Reschedule of NBW San Diego 12 Dec at El Cap

[HngDvnDave]

This is a tough one considering some of the recent posts.

I need to let you all know that we must reschedule the National Bass West Tournament at El Capitan originally set for December 12th in San Diego. I apologize for the inconvenience this causes but it is necessary.

I have a mandatory work Saturday at my primary job. With employment as tenuous as it is, I can not get out of this obligation. We have moved the date to April 24th at Lake Hodges and are applying for permits at this time.

We are calling and emailing all the teams to be sure the word gets out. Please help by letting everyone you know that fishes with us in San Diego, about this change. If you have any questions please email me at dseaberg@cox.net .

Thanks for your understanding. If I don’t see you before the next tournament on January 30th, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Since there is a NBW Tournament at Diamond Valley, I would invite everyone to join Mike & Lynne Peterson for the first tournament there in a long time. Water is coming up and the ramp will be usable. Check out the Diamond Valley website for restrictions on bass boat motors.

Sincerely,
Dave Seaberg

[N.A.R]

nm

[bassman619]

took long enough to confirm this

[Robert F]

Two points and I will let the rest of this speak for itself.
1) Within the whole NBW organization there is nobody able to substitute for one guy that needs to work? Maybe the TD needs put together a support staff so one guy's job does not disrupt 80-100 fishermen.
2) This has been the worst kept secret in San Diego. I do not think you need to "e-mail" or ask the pony express to get the message out. It has been on the street since the weekend and left to fester for days. To quote another disrupted participant, "bad form".
Enough said.

[Brian Linehan]

Robert-

I don't know you, but in the short time I've seen you on these boards, it's occurred to me that you are the most negative, pessimistic person I've ever run across on these boards. This isn't personal, it's just an observation.

If you have so many wonderful ideas and know the industry so well, perhaps you should actually get involved and fish instead of keeping the keyboard warm.

NBW does a fine job and nobody is perfect. However, opinion are like you know what and yours is falling on deaf ears because of your pessimistic approach to everything.

[hippie]

i wonder if the participation at the el cap would fall because of the 1st tournament at dv in over a year wow it hurt you and maybe a couple others but i bet a handful of the san diego guyss rather be at dv fishing for 5#'ers instead 1.7#'ers

[Robert F]

If you have so many wonderful ideas and know the industry so well, perhaps you should actually get involved and fish instead of keeping the keyboard warm.

You're right Brian. You do not know me so let me give you a little background. I started fishing competitively (really not very competitively) in the late 80's/ early 90's with a family friend who was severely injured in a car accident that killed my mother. It was an activity that he was interested in and I decided to help him out in giving him something to look forward to after so much was taken from his life in the accident. We fished ABA teams out of an aluminum. Getting our butt handed to us in 70-80 boat tournaments. It was the highlight of Jerry's week going out to "practice" and plan for the tournament.

A short time later I got my own boat and joined a club. Got my butt handed to me before I figured it out. Soon I was the one handing out the lesson to the "old guys". Club Champ for a few years and two little boys getting old enough to handle the boat ride all day I went back to teams with my 9 year old kid. We decided to go see how the old ABA program was doing. Not so well.

Tournament participation was about 30 teams. We went out there, paid our membership, entry fees, got the kid some gear and showed up for our butt kicking. Cold mornings on the water and mediocre finishes got us to the ABA Classic every year. You have to thank Plots for making kids feel like Bass Pros. Making sure the raffles were loaded with little prizes so a kid could at least come away with something. Something to keep them interested in the sport.

Soon his brother was ready to fish so I put him in the ABA seat and moved the seasoned 13 year old to WON Teams. ABA attendance was at 10-15 boats. 3 or 4 TD's shuffled through that year. No raffles. Still cold mornings and tough conditions for a pre-teen took it's toll on my younger's interest in the game. I told him that it was his duty to finish the season. He made a commitment even though he was getting NOTHING back from the circuit. He did get to go to the Mead Classic and Plots gave him a plaque as Father/Son team of the year and special recognition at the awards ceremony as the youngest fisherman in attendance. The older one was starting to get it and we won one his last year as my team partner.

Now he wanted to see a little bit more of the business. I took my kid over to meet Hutch and begged him to let the under 16 year old kid fish WON Pro/AMs. We chose the Northern Series. With no experience off we went to Shasta. It started raining when we hit Stockton on the drive up. Almost lost him with the extreme weather conditions. I made him fish like a pro. We stayed on the lake and practiced every day. It was a commitment. Tournament day comes and the weather is no better. Actually it didn't stop raining for us until we hit Stockton on the drive home. He stuck it out for the whole year. Never once cashing a check we were traveling fishermen. I also started to fish the inaugural year of the FLW Series. Got my butt handed to me only bringing one short fish to the scales at Havasu. Bobby Barrack said it was good. Finished the year without a check but had an idea what I needed to do by the time I left Clear Lake.

Next year was a different story. Fishing the Series I had a top ten, three top 15's and ended up 8th overall out of the back. I also took my kid, now 16, to his first Stren as a non-boater. He was done with WON. He wanted to make his own decisions.

This last season we fished our first whole year as Stren boater/Co-angler and I fished my third year as a Series Co-angler. I have licenses for 8 states this year and Qualified for the Stren Series as a boater and the Forest Wood Cup as a Co-angler. Another top ten this year out of the back and a decent check at my first individual weight Pro event. I fish. I have fished.

I have paid ten of thousands of dollars in tournament entry fees. Been personally responsible for getting my own kids, friends and their kids in to various tournaments. I have brought and introduced complete stranger's kids that do not have the means to get on the water tournament style bass fishing. I have bought numerous boats, helped people out with their boats (Ihave 4 in my garage right now), and spent a ten of thousands of dollars on boating repairs and accessories in San Diego. I spend thousands of dollars EVERY YEAR on tackle. I do not want to know how much I have given the City of San Diego, and others, for launch fees. Not much outside the Western states as everybody else launces for free.

I have seen all these organizations drop in participation because of poor decisions and lack of commitment. Through it all I have done my part and feel I have the right as a customer of all of these organizations to speak my mind. I have been self employed for years and realize if you do not take care of a customer you will lose them. If the organizations want to hear a customer's opinion and act accordingly they will keep me and my family as customers. If not I will have no problem finding somebody to take my money.

It's only a negative opinion when it is the opposite of your own. What have you and others done but complain about somebody having an opinion that doesn't match yours?

[Ernie R]

Hey Guys, I really dont think Robert is being negative here.He is simply stating the facts of whats been happening with various organizations in regards to the changes that are being made before some derbys. His son aswell as my son and myself have been putting in alot of time into practice at El Cap since the last tournament there.We all know the bite is tough out there right now so all the practice is a good thing.

We all know how much it costs us just to practice a full day during the week and on the weekend with gas,food,and time away from home. My son and I live pretty close to El Cap so it could be worse, We now have to shift our efforts to Otay rather than El Cap,we could have been putting in the last 3 weeks of practice there instead of the other. So with all that said,I think Robert F is just stating the facts rather than being negative as some might take it.

[Robert F]

Welcome to the we speak up club Ernie I think the negative reference is to my tournament fishing balance sheet.

[1biggbass]

So what if the Director will have to work again this year on a Saturday.?
Another Reschedule?