I will probably win a pair of Bajio Sunglasses with my guess of 4 lbs 3 oz

One cannot blame Bass Champs for going where the venue and surrounding cities support their event. Some will complain and not go, but enough will go to make it a good event. And as usual someone will always catch them.

My main question is why the secrecy?

It was pretty much a foregone conclusion. My main question is why the secrecy? They set these up with host cities well in advance. I think they have enough guidelines that keep people from entering a couple of tournaments to jackpot the championship. Lay out the schedule and let people decide on the whole trail...

It's their model, so I am not that off put. I'll probably be back in a trail next year, now that relocation to SC is no longer in the immediate picture...

Since you no longer have to perform to make a championship, meaning you don’t even have to weigh a fish all year and your still qualified if you fished all 4 events, it’s the only way to keep guys from spending 4 months planting brush and getting a leg up on the other divisions that may be 300 miles away from that body of water. I get it, trying to make it as level of a playing field as possible.

Since we are Monday morning quarterbacking this thing, I’m a fan of fish all 4 events AND finish top 50% in the points to qualify for the championship. If you have a bad year you don’t get to fish it, sorry no participation trophy’s here. That would be a true championship geared toward the anglers that performed. They don’t let you in the Classic just because you paid the full years entry fees.

They set these up with host cities well in advance.

Actually they don't in most cases. I know there has been years where the agreement is signed literally days before the announcement is sent. Its not as simple as most would like it to be.