Economy taking a hit might hurt Fishing overall. Shocked at the low turn out

where

Same guys who won the Brandon belt tournament won bass champs

Hayden will be along shortly to watch them with binoculars so he can claim that spot also

I don't know the back story here.

Hahaha. Champs only pulled 168 teams. Worst I have ever seen in a decade of fishing them on Rayburn

He follows people at a distance with binoculars to see where they’re fishing when they win events. Nothing new for Rayburn just the latest round of laughable things

Think I heard possible 500 plus boats out there today

I keep hearing this, but where is it coming from? I heard he had an altercation with someone, maybe Mundy, but who has seen him following people with binoculars?

In the flier I got at the Belt event. Choke in Sept.

No surprise.

And the problem I see with that with me being a part of those diminishing numbers is that even with 168 teams, anyone outside of the top five and maybe a couple inside the top five actually lost money. 5th place at $1200 would've been a losing effort if it were me and my partner. Minimum two weekends of rooms, fuel, food, baits, and entry fee and we're in the red on $1200. I never went into a BC event "expecting" to cover the cost, but if fortunate enough to place in the top five I would 100% expect to be able to cover expenses at least.

Dang, thats horrible. Lots of people say the sport is not pricing people out but it sure does look that way.

Take 3rd place for example. Paid out 2200. Take out your 370 dollar entry fee (allocating the 80 dollar membership per team over 4 tournaments assuming you are fishing a full division.) That leaves you at 1830. Let's go light on expenses and just say 500 dollars for expenses leaves you with 1330. Divide that in half that leaves you at 665. Not to mention the 1099 associated with the winning.

So each team member put up 435 dollars (expenses plus entry fee are now a sunk cost and incurred wether you get a check or not.) to win 665 a piece. You received 3rd place out of 166 teams and had an unbelievable day on the water and beat the entire field besides two teams. Doesn't make a lot of sense does it? Better off putting it on the cowboys

Walls,
You are correct. I have fished many events over the years and always justified not breaking even as, "it's just a hobby and fun". But the "ROI" has reached a new level of no fun if your not in top 5 on the reg. Maybe it's just because I'm in my 50's now and not that mad at them anymore. LOL