year on ike live. Evidently the red rest has been temporarily or permanently put on hold. That doesnt sound to promising unless it's some marketing strategy to make people talk

Say it isn’t so you water carrying MLF puppets! Say it isn’t so!

Who woulda thunk an organizer known for running off with the purse for championship tournaments would do it again? Say it ain’t so! What they going to do, strip AOY next? Say it ain’t so!

I'm finding it interesting that you skipped over my reply.... So here I'll post it for you again.


You've mentioned Skeeter and Rapala over and over and over in your comments, so let's address these.

1. Skeeter was a not large sponsor of MLF. Does any property want to lose a sponsor, of course not but the revenue lost was minimal against the offset of added sponsorships and the grand scheme of their entire sponsorship portfolio and no they don't all pay the same thing. You're making an attempt to act like it's the end of the world and it simply isn't. I get that the optics of it aren't great and that certainly matters but it doesn't matter more than the math of it.

I don't have the context of why they chose to leave and I'm not going to speculate. I'll go with it was for business reasons, not some conspiracy. Skeeter and the people leading the brand are smart and didn't get to where they are by making emotional or irrational businesses decisions and to be clear, that's what you're implying. If you want to act like they got caught up in something else, please proceed.

This likely all comes down for a handful of brands that they were simply on the outside looking in originally when MLF was formed. MLF went the exclusivity route as they started their property years ago and there were endemic brands that either didn't see the vision at the time or didn't take a placeholder sponsorship. I see both sides of that challenge and get it. When BPT came along it provided an opportunity for more of those endemics to enter and play. Some chose to and some chose not to.

2. Bass Pro Shops is still a sponsor of MLF. Tackle Warehouse sponsored FLW exclusively. I'm not sure how you have all this insight but can't keep up with the simple stuff?

3. There's still a ton of new sponsor updates coming along and again you'll have nothing to retort with other than Skeeter. The lineup I gave you the other day did not have all of the current MLF sponsors it was simply a quick update provided to partners. Again, I've explained that to you, so if you decide to keep ignoring it I can't help you.

4. Pure Fishing is a sponsor and Rapala is still a sponsor of MLF as well, so you have bad data.

5. White River Marine Group, Phoenix and Bass Cat are all current partners of MLF and/or FLW. I think they'll be ok without Skeeter.

So tell me now, how is this the end of the world?

So how come Tackle Warehouse is the title sponsor on a Bass Pro shops group? How come Bass Pro Shop or cabellas isn’t the title sponsor? Just heard 3 BIG pros will not be at the classic this year supporting their sponsors. Why are they not supporting fishing and the fans. If I was their sponsors I would be dropping them for bad sportsmanship and showing them just because they have a big name they can be replaced. Man the drama continues.

So one guy posted that on this forum and it's true? Yet you go on and on about people not giving you enough facts...

What tournament organizer is "known for running off with purse money"? Can you explain that?

You are definitely the mom/dad of someone that got left out of the whole FLW/MLF thing. While I commend you for being a loving parent, this is just....insane.

Or he's Bernie Schultz who got his feelings hurt because he didn't get an invite to BPT.

Gotta love a good pissing contest!!!

Yes. To answer the original question

MLF/BPT is different from FLW. Tackle Warehouse deal is for FLW.

I didn’t skip over it, I ignored it. I figure it’s a moot point to discuss anything further with you along these lines since you refuse to give a list of those sponsors who declined to renew OR reduced sponsorship significantly for 2020. If you want to have a discussion that can compare apples to apples then just list them all side by side - I’ll even let you put in order the prominence of each brand to be compared if you wish. If you do decide to list them, don’t forget to show the brands that significantly reduced sponsorships too... That’s equally important. Oh, and Bass Pro Shops probably has a contract for the BPT - but they seemingly pulled out of sponsoring else MLFLW related. Don’t forget about Ranger Boats, Yamaha Outboards, etc.. either. lol

I didn’t say it was true... I was hoping one of the water carrying MLF puppets would be able to refute that claim. It might be hard to do if that claim actually came from one of the seemingly now regretful angler/owners. And if you don’t know who ran off with the 2020 Forest Wood Cup purse, then you haven’t been paying attention. It’s too bad there are some who don’t learn their lessons easily... they have to get burned multiple times before they have their ah ha moment.

You ignored it because it doesn't fit your agenda and you are left without an argument that has merit. I realize that it's probably easier for you to type your "sh$t sandwich" comment on here than make a meaningful post, so I'll let you off the hook...

I really like the MLF format. I am not a fan of weigh ins at all and I like the total weight being kept. I think that is a better way to determine how well a guy is fishing. Big fish and most fish all count.

Do you like the new rule change for having a minimum size bass?

In all fairness you can watch the latest ike live. Hes an owner and it came straight from his mouth. Looks like Wheeler may have lost his lowrance sponsorship too. That's just a guess though because hes not running strictly lowrance this year.