Clarks Hill: Nice Rally...

[Nozmo King]

by the CA lads. Skeet, Ish, Fred Roumbanis, & Aaron Martens all made it into the top 12. It would take a miracle for them to catch Chris Lane, but that's still some great work.

At this rate, Skeet is going to run away with the AOY title.

http://proxy.espn.go.com/outdoors/bassm ... entId=1153

[NaCl]

And, Skeet is certainly keeping his momentum going on the AOY. His nearest competitor, KVD, fell off the pace. It certainly is obvious (and a shame) that BASS/ESPN doesn't want any more western anglers making the Elites. Its hard out west to stay excited about the BASS program when you know the organization doen't get a crap about us...except our money for subscriptions of course....they DO like our money! HaHa!

.....NaCl

[Bassin]

All the power to Skeet, he most certainly has put in his time on the tours. But, watch out for the central coasts own Jared Litner, he is so consistent that I would have to put my money on him winning AOY.

[Hollywood]

They don't want the Western anglers? Did the west ever draw a full field?

And, Skeet is certainly keeping his momentum going on the AOY. His nearest competitor, KVD, fell off the pace. It certainly is obvious (and a shame) that BASS/ESPN doesn't want any more western anglers making the Elites. Its hard out west to stay excited about the BASS program when you know the organization doen't get a crap about us...except our money for subscriptions of course....they DO like our money! HaHa!

.....NaCl

[Nozmo King]

I can’t really knock BASS & ESPN for trying this approach. They’re promoting a select group of anglers, & that’s tough to do with a field of 200. Can even an avid MLB or NFL fan really name 200 players? I’m sure a few can, especially fantasy leaguers, but the point is, most people know of 50 players, & that’s if they’re really into the sport. Casual fans know maybe a dozen, tops.

I think I posted this a while back, but 2/3 of ESPN’s audience is made up of males, ages 18 – 35, living in the Eastern time zone. 67%. I’m no business genius, but that’s where I’d concentrate my efforts, too. And, as final thought – how many western pros, even if they could qualify for the Elite series in some kind of western circuit, would be willing to “go all inâ€

[Pat]

They don't want the Western anglers? Did the west ever draw a full field?

Nope, but for some reason FLW seems to be able to. Full fields of 200. Maybe the West was not buying what BASS was selling?

There are also number of Western Anglers who are doing very well in FLWs Tour Events. And there is a path for them from the West.

Pat

[NaCl]

Actually, FLW wasn't drawing full fields either back then but they made a business decision based on long term planning and expectations. BASS was looking for short term results while FLW "invested" in the west....now, we see who gets the payoff!

.....NaCl

[RichThiel]

NaCl,

I took out Roger Vannerson the day after FLW Tour "Delta". He and Charlie Evans are totally happy with the entries for the West. They we're here to Wedsneday fishing their butt's off.

Rich Thiel

[DanO]

Dean,

We are all very aware of your opinions of BASS and how they run things. And while you may have spoken to someone about this, you are making assumptions about things that you shouldn't be.

Actually, FLW wasn't drawing full fields either back then but they made a business decision based on long term planning and expectations. BASS was looking for short term results while FLW "invested" in the west....now, we see who gets the payoff!

First of all, BASS made a "business decision" about the resources they had at the time to pull off the Elite Series and the Tour Level events that they began last year. I know this because I interviewed Don Rucks and did an article about it in our Bass Angler News Section.


In that article, I asked Mr. Rucks whether he felt he had made a mistake or not regarding the Western US, and he said that while they made a conscious business decision because of their own resources, he wished he would have communicated them differently.

It certainly is obvious (and a shame) that BASS/ESPN doesn't want any more western anglers making the Elites. Its hard out west to stay excited about the BASS program when you know the organization doen't get a crap about us...except our money for subscriptions of course....they DO like our money! HaHa!

Do you know this for sure? Have you spoken to Bass Officials directly about this? Because BASS Officials from Trip Weldon to the tournament staff and the Communications Director on site relayed differently to us. This all was happening while the 50 to 75 volunteers that we organized to work the two Elite events last month were busting their tails to help represent our state, Bassmaster Elite Anglers, and the Co-anglers.

I have personally heard from many folks at BASS how much they recognize the value of the contributions the West Coast makes to the sport of bass fishing, and they want to re-build the relationship with the whole West. I had inklings of plans to come while they were here, and I'd bet that as a if you want to find out more about it, you could contact Doug Grassian at BASS Commuications @407-566-2277.

Dean, you are represented here as a wise old owl, and a voice of reason, however when it comes to this topic, you are full of vitriol and rhetoric that you have no proof of other than the fact that FLW has tournaments here and BASS doesn't.

Both of them are running businesses, and if you think that FLW officials are standing there at their headquarters feeling that they will do anything they can to make sure the West feels good. No, they are here to sell boats, otherwise they would not have instituted the rules for contingencies prizes like they did.

Dean, both companies are in it for the same reason, to make money and put on a show, they are not different in that vain. They both have their positives and negatives to be sure.

The thing I do know is that while we can have our own opinions and base our decisions off of them, there are customers on both sides of the "aisle" per-say, and they represent the greater whole of our market base; Bass Anglers.

I know as a consumer myself that there are several people on this board I feel I would think I would not be welcomed by or comfortable dealing with because of what I have read on here, and I am BASS member.

Dan O'Sullivan

[NaCl]

Dan,

“...you are making assumptions about things that you shouldn't be.â€

[Hollywood]

Dean,

Just curious did you ever fish the Western Invintationals or the Opens when they were on the west coast?

Also, since the Fed Nation is on the west coast, doesn't that make them a national org?

although I am all for the FLW TBF and hope it comes to Japan soon!

[MIKE TREMONT]

Well said Dean, I for one appreciate your passion for this and other subjects. I only wish I could get my point across that well without a bunch of swearing.

I'm not jumping on the let's beat up BASS/ESPN wagon here, I just appreciate a well written response. I let my membership lapse for several reasons, the biggest reason was that after 8 years I could only read about how to rig a tube so many times. The real kicker was about two years ago when the came out with one of thier supplemental subscriptions where you could really learn the secrets from the pro's-give me a break.

I don't subscribe to the FLW magazine either. Same crowd as far as I'm concerned. As far as the volunteers. I almost started a thread back when that was happening. I don't get it. Golf pulls the same stuff, the richest sport going and they get volunteers to do all the grunt work?

[NaCl]

Kevin,

I fished a few of the Opens (did lousy) and was on the Federation State Team when we won the Western Division.

As far as my "feelings" about BASS, if I didn't care about them coming back here, I wouldn't deal with this issue at all. Why should I waste my time on an issue I don't care about? In fact, they NEED to have a national level qualifying circuit out here to give credibility to their own organization. And, of course, the western anglers and marine dealers who represent sponsors associated with BASS could benefit greatly from such a venue. FLW is doing a fantastic job representing Ranger Boats out here. B.A.S.S. should be dong the same thing for western marketing efforts of their supporters like Triton and BassCat.

Ultimately, my passion for this "western" argument comes down to two thing. I love the west. I love bass fishing. BASS isn't supporting 50% of what I love!

.....NaCl

In my opinion, the Federation Nation is a puppet organization established by BASS to replace the original BASS Federation. I hate big corporation bullies who run over the little guys! The old BASS Federation was OUR organization. I participated in it and was astounded when BASS tried to crush it. The "new" BASS-controlled Federation Nation is a shadow of the old organization which represented thousands of grassroots fishermen all over the nation.

[DanO]

Dean,

First of all, I suppose I wrote the previous message in a much more aggressive tone than intended, or it came across that way, but was intended differently. In a roundabout way, I was doing what I often try to do, bring up another method for communicating those beliefs and opinions.

I only wrote what I did out of respect for your normally very objective point of view. I meant no disrespect, I realize that the message probably didn’t come across as that, but that was the intent.

You should not apologize or change the way you feel, but there are other ways to skin the proverbial cat. From what I have found the people at BASS are extremely willing to communicate and will listen to suggestions, and you picking up the phone to ask questions and make suggestions goes a long way toward fostering a relationship as opposed to throwing long distance comments at them on the message board.

My article recently is something I have thought about for a long time, it didn't just hatch as a result of the Elite events, and I didn't write it for BASS, I wrote it for California, and as I said before, it has been written in my mind several times, I only recently decided to talk to Tony about publishing it. I have been concerned with the continued goings on I have witnessed on the water along with a few other things and decided to write about it. And it was a few occurrences that happened on the water that finally pushed me to write it.

I appreciate your passion about this topic and our sport. I know that your frame of reference was long developed and hard earned, so I have no feelings of anger or distaste of what you write here on this board. You have always represented yourself as a person of some wisdom, and while on most topics you act as sort of a big brother, on this topic you seemingly take every opportunity to try and use methods that are contrary to your normally.

I quoted Don Rucks, yes, but not as an authority on BASS now, but as a reference that people at BASS were thinking about the West at the time those decisions were made. There is a new management group at BASS now, and we will just have to wait and see.

On the topic of TBF, from my recollection, without doing any research, nobody dumped the California Federation. They dismissed the five Divisional Representatives that they had invited to be the spokespersons for the whole country. Those Divisional Representatives then led the way toward voting to go a different direction; they had a right to do so, because after all, it was a business decision.

However, if anyone thinks that there were not individuals on either side or the middle of the whole thing that weren’t affected by the decision to pull out, than they haven’t looked at the whole picture.

As I said before, BASS and FLW are both businesses, and they continue to prove one thing. It is really hard to make business decisions when they affect someone’s hobbies or passions.

BASS has obviously touched your hot buttons, as they have a lot of others, but as someone who respects the way you usually do things, I feel differently about your handling of this topic.

There are more than one side of an issue, in this one, there are several. You position is a valid one, mine is, as well is BASS’, FLW’s TBF and the Fed Nation. Somewhere in the middle is a point where we can all find our place to operate and enjoy our great sport.

Apologies for the hastily crafted message that comes off poorly, I intended to start a dialogue, which has happened, but I could have done it better.

Dan O’Sullivan