Bonafide insider matters if he continues to refuse to disclose his credentials/affiliation. If he isn’t an insider, then he is making statements that appear t be based on inside information without actually having inside information and is just a troll. His entire purpose in signing up for a TFF account has been to disparage MLF, but his handle refers to a lake in Florida.

If he just makes arguments because he hates it and disagrees, fine. But that’s not how his entire post history has come off. He signed up to bash MLF and that’s it. He claims to know inside things, or alludes to knowing inside things, and then calls MLF thieves and liars and more. It’s too late for him to disclose his affiliation with BASS or a BASS angler or the FLW before it was purchased because of the way he has carried himself since he joined TFF. Whatever reputation he has in the industry would be ruined. Yet he continues to disparage MLF with ridiculous claims, falsehoods, misrepresented fact, half truths under a fake name. It’s either someone affiliated with BASS/old FLW/the industry in some way, or the biggest BASS fan on the planet. I’m guessing it’s the former. Especially if you look at his early posts about MLF stealing money.

Come on man... for how many years was BASS owned by ESPN? And before that they were a huge TV thing for years and a many related and successful fishing shows were born and spun off as a result of the “BASS - Big stage, Big Fish” brand. Roland Martin, Hank Parker, the king Bill Dance, Jimmy Houston, etc... all of those guys media exposure and success in subsequent TV markets is directly related to BASS... MLF - they are only really known for trying to create a second rate reality TV show based on what Ray Scott did with the concept of old BASS and the secret destinations equal boats, etc... sure, their format is different, but it’s been criticized more than praised. The Fox Sports deal had nothing whatsoever to do with MLF and certainly wasn’t influenced by MLF’s rerun coverage on sub par back channels owned by the same entity as MLF itself. Sure, I’ll give you the coverage of BASS degraded while under the ownership of ESPN, but it has never went away and BASS themselves weren’t in control of the TV coverage... ESPN was. So, come on man... cherry picking and revisionist history - me?

Did I join TFF to bash MLF exclusively, no... did I join TFF to discuss MLF, yes... when I joined there was an ongoing MLF discussion and it seemed logical since it’s a tournament fishing type discussion site and the Florida dedicated side seemed dead at the time and nothing else really exists. I will reiterate that being an industry insider or just an astute observer from the outside is irrelevant, and anything I’ve ever commented on or put forward has already been publicly disclosed or discussed, and or speculated out loud about. Am I a fan of the BASS tournament fishing scene, yes and have been since I was a young boy. You don’t have to be an insider of the industry to hear anecdotal stories about how MLF has conducted themselves behind the scenes with sponsors or anglers, because it’s been talked about somewhere, on someone’s YouTube channel, social media account, etc... and it’s typically widespread, not just here on TFF where I may bring it to light for discussion and debate. Further, I have never come out and said they’ve stolen money. Have I used terms like snatch purse, etc... yes, because I truly believe that’s what they have done. Some argue it’s business, some argue it’s their right to do what they want... my argument is their whole platform has been to make the industry bigger and better for the anglers, yet there has been example after example of them doing things that are completely contradictory to their mission statement.

Let’s start at beginning and formation of BPT - that was a high pressure tactical maneuver that was executed by a dozen or so disgruntled BASS insiders. There is no doubt in my mind there was a huge carrot dangled in front of those who they were trying to influence, and that was the “no-entry-fees” big show. Well, here we are just 2 short years in and look at how that has worked out for them. It wasn’t but a short time after their first season that they acquired FLW after failing to acquire BASS 3x. The first order of business for MLF once the sale of FLW to them was announced was to arbitrarily cancel the FW Cup. All the arguments for MLF are based on it being their right to do so, and the unsubstantiated claims FLW was headed for bankruptcy and MLF saved them. A contested estate battle, yes... bankruptcy, no. That action alone set the ever lasting tone and there is hardly no one standing up for all the anglers who got cheated out of a huge purse of money that they believed was going to be available to them to fish for. Contrarily, there sure is a many (on TFF) that are defending MLF... question is, just how was that beneficial to the sport and the anglers of? Next was the revelation of another underhanded move by MLF - the Bass Federation kid who won the “live the dream” package. It took a major social media blast by the kid and the Federation to get MLF to just honor the long established commitment that FLW made... MLF was originally telling them to go pound sand, just like the anglers who got cheated out of the FW Cup. Keep in mind, the two primary stakeholders in MLF are multi-billionaires, and yes, that matters if they don’t want to look hypocritical to their mission statement of growing the sport and being better for the anglers. and all that happened prior to 2020 season start. i wont rehash it again, but much, much of the same has happened during the 2020 season, and from my perspective no one here on TFF (accept me) is holding MLF's feet to the fire about doing whats right for growing the sport and the betterment for the anglers... no matter how you slice it, thats a lot of purse money that was originally slated to go to anglers was taken away... have i called it snatched off the angler table, yes because it seemingly was... but the word stolen didn't come or originate from me. Where did that money go that it helped grow the sport and make things better for the anglers? Thats the question... do you have the answer? start with 2020 FLW Pro AOY award that was reduced by $100k from historically what’s been paid out using the term “TBD” in the posted rules. Being good for the industry and the anglers is subjective, and it’s not just me who recognizes what’s happened...

Ok, so they had a 2019 and moved the 2020 event to 2021... So will they have an additional 2021 Redcrap???... If no, they've canceled a RedCrap... Take your pick it's either the 2020 or 2021 event that didn't happen... So where did the money go???... Dan

Hopefully you are joking. I bet even big o understands but just keeps harping on it. The money didn't go anywhere. It will be going to the anglers when they have the tournament next month. All they did was move from fall to spring. Just like the Classic did years ago. It's still the championship for the 2020 season. Just because it's after Jan 1 means nothing

So, if the 2019 was staged in 2019 and the 2020 was moved to 2021, there wasn't an big event in 2020, right??? It's pretty easy to say the "moved" it, but in reality they canceled it... Now, if they double the money for the scheduled 2021 event no harm no foul... But if it's the same payout somebody got a big bonus and it wasn't the fishermen... Dan

You forgot the part about Duckett being one of the head cult leaders of satanic cannibolistic pedophiles that's running an underground child sex trafficing operation.

Lmao.

Sounds like a shell game.

If they keep moving back the dates, eventually they will lose a championship tourney.

You have to be on the MLFLW/ BPsT/ Huge 5 payroll... I hope you don't work on commission... Dan

So are there 2 Redcrest in 2020? If not, theft of money to the anglers makes sense to me too.

I’m with Big O. Even if his claims are “false”. His arguments are well thought out and typed and not one person on here has offered a viable argument against what he is saying aside from “false claims” and “you’re an idiot”. Much of what he said has been publicly stated by other anglers. G-man, Palanuik, Christie, Atkins, Hackney, and others didn’t just leave for no reason. Some of you better hope Big O isn’t right because that is a ton of crow to snack on.

Unless they have 2 redcrest championships this calendar year, 2020 will go down as cancelled.

Well thought out?

You don’t have to prove a false statement wrong. That’s not how debates work. You make a statement backed up with facts. You don’t get to make absurd statements and then tell people to look up the accuracy of your statement to prove you right. He’s known for making statements that are either inside info or indisputable because they’re false. He doesn’t back up his statements. That’s the issue. It’s either complete BS or it’s insider info from someone who won’t disclose his source or relation to the issue. If he’s right, fine, but it’s too late for him to reveal himself because he’s burned too many bridges if he is somehow related to FLW or BASS. If he’s not related to those entities and he’s just torching MLF because he’s a BASS super fan, then he is misrepresenting facts, making things up, completely wrong on some things, and is a troll. This is beyond someone disagreeing with a rival tour.

“Even if his claims are false.” When he purports to present facts, they don’t even make sense, like when he says the Redcrest was cancelled and money was stolen. Either he has inside info, or he’s just trolling. I don’t know how else to say it.

Come on, Josh.