Good to see a guy from my neck of the woods bring home the trophy... Dan

Bet there were some really bored co-anglers. Freezing temps and boaters just putting the trolling motor down at the mouth of coves and roaming around deep water hoping to spot a bass moving between haunts. For 8 hours!

Those co anglers should buy a boat and pay the big entry fee if it bothers them.

I heard the entries were down because they didn't have enough co-anglers. It would be hard to sit in the back of the boat watching someone scope with virtually no chance of catching a fish. It might be a great education for someone new to FFS; but otherwise, it might make a co-angler want to swim to the bank and walk back to the ramp.

Let's look at Brody's pairings as an example:

Day One Co-Angler: Phillip James: Zeroed
Day Two Co-Angler: Michael Sharp: Zeroed (Caught 10-15 day one and was tied for 3rd leading into day two)
Day Three Co-Angler: Justin Swayze: One for 1-13 (Was leading the cos going into day three with 22-0 and ended up third (prize difference of $30,580)

I can't imagine the torment Justin experienced that last day just watching Brody scope.

In spite of the above, don't think that I would not be scoping as a pro if I thought that was the way to win. When you're having a great tournament, you can't worry about your co-angler even when, as was the case with Brody and Justin on day three, your co-angler has a chance to win.

As long as they keep the co-angler model, I suspect that entries will continue to drop. It's just the way it is now.

Surely they don’t know what’s coming?

Co-Anglers will be a thing of the past soon enough. Participation across the board is down. Bass champs was down at Rayburn. The BFL at Rayburn was down. The Open on Clarks Hill wasn't anywhere close to full. There is a paradigm shift happening. I am not sure it is good.

Heck, grassroots local club participation is way down

It is down across the board. We may not want to admit why, but we all know why.

That’s the one that stumps me. Out west water is always an issue so I don’t think that was the whole problem and I don’t think we can blame it on scoping, so I don’t get it.

It isn’t too surprising that bass clubs are dying. Kids are wired to go from high school, to college, to opens. Probably fish some team events.

As for less boats at the open, I think that has to do with the changes to the eq requirements. I didn’t look at the other regions to know which one probably best for most. But I’d bet there are way fewer fishing all of them.

It could be that it’s 2025, the economy sucks, and everyone woke up and figured out that the tournament thing really doesn’t make sense for the vast majority.

I’d rather fun fish when and where I want than go to a club tournament with a field of less than 10
Boats. Don’t even hear about the federation or bass nation anymore, does that even exist?

Every tournament is down , team format, individual..... not sure its a paradigm shift. Maybe it has something to do with the economy? Its not the first time we have seen this happen. U can't blame Co's and FFS when every tournament is seeing less participation. that's just hoping.

I think the Covid tournament bubble has popped. It’s back to normal now. Our sport isn’t as big as some of us want it to be and it never will be.

Perfect storm... Lots of extra money to throw around... People started working from home so they could justify getting out more because, "hey I just spent time with the wife and kids"... Kids sports where curtailed, sometimes canceled so that opened up even more free time... Extra time viewing How To videos, old tournament video, this all lead to "hey I can do that"... Then FFS made its debut... That made fishing look even more easier/ enticing to the wannabes... Now the extra free time slowly slipped away, people have had to to back to the office, kids back to playing sports, inflation is eating into extracurricular activities fund, and it looks like guys have had their fill of sitting in the back of the boat watching the guy up front stare at a screen and make 20 cast all day... For a lot, the thrill is gone along with the extra funds... Dan

normal was 2015-1019. covid #s were higher, we are sinking below 2015 numbers. from my Texas perspective. Wonder if we will reach the 2008-11 #s. BFLs of 80-90 boats. Team tournaments close to 100 boats.

The old Co angler debate of getting front ended that we have heard for decades .... has a new excuse. Albeit a better one, and partially valid. But whoever the co is that figures this out will be a money making machine. And on an island of co angler money with no one to share it with.