What Happened To ABA???

[Bill Swearingen]

They used to be a player out here in the West...here they have their "special" tournament of champions at Clear Lake and their is zero mention that this event ever even existed this past two days! I have friends that worked hard to be there and ABA showed no interest in promoting or even posting the first day results or any results at all....those anglers which achieved the honor of qualifying for this TOC deserve to be noticed for their hard work and great fishing abilities!

If it wasn't for Aaron Cole, we wouldn't even know any information at all....special congratulations to Kyle Rasmussen and Keith Rakoncza for their great victory over a field of tremendous fishermen!!!

I'm sorry guys and girls but I'm hard pressed in the future to support a tournament circuit which puts such little significance on their year-end event.

Respectfully.

[Gene Gray]

+1

[lobinaloca]

Well said.

[Rick G]

What is wrong with looking on the ABA website? That is where they post all their standings. ABA is doing just fine. Remember this site is owned by a competing tournament trail. Yes, it is a great source of info, but the folks at ABA dont watch it at all. Rick G.

[g-man]

I fished the ABA CL TOC this weekend, and 200 boats says its doing just fine...

[harry chang]

What is wrong with looking on the ABA website? That is where they post all their standings. ABA is doing just fine. Remember this site is owned by a competing tournament trail. Yes, it is a great source of info, but the folks at ABA dont watch it at all. Rick G.

Rick, where are you finding the results on their website? I look every where and found nothing. THey could do a MUCH better job on their site with the updates.

[Johnny C]

I am having trouble finding the rsults on the website. Can you help me Rick Grover?..Thank you, Johnny C

[Turkeyman]

Maybe there is no info on the website because the TD did a great jobduring the tourney and haven't got to it yet. 200 boats and the last fish was weighed in less than 15 minutes after the last flight check-in. These guys worked thier arse's off even gong out and getting guys who were broke down. The internet connection is marginal at best at the casino. I think they did a great job and that ABA is doing fine.

[Cooch]

This thread has been edited by me of the inappropriate content. Pertinant content remains as it debates or supports Bill's original post. Let's stick to debating the issue and refrain from the personal attacks.

I personally agree with Bill, in that, it is disappointing to see a Team Tournament organization that fails to promote their TOC events on the Forum for our viewers, especially when we infact see regional info posted frequently from that organization. We here at Westernbass.COM, have always encouraged the orgs to post their tournament results and info here. Some orgs do and some don't, that is their choice.

This forum though, is the perfect place for us to say, "Hey XYZ Org, we wanna see the results."

PS. Hey Turkeyman, I must say, you gave me a purty good chuckle there with yer comment at 15 minutes after the last flight, you must be referring to Saturday, when many of the 190+ boat field did not weigh in! Friday's story would paint a different picutre! But on ABA's behalf, with the conditions presented any organization that holds a large event on ClearLake, they did a good job. We anglers must accept the fact that weigh-ins at ClearLake can be time consuming and must be patient with how the orgs want their weigh-ins run. This now is not just limited to Clearlake, the DFG is watching all the big events.

[Turkeyman]

Yes, I was referring to Sat. weigh ins. Talked to you on Wed. down in Rattlesnake by two poles. Thanks for the striper info.

[Roger Saraiba]

ABA did a great job and had three people call in sick. I am not worried if they did not post on here because they had all the info available or the anglers. When it comes to the weigh in, we pulled our boat up to the dock on Friday (third flight) walked up and waited about 5 minutes. On Sat. we walked right up and weighed in. Great job ABA. It is becuase of the payback and the way that the tournaments are run that I only fish ABA now for team tournaments. The only knock I would have on them is that they should only invite 20 from each region, this would make the fishing alot more comfortable.

[Hollywood]

ABA did a great job and had three people call in sick. I am not worried if they did not post on here because they had all the info available or the anglers. When it comes to the weigh in, we pulled our boat up to the dock on Friday (third flight) walked up and waited about 5 minutes. On Sat. we walked right up and weighed in. Great job ABA. It is becuase of the payback and the way that the tournaments are run that I only fish ABA now for team tournaments. The only knock I would have on them is that they should only invite 20 from each region, this would make the fishing alot more comfortable.

Roger, I agree on the 20 per region. 200 boats is a lot of boats but hands down to ABA for the way they ran the tournament. The standings were available to all who wanted to see them who was there. Not everyone views this forum and it shouldnt be shame on ABA if they don't use this forum to post there results. Give the guys a chance to get safely back to L.A. and I am sure they will have the stats up on the website. Great event dispite there being 5 boats on every spot at least!

[Rick G]

I agree that they should do a better job getting up the standings on this, their own, or wherever they choose to post. But from the looks at the turnout and payouts at all their 2009 Championships, they did just fine. Give away a Ranger and they will come. But Johnny C. is right, could not find it either. Rick G.

[kb]

I did the radio show from the meeting room on Saturday and had the chance to visit with Craig Sutherland for a few minutes. I told Craig that ABA does a great job for their sponsors with all the signage and logos in the room and the mention of the sponsors throughout the event. I thought the event was ran very well even though I skipped out on weighing in the one fish we had on Saturday about 5 pounds. I enjoyed the event and yes they could get the results up a bit faster somewhere but with the big waves I am sure they had their hands pretty full making sure everyone was back and safe.

Good Job to Craig and the entire staff. I saw many of the directors qualified from other regions and this will not be to their liking but I think the directors need to be at the event in a staff position to make things run smoothly. I am sure Ed Clarke could have used some help down on the docks running bags and crowd control.

kb

[Roger Saraiba]

I should clarify. I would also like to see the results up on the site. My point was that being 3 people down and just getting everything done as smooth as it was is impressive. If they didn't get a chance to post on here I understand, I am sure that was their last priority. KB I agree with the fact that more directors should be present to help. I do believe that there is around 11 divisions represented there.

[Scott Shambre]

ABA did a great job considering the turnout and the conditions presented Saturday afternoon. The lady that did the Star Spangled banner on Friday and Proud To Be An American on Saturday before blastoff could sing...AWESOME WAY TO START EACH DAY!!!!!

That being said, there has to be something done about the number of qualifiers. A Tournament Of Champions should be just that, just cause you fish 5 events in a region SHOULD NOT automatically qualify you for the TOC. There needs to be a cap of about 130 teams which is about 10-12 per region including Travelers. If you took every team in each region that earned a minimum of 500 points thru 6 events to the TOC, that would put 6- 10 teams per region in the TOC and take another 15 or so from the Travelers region. For all the teams that fished 6 events, but did not earn 500 points, have a wildcard tournament at a neutral lake one month prior to the TOC with the top-25 earning their way to the TOC. Next, you fish the TOC for the region you qualified thru, you fished Southern, you fish the southern TOC. That puts about 130 boats in any regions TOC.

Just what I see and hear from people that would make help the individual regions get better turnout and maintain those numbers throughout the year.

Great job ABA, see ya next year.

[RMANZO]

This thread has been edited by me of the inappropriate content. Pertinant content remains as it debates or supports Bill's original post. Let's stick to debating the issue and refrain from the personal attacks.

I personally agree with Bill, in that, it is disappointing to see a Team Tournament organization that fails to promote their TOC events on the Forum for our viewers, especially when we infact see regional info posted frequently from that organization. We here at Westernbass.COM, have always encouraged the orgs to post their tournament results and info here. Some orgs do and some don't, that is their choice.

This forum though, is the perfect place for us to say, "Hey XYZ Org, we wanna see the results."

PS. Hey Turkeyman, I must say, you gave me a purty good chuckle there with yer comment at 15 minutes after the last flight, you must be referring to Saturday, when many of the 190+ boat field did not weigh in! Friday's story would paint a different picutre! But on ABA's behalf, with the conditions presented any organization that holds a large event on ClearLake, they did a good job. We anglers must accept the fact that weigh-ins at ClearLake can be time consuming and must be patient with how the orgs want their weigh-ins run. This now is not just limited to Clearlake, the DFG is watching all the big events.

...
hey cooch, i was the guy @ the weigh-in filling each bag w/water and handing each of you the bags back w/u'r fish after you weighed em...this was the smoothest 200 boat weigh in i have seen and try not to chuckle, but i am referring to friday.... i like you, have been fishing different orgs for 25 years, and aba does a heck of a job.... yes, i do agree 20 teams to make a toc would be better, but they are still going off the % of anglers from the ol days of 80-120 teams and the top 30 made it.... i am a director for aba and i am one of the few aba guys that posts on this forum... the aba headquarters does not use this forum, or any other one that i am aware of... believe me, if i was able to post something on here when i was helping w/the tourney, i would have.... hats off to keith and kyle... they kicked butt all year here in the motherlode nice roll guys jamie and i picked you guys to do what ya did.. we tried to have a liitle fun w/a couple of the other directors on who would win this, they wanted no part of a wager.. they must of felt it also

[tunaman]

Two clarifications:

• 1.) he wasn't referring to what happened up at the scales, he was referring to the logistics at the docks. We were on the second dock, and waited between 30-45 minutes before our section were finally told to "bring 'em up". For some reason we were chastised at the head of the dock for bringing them up when we did... we had waited patiently until we were told to do so. In all fairness, this was a very large field and they really could have used some more hands on the docks directing traffic. We watched a bunch of guys pull into the first dock as boats pulled out, and they all were able to pull their fish and get 'em up to you guys before we were allowed to. No big deal, but just a little logistical challenge that could have used some help.
  
  2.) Jason used to post on here a lot... too bad they don't see the value in doing so, but it is their choice either way.

Thanks for your services at the scales - I'd say the process from tank to scale was extremely well-organized and efficient, and the bubblers in the tanks are a great enhancement.

In my observations, ABA has always seemed to be one of the slowest organizations to post results, regardless whether it is their website, here, or elsewhere. It is unfortunate, as many inquiring minds would like to know, but it is what it is.

Roger

[drrakruz]

I am having trouble finding the rsults on the website. Can you help me Rick Grover?..Thank you, Johnny C

http://www.americanbass.com/Menu_Articles.htm

2009 Final Standings near the bottom of the page...Pick your region.

[Phil]

http://www.americanbass.com/2009_north_results.pdf

[1socalbass]

I believe that the idea of posting the day 1 results on this site, while at our Team Classics, is a very good idea. We will incorporate this in the future. While at these events, 100% of our attention and efforts are focused on the anglers who are participating in the event and our sponsors. I hope that our efforts were apparent to all of the Clear Lake contestants.

So that there is no confusion, the day one scales closed at 4:27 PM. The final check in time, which is outside the marina, was 4:00PM. That is 27 minutes for the teams in the final flight to idle through the channel, bag their fish and weigh-in. Remember, many of these limits required 3+ bags. Due to the flu, which took out three of our staff, this was a little longer than our normal time. On day 2 we were able to replace the ill workers, plus the wind brought many anglers in a bit early. We concluded the day 2 weigh-in at exactly 4:10.

We don't make a habit of defending ourselves on websites. We understand that people are free to express their opinions. I simply want to state our view that we do indeed care about our anglers and our sponsors and we work very hard planning and conducting these events to make these special events for our anglers. These are invitational events and we do not promote the Team Classics as open events. I hope that the anglers that were present do not share the opinion that we did not put significance on this event.

Craig Sutherland

Jason Sutherland - ABA Office

[tunaman]

Thanks guys - you did a great job at the tournament, and it was apparent that you did everything to accommodate your anglers that was in your powers.

Great job to ABA for the tournament!

Roger

[calfisher71]

I think as Anglers most people dont understand how much work goes into throwing these events. It is very difficult to host a tournament and keep everyone happy. As far as weigh in times, DFG will fine the organization who hosts the event so they must keep things in line. As anglers in a TOC at a Pro level I would hope by now we all understand these DFG rules and respect the organization running a event to enforce these rules dont get impatient just wait your turn. Understand that any circuit holding a TOC that gives away a boat must have a high boat count or a boat sponsor would have no interest in giving away a 35,000 dollar boat. Although I agree that a feild of top point earners makes a better TOC. As far as internet posting most tournament directors are not website experts, they are tournament directors that need a website for information and advertising. Being a webmaster takes alot of of time. I do think after a event the results do need to be posted someplace we can all see them if we are to help grow this sport.

I do not fish ABA I read the post and wanted to share my thoughts.


We are all lucky to be able to tournament fish and experience the time with freinds on the water and compete!

thanks to all who work hard to host these events and give us the chance to compete and live the dream!

[Phil]

Ya'll have become to computor brain washed. A few years back, you had to find out by phone, word of mouth or wait for the mail. No complaints back then , was there ?

[keithcant]

Phil, you hit it right on the head---soon the ' whiners ' will be sounding off because they did'nt get "twattered" w/ their position and standings while still in the boat.

Pay your entry--be on time-- follow the rules---and wait for the results........NONE of this is going to be on ESPN 2....3......or 4.

HAVE FUN!

[Scott Shambre]

Calfisher, you have a valid point that the sponsors want to see high boat counts....

They want them throughout the entire season, not just at the season ending event. Take a look thru all the regions and see how the numbers dropped as the season went on. With the standard as it is, if you decide to miss a couple in your region, toss a couple of travelers events in and you're there. There should be a competitive sense of urgency thru the entire season in any one of the regions to stick with your region to qualify there and not be able to use the travelers as an "safety escape". Also eliminate the cross region qualifying, if you fish north, you fish the northern TOC. If I want to fish the southern TOC I will drive down there and support those regions with my business as should teams come into this region to support the northern regions if they want to fish a northern TOC.. We have teams that remain loyal to their regions despite boat counts in the teens and to have a team that did not support a region in the north come in a fish for the same prize is not right.

ABA does a good job with what they do, but there is a new org. up north now and if ABA doesn't work to adjust to be able to compete with this they'll have issues.

[Alex M.]

I fished the ABA CL TOC this weekend, and 200 boats says its doing just fine...

We were boat 192

[g-man]

I fished the ABA CL TOC this weekend, and 200 boats says its doing just fine...

We were boat 192

LMAO Me 3

[bahlzar]

boat 126