I believe you misinterpreted what I said. By "no names" I mean pros that have made a great living fishing FLW and have never fished B.A.S.S.

KingwoodCat,

Your right on with your post! It wasn't your post I was referring too. I just used the "no name" quote. Sorry for the confusion!

B.S.? really? This is from first hand sources. Guys who live at falcon guide on the lake and are good frineds with elite guys. The fish kill is a huge reason why they didn't go back, TPWD asked them not to

+1

MONEY

Lets line them up and SEE! I think they are at an equal level talent wise. The average joe thing is saying that there are a lot of ppl in bass that arn't the die hards. People with more experience hold FLW in a higher reguard, bass is what the average guy knows. Now as for the forced sponsors I agree that didn't work like I think it was ment to

The same would of happened to the FLW on Falcon if it was them instead of BASS.

Please, mr first hand knowledge, show us where this kinda of weight has ever happened at any tournament before?

It hasn't, not even Clear Lake was close to this weight.

FLW could not prevent the pros from having to put 5 fish into one livewell, a 3 fish limit for co anglers which was the FLW format at that time I believe wouldn't have prevented over crowding in the livewells.

We all learned from that tournament, anglers and tournament directors.

You like to blame BASS for the fish kill, well, didn't the FLW have major fish kill up in Wisconsin year before the BASS did and that one made more than a few local papers, lol, Falcon made the San Antonio newspaper for national coverage.

Tit for tat.

First off your wrong, I don't blame B.A.S.S. really it is the leadership of ESPN behind bass not caring about the actualy fish/fisherman but just the money. Mabey FLW would have lost fish but you can't say that 100% for sure, mabey sombody would have anticipated better. all I know is what people I trust have told me that those fish wern't handled properly. I didn't hear anything about the FLW one but it may or may not have been before I was paying attention to that.

I dunno man, I know a couple guys fishing the Opens that aren't fishing the FLW stuff for one reason and one reason only. They dont' own a Ranger.... No doubt there are some really good fisherman in FLW, but it hurts them at the Stren level etc... Skeeter Pro's, etc... are not gonna fish it, the payout is way less. They need to drop the one boat deal. Just my opinion though man, I see the point you are trying to make.

I don't own a Ranger and the reason I fish FLW AFS is b/c I can get into them much easier than BASS. I sure wish I owned a Ranger and got Ranger Cup Bonuses. I just can't afford a 50-60K new boat every couple years (to stay contingent).

I just got into the Opens and it's been awesome as well.

Both are run very smoothly and very professionally.

With the slumping economy (my wife is layed off) I may have to decide to take one trail instead of two next year. Once I pick a trail, I'm probably going to stick with that one and concentrate all my efforts to it.

I appreciate all the feedback. Maybe BASS and FLW will read this and get some ideas and tips? Who knows...alot of people read the TFF.

I also appreciate the feedback for my own personal knowledge of what other people think of the two trails.

Thanks again for posting and discussing!

Aren't the payouts in the FLW tournaments about the same as the comparable BASS tournaments without the Ranger bonus money? I thought they were pretty equal and the Ranger bonus money made the pot bigger if you qualified. Same way with Bass Champs, you get a bonus if you win and are fishing from a qualified Skeeter.

Let's see, your wife is layed off and you're considering blowing a few thousand bucks next year to stroke your co-angler ego? Where are your priorities?

1st God
2nd My wife and family
3rd Pursuing the dream to fish for a living.

Thanks for your great question.

The money gap between the FLW and BASS may have gotten closer the past few season as BASS has whittled the trail down from 11 events, 3 majors and 1 championship, at which that time, FLW didn't even come close to paying out what BASS did, seperated by an easy 5 mil in payout due to twice the events and its been shrinking every year due to a weak economy.

Now they have gotten closer due to same amount of events, but as of last year, AOY payouts were still a joke on the FLW, 100,000, compared to 250,000 from BASS.

Also, BASS spreads it pay out amoungst 100 anglers, where FLW is splitting the pie amoungst 200 anglers.

BASS has had a nice edge on payouts over the FLW hands down over the years.

[quote=]JoefishinI dunno man, I know a couple guys fishing the Opens that aren't fishing the FLW stuff for one reason and one reason only. They dont' own a Ranger.... No doubt there are some really good fisherman in FLW, but it hurts them at the Stren level etc... Skeeter Pro's, etc... are not gonna fish it, the payout is way less. They need to drop the one boat deal. Just my opinion though man, I see the point you are trying to make.[/quote]

I agree with the drop the extra ranger pay out, makes the pool of anglers smaller at AFL level. I don't think that the top end is bothered by it much. I know if I had the money to fish them I would consider another tour due to the fact I have a nitro. My real point is that there are a ton of non-hardcore guys who fish some but don't really know anything about FlW. BASS is the old stand by and thats all they know. I do think that both tours have been majorly effected due to the economy and I think that we are in the process of rebounding