I'm thinking about signing up for the MLF BFL tourney on Sam Rayburn as a coangler happening on January 7th. My reason for this post is to gain feedback from you guys. Would it be worth it to drive over 5 hours one way to fish this? I've never fished there, but a goal of mine is to get into tournament fishing more in 2023. My boat has a 150 Mercury, and if I'm understanding the rules, only 250s are allowed in this tournament. So I don't want to drag the rig all that way to not use it.

It's a maximum of 250hp I believe.

Up to 250 isn’t it ?

Rayburn as a co would be a smart 1st trip.

That'd make more sense, but you never know with MLF lol.


So you're encouraging me to do this? Lol thanks for your feedback. I've been wanting to get on this lake for a while now.

Go for it!!

Hey Choctaw, I fished the BFL as a co for a few years. Unless you're just wanting to get some extra fishing time in before or after the tournament I would not drag a boat 5 hours. Even if you get on a pattern or find a spot, your draw may be onto something completely different or fishing 30 miles from a spot where you may have loaded the boat. Having grown up fishing Rayburn there are probably only 2-3 patterns going on this time of year anyway.
I always just treated it like a guide trip. Show up with a few rods, your tackle box and some snacks and just have fun. If you're a good fisherman the cashing checks part will take care of it self.

Just bring some early spring time rigs and a few rods and go get in the boat and hope whomever you are with has located fish. Bring $75 a day or so for gas and respect the boater's boat.

Have fun and dress warm, long runs can be cold early in the year on big sam

Thanks for the insight. I appreciate your input.

Oh I almost forgot, when throwing soft plastics on Rayburn throw any color you want as long as it's watermelon.

Up to 250

I say dont take your boat and it all depends on the draw from what friends tell me. Go and have fun and hope you dont draw someone who has plenty of money but no real fishing skills. I hear that happens a bit.

The gas thing is insane! I personally have an issue charging any amount to co-anglers bc I am fishing the tournament whether I have a co-angler with me or not. I don’t ask where they want to fish or really let them decide anything for the day so no way in hell am I asking them to finance my fishing day. $75 is over 20 gallons a of gas. If a Boater burns more than that with you in the boat, he needs to pay you for wasting your day on a boat ride. If he needs co-angler contributions to finance his tournament the he shouldn’t be fishing the tournament.

I’d love someone to tell me why a co-angler should pay $75 per day to the boater? Maybe I’m wrong but that seems excessive bc you aren’t taking the Co-Angler fishing out of the goodness of your heart. It’s not a guide trip either.

Hard to say and honestly there's a good chance you'll draw some weekend wanna be which can seriously be a worthless trip. Especially if weather is rough. I'd rather throw my money as a coangler in something close to home or a 2-3 day event if I had to travel that far. Driving 5 hours one way to get in the boat with ol bubba chunking traps for 2lbers isn't much of a learning experience. And I 100 percent guarantee 60 percent of the field will be doing that...

It's definitley not a rule but more of a courtesy thing. I'd been paying $50 to the angler but fuel cost and everything just being more expensive because of inflation $75 would be more in line with what I'd pay now.
I'll be moving up to boater this year and probably in Oklahoma because I'm just closer to most of those tournaments. The BFL comes to Lake of the Pines again this year and I may fish that one in the Cowboy division if my schedule allows. I'd like to catch enough ABA's to qualify for the championship as well.
On the extra fuel money from a co-angler, I'm not budgeting for that at all but if I get it I'll probably spend that money on more tackle.

Unless your fishing extra days i wouldnt bring the boat. Coangler can be fun and its really all what you make it. I dont know about $75 a day lol, but i have a different opinion than most on all that stuff. Just do what you think is right. Talk to your boater the night before and prepare for what yall will be doing. Talk to him about storage and try not to over pack. I offer to help load/unload and whatever else they may need help with. I try to be encouraging to the boater and help during the day, respect their stuff, but at the same time i have a goal of whooping them out of the back of the boat. Im competitive and while i want the boater to succeed and we arent in direct competition, i have the confidence that i can outfish anybody i get in the boat with that day or i can learn a lot from the whooping i take

I think some level of compensation is in order. They have boat gas, extra truck gas, you hope they prefished and spent gas on that. Throwing the boater a few bucks, whatever you think is appropriate is the right thing to do. I think 75 is fair. Maybe it's 50, maybe it's 100. It's not 20 and it's not zero.