I've only been fishing tournaments for two years so I may not be the most qualified person to comment on such things. However, I fish champs and have contributed two years worth of entry fees to the guys who know what they are doing, although we cashed one check this year (500.00).

I too want to get my entry fees back and cover expenses, but what I really want is to win enough money to pay for that and possibly go towards the next entry fee. That is why I understand and agree with the guys saying that the payout should be restructured to make the payouts bigger.

The way I see it is, that if the payouts are figured out on less entries therefore increasing the payout in the top, if you have more than the payout model shows then you have extra money to go deeper without sacrificing the top guys.

Believe you me, I definitely am not a pro/semi pro/ or a considered a stick, I enjoy the competition and comradery of the sport. That being said, when the day comes that I do catch a sack, I want the check to be a good one!

JMO...you know what they say about opinions, they are just like ........,and everybody has one.

Ex-pros and future pros or just pros?

I fish these tournaments too get better .... I consider my entry fee as $ spent and if I get a check its just a bonus..... You cant even count fuel and expences tpo fish these tournaments because I would be fishing somewhere anyway. Its what I enjoy doing.......... YOUR NOT GOING TO GET RICH FISHING TOURNAMENTS .......THE PRO DONT EVEN MAKE MUCH......

All the above! And they allow Alabama rigs too! Dave LeFebre and Media are NOT fans!

It comes down to the frequent "dead horse beating" question:
"What payback is worthwhile to fish a tournament for?"
More top-end money or more places?
If you consider your tournament fishing a pleasure then it does not really matter.
If you fish to make a living then you consider the highest amount for the the top places to be the acceptable format.
If you fish for just a check then the more places they pay is best. (Considering the bottom payback is sufficient for the investment.)

Personally I look at is as a pyramid plan. (I pay in for the top guys to get money.) I fish for A CHECK to help pay the expenses for the next week. I HOPE to win but am REALISTIC when I compete against some of the "STICKS" in our region. (MOST TIMES I KNOW I AM NOT GOING TO WIN!!!!)
If all the money goes to the top places then the bottom guys get discouraged and won't fund the next tournament. If the "Sticks" get discouraged cause they can't make a payday then you only loose a few guys.
BUT, again it is really each person's opinion and you can't please everybody. That's why there are so many different tournament trails for everybody to fish what they want.

I always find it amazing when people that have no idea of the facts want to speak as an expert on these topics. Unless you are tightly tied to the trail, I seriously doubt anyone on here as any clue as to the cost of the boats, the money brought in from sposors or the expenses of running this trail. I'm guessing these guys should just do this all for free and not ATTEMPT to make any money at all. I also find it interesting that so many people want to throw rocks at a trail in which they don't even participate. If you are a tournament fisherman and you are not fishing Bass-N-Bucks this season, I think you should take another look at the program.

When you take it upon yourself to advertise the payback percentage of a particular trail or tournament, you should also factor in the championship prizes. Since some of the money being collected helps to pay for the prizes, this is an important piece of the puzzle. I really don't see how ANY of the sponsorship money factors into any of this at all. That money came from sponsors, not the participants. You are not forced to buy their product in order to participate so why bring it into the discussion? So, factor in the boats and get back to us on the payback percentage.

Well i support BNB 100% and i believe that Dave and Trish are fine people and have always run a consistent trail. As some of the other guys mentioned, the economy has played the largest role in these adjustments being made for both the trails and the boat companies involved. And "JUSTBASS" i totally agree with your comments. I consider my partner and i to be competitive in both the Champs and BNB circuits and we have done well over the last 5 years or so.... but i sure wouldnt want to think that we had to make a living from it! No Way!!

TBT, why does the BLT not post their payout? Only the results?

Z520 Cranker,

We were sold unfinished software. The software is amazing for calculating weights and ranking YTD, but not for the back end. We were told that it would post payouts (it won't even calculate them), print checks (that feature is not even listed in the software), and calculate 1099s (you guessed it, not available). Once we started using the software, we decided to continue using it to avoid having any errors with the results, hopefully preventing us running into a HUGE headache and lots of time to fix it. I am not trying to pass the blame, just letting everyone know what happened.

I am currently working on writing new software that will do everything that we need, and the plan is to start using it for the 2012 Spring season.

I will also be posting a payout schedule on the BLT website sometime this week, that will show sample payouts for 25, 50, 75, and 100 teams.

If you have any specific questions on a payout, shoot me a PM or email (chris.davis@usabasstrails.com), and I will give you the payout for the tournament.

~Chris

Thanks for the explanation. I was just wondering why none of the payouts were listed with the results page, when it has a column for payout which are never listed.

pros or no pros..i see alot of so called pros that zeroed..and an average joe friend of mine almost beat everyone..they got 2nd...

Thanks for the clarification Mr. Sack.