Do you think it’s good or fair for the Elite guys to fish the Opens?
My first thought is it’s fine, and gives name recognition to the event. Plus it gives them guys a chance to win some money.
My second thought is they should not be allowed to fish them. One reason is they are hindering a Open angler a chance to score more points in hopes to gain an invitation to the Elite Series. Secondly, they are taking away from them guys who I can pretty much think, they need the money.
Like this weeks Northern Open, Brandon Palaniuk who is an Elite guy wins it and an Open angler, Nicholas Bodsford losses out of $25,000 for coming in second.
What do you all think about this?

BASS is in it for the entry fee, the more the merrier. Some guys sign up because they can fish against a pro also.

The other big key is if a person wins an Open Tournament and fishies all their regional tournaments, that person gets invited to fish the next Bassmasters Classic.
Many of the Elites will not fish all those tournaments. I’m sure any Open anglers dream is to fish a Bassmasters Classic.

I've fished opens for one reason...instant gratification....guess I lacked commitment.
If you ask some pros one of the reasons why they fish opens is because they want more time on a particular lake for a bigger event at some point in time.

They are OPEN, that's kind of the point

But to get to the Elite Series, you have to go through the Opens to qualify. I understand those that just love the competition and the chance to fish on a bigger stage. Some of those anglers are attempting to make a living or career out of fishing.
I do not have a closed mind either way....or as we say in the south, “I don’t have a dog in the hunt” here. I saw this happening years ago in NASCAR when the Cup guys were filling up those slots in the Busch series before it changed names.
NASCAR did something about that because it was having a financial crunch on those lower tier teams that needed that money to survive.

Very true, that’s the side I can say it isn’t bad to have any Elite anglers there.
Maybe BASS isn’t worried about the Open regular but just saying anybody or anyone who is a BASS member can fish them......which they can if they so choose.

I agree with you Dogfish, I feel as if the pros should stick with pro events. It should be one of those “unwritten rules”. But on the flip side, it does show how good BP is right now.

But is it "fair" for said "pro" to take advantage of those poor open anglers? We have to be all inclusive and be 100% fair for all. No single winners, we are all winners.

I think its good, kinda like nascar, jr and others racing in the busch series, if you cant beat them in the lower series you wont beat them when you jump to the big leagues.

Now you're getting it... See, you can train an old dog.

I think it's [censored] personally, and at the same time it shows that the "pros" are not as good as the hype when a slew of weekend anglers can and will beat most of them with a fraction of the time to spend on the water, so it really should be an embarrassing day for the "pros" to say they won an open when they get paid to fish and are competing against working class fishermen who get very limited time on the water

They should absolutely be allowed to fish the opens. I've never understood not wanting certain people to not fish certain tournaments. I also think pro's and guides should be allowed to fish local trails and opens

If you can't beat the Elites in the Opens then you probably will.not beat the Elites in the Elites.