Bassfest Launched 237 Boats Today!!

[Caudawg]

A huge congratulations to Grant Olguin of Blackdog Baits who came up with this concept of a bass tournament with a LOT of sponsor support and attracted nearly 240 teams to fish this event!! Grant and the guys at Bass Brigade did a great job putting this concept together and marketing it successfully.

I will be posting pics form the first half of the weigh-in process. Other pics from 2:30 or so on will be available later this evening.

Randy and Sheri Pringle had things running extremely smoothly with the help of the awesome gang of folks at Russo's Marina. The atmosphere was very festive and the anglers were treated to a great BBQ after they weighed in including a couple of whole hogs.

[Caudawg]

Sorry gang. I'm having some technical difficulties with my iPhone. I hope to have pics up soon.

[Cooch]

This turned out to be an absolute awesome event. A huge congrats and Thanks to Grant for putting this together, someone has finally hit a Grand Slam for team tounaments here in California! It was a huge eye opener to see 237 teams enter this event, even on top of the FPTs 117 team, 2 day event out of Ladds. Ya can only imagine what "could have been!"

Low entry fee($50), 3 fish limit, 6 hour event, sponsor booths everywhere, free food and a carnival like atmosphere! Best part, about $3000 to the winners and 46th place got double their money back! BRILLIANT!

[flipstar]

Sucked having to watch all those boats out there coming in to weigh in. I'll be out there next year.

[X_24]

This event had the best turn out in years. I do have some constructive criticism though....

The first thing was the way the blast off and launching was ran. I arrived there at 5:15am and waited for an hour to launch. We not only missed our blast off but we lost an hour of precious time. We had an early weigh in to top it off and only got 4.5hrs to fish. Just an idea but what if we blast off boats on a first come first serve basis. It doesn't make sense blasting off boats that aren't there yer. Sorry for the long rant but I don't want somebody the next tournament to go through the same thing.

[zrtj]

With regards to the launch, I don't think the contestants were anticipating getting 237 boats. Now that we know that everyone loves the Bass Fest concept, I think a lot of anglers will likely show up an hour earlier, fuel up their boats the day before, etc. for the next Bass Fest event. That said, Randy and his staff did an awesome job adjusting and dealing with the overwhelming turnout. This thing can only get better. I talked with some of the sponsors that set up booths at Bass Fest and like me, they were all totally blown away by how great the event turned out. Bass Fest was a breath of fresh air!!!

[dltabssn]

My daughter and I fished this event together and we caught lots of fish and had a blast. The bad thing was she had to leave right after we got back to Russos Marina. Being alone I could find NO place to tie up to go to the barbecue and drawings. When I finally got out of the water at 3:45 and got to the stage they were already handing out the third to first place awards. When it was over I walked up to Randy Pringle and asked if boat #5 had won anything in the drawings. I received no answer and got a blank stare back. I realize you had to be there to receive a drawing prize but in an event as large as this in the future there has to be some changes,like holding those prizes till the winners are paid and then redrawing so some of the guys who are not there yet have a chance at the prizes. I will definetely fish more of these tournaments in the future because it reminded me of the old days of tournament fishing 40 years ago when the entry fees were low and they always had close to a 100 boats. The other tournament circuits, and every one of you guys know who you are, better wake up because with your high entry fees and Californias forever high gas prices your circiuts of 25 to 35 boats are doomed forever (unless that's they way you want it).

[flipstar]

I wasn't there for blastoff but I was there for weigh in. Staff and volunteers did a awesome job with that many boats. I heard people were launching at 3: am great planning on their part. There are enough ramps by russos that seeing the wait to launch was so long I would have gone to another ramp to launch and then headed to russos. I have made the run from B&W in the dark before without GPS without a problem. Yes it sucks missing blastoff time but that is not the tournament directors responsibility. Great job to randy and his staff. Just my opinion.

[Andy Lippert]

Was a sweet tournament, and a tough bite!! My partner and I decided to launch at Sugar Barge and dumped the boat with no wait at all. Drove up to the check-in dock, was inspected, went and signed our sheets, got our number, and were on our way. Extremely well run for how crazy the turnout ended up being, and an event I'll definitely fish in the future! GReat job to all that helped make it happen!

Andy

[Rick G]

Congrats to all the fished and ran the event! That is a awesome turnout! Rick G.

[bassflip]

How many pounds is 1st place and also down to the last team that got a check please post the winnings also




Thanks
BF

[jloo283]

It was the best event ever for me! Great job to all, and thanks for everything.

I agree though, blast off was a mess with that many boats. I heard the call for boats 1-120 to get to the "front" for blast off but didn't hear anything about boats 121 and on, many of us ended up waiting too long by the ramp, then everyone piled up by the poles once they realized the call wasn't coming. I'm sure you guys will work hard to improve this issue in future events.

I can't wait for another one. Thanks again.

James

[Randy Walker]

Simply AMAZING how many boats showed up for this event... and like Cooch said, if there was not a FPT event that same weekend the numbers for the bassfest would have been even larger. As many have stated, the launching situation was overwhelming as nobody thought this even would have been so large. With the overall success of the event I would love to see this event continue and I'm sure launching will be reviewed and the best solution possible will be created.
Randy and the staff did a GREAT job with what they were presented with for sure...

I would think the talk about this event will linger for a while...as it should! This was just awesome!

GREAT job to all that had a hand in putting this idea into motion...

Randy

Oh... bassflip,
1st place had 17+ pounds to win. Not sure how far down they paid, but as Cooch said... 46th place got double back...

[WackySenko]

x-24, I am sorry that things did not go as well as you think that they should have.

Randy and crew put on a great tounament (as he and crew ALWAYS do)and it was ran very well. I hope that this style tournament continues.

I do not think that you planned ahead very well and are blaming Randy and crew. You stated that you arrived to launch 1 hour before blast off, when a tournament is going to have over 100 boats, that is NOT enough time.
When planning my arrival time I always take into account the amount of boats expected, how many lanes on the ramp, time to have livewells checked, time for checkin, time for guys that launch slow or use the middle of the ramp and time to get ready wihouy rushing.
The blastoff was not a first come first servered basis. A boat number was randomley picked for the first boat to blastoff, it was # 20. The boats went out 20 boats per.
I feel that the blastoff, as well as the whole tounament, went VERY WELL. In some tournaments there are boats that are in the front waitnig to blastoff even though thier number is not launching until late in the sequence. As a result it makes it harder for other boats to blastoff in order. I did not see this during the blastoff and I was in the 7th flight.

This was a great tournament with a low entry fee (BIG HELP WITH HIGHER AMOUNT OF ENTRIES), GREAT prizes and LOTS of them (The smallest weight of the tournament was given two rods as well as alot of rods to others, there were 70 bags worth $70 or more of product).

This was a great idea, ran very well and I thank Randy Sheri and crew. I want to thank the sponsers also, because without them this would never have been this great.

[Bassin]

All I can say is Wow! What a great Tournament Bassfest 2012 was. I drove up from Santa Margarita for this. Only 5th time on the Cal Delta, first time from the front of the boat. This was easily the biggest tournament  I have ever been in, 237 boats!  I have to echo what MANY are going to say, this is the way tournaments need to be put on!! Low entry fees, and STRONG SPONSOR support make for a Huge turn out. I personally think that if more people knew that such quality and quantity of product was being given away for a $50 entry there would of been 300 + for this event. Oh and I like the idea of random weights being given GREAT prizes. Have to say thanks to Randy and his crew for all the work in running the tournament and a big thank you to Russo's marina for the way they handled the launching and loading of boats. Thanks for a great experience. I WILL be back for another Bassfest!!!

[froteur]

this was only the second tournament (outside of club events) that i have ever fished. that being said, i would do the bassfest again, in a HEARTBEAT!

as it is with any event (i've run a ton of golf tournaments), there are things that went well, there are things that went ok, and there are things that didn't go so well. overall ............ i believe the whole team did a GREAT job!

-perry-

oh yeah ... we were boat 17 so we were the third to last boat to launch. we missed out on the roast pigs.
next time ... more pigs (we coulda used a coupla pig bass too). or save the pig for those of us who signed up early. JK

[Caudawg]

As an observer watching this whole thing...I came away with such a great impression from this event. I was there to take some pics and visit with lots of old friends from my tournament fishing days years ago.

First off, as my son and I walked up to the stage/weigh in area I was amazed at what a great set-up I saw for the weigh-in, sponsor tables and BBQ. It was professionally done at a great venue.

The next thing I noticed was a real excitement among the event sponsors and pre-weigh-in crowd. The talk about the 237 boats was the big topic and how well things went despite the unexpected "supersized" attendance.

Then the weigh-in began and it flowed beautifully. A constant stream of anglers walked up to the stage (for the most part one team at a time) and got a chance to tell the crowd about their day with tournament director Randy Pringle from Best Bass Tournaments. The anglers then were ushered over to golf carts where they were swiftly taken to the release tubes to get those bass back in the water quickly and efficiently. Bravo to the whole weigh-in crew and the gang at Russo's for assisting with the whole process of this event.
Overall, it was truly great to talk to anglers of all levels. There were many first timers for tournaments all the way to the seasoned professional level anglers who had the opportunity to mingle with the beginner type anglers and answer lots of questions and talk about tackle and technique. I saw so many older boats and anglers who haven't fished tournaments in years but they came out in force for this one!!! There were fathers & sons, fathers & daughters, husband and wives all enjoying a great day.

It was also great to see the sponsor support!! It's events like this that remind you that this sport is still alive...just needs a little tweaking to get the participation back to solid numbers. I'm sure the sponsors would agree. Here are some more images: (note: those glasses I am wearing in the below pic are required during laser treatments and not my "Joe Cool" glasses!)

[Tobey]

x-24, I am sorry that things did not go as well as you think that they should have.
I do not think that you planned ahead very well and are blaming Randy and crew. You stated that you arrived to launch 1 hour before blast off, when a tournament is going to have over 100 boats, that is NOT enough time.

I disagree with you on this point. I have fished quite a few tournaments with 70-100+ boats and arriving 1 hour before safe light has always been way more than enough time. I pre-registered, so I too arrived 1 hour before blast off (figuring that would be plenty of time), and did not get to launch until around 6:45 with a 12 noon weigh-in time. By the time I parked my truck and got out to the blast off point it was close to 7am so I got about 5 hours of tournament time while some others registered the morning of, blasted off before me, and got to fish until 1:45 or 2:00. I am in no way blaming the crew that ran this event...there is no way they could have known that an extra 120 boats were gonna show up the morning of to sign up, and I think they did an excellent job considering the circumstances, however; something should be done to avoid this problem at future events.

On the brighter side,
My kids and I did have a great time, received some really nice raffle prizes, ate a good lunch, thoroughly enjoyed the days festivities and can't wait to fish in the next Bassfest event.

Ron

[Caudawg]

A few more pics

Bass Fest Sponsor - Phenix Rods

Bassfest Phenic Rods pic.jpeg (115.07 KiB) Viewed 4050 times

Bass Fest Sponsor D&M Custom Lures

Bass Fest D&M.jpeg (114.04 KiB) Viewed 4050 times

BBT Director Randy Pringle Interviews Big Bass award winner Taylen Miguel

Bassfest Pringle & Miguel.JPG (88.01 KiB) Viewed 4050 times

Bass Fest Sponsor Skinny Bear

Bassfest Skinny Bear.jpeg (88.23 KiB) Viewed 4050 times

[Cooch]

Quite honestly gentlemen, it's a far fetch perception that ya believe that any tourney org should be held accountable for the angler's lack of getting to any event, checking in and launching on time, no matter how big the field. This is an aged old problem in California, just look at our highways! Angler's here on the Delta have always procrastinated and have had a penchant for waiting until the last moment to arrive, been this way since the first 600 boat Viper Tournament some 20+ years ago. Most launch facilities, with the exception of Ladds & Brannon Island, our launch sites here are two lane ramps. No way 100 boats can launch in an hour, even with the help of Russo's team carting guys from the parking lot back to the ramp, much less think it can happen with 200+ boats. There was nothing Grant or Randy's teams could have done in that short of period of time, to improve that. Lippert had the best solution, and it's too bad with all the other ramps on the Island, others didn't think and take advantage of this.

As for the blast off itself, there are certainly steps that can be taken for future events. I know for a fact Randy is already mulling those in preperation for the next event. I don't think it's fair though, that what happened yesterday is totally the orgs fault. Due to the anxiety the late launch created, the excitement of that many boats, the noise of 200+ motors and a tide that was pushing boats towards the opening, it got quite confusing and congested for the boaters. The important thing is everyone did get out safely and no serious boat damage was reported.

Lesson learned for ALL involved! There were a lot of new tournament anglers at this event, it's all part of the growing curve for our sport, let's not knock em too hard on this, it's correctable and we still had an AMAZING Event after that hicup!

[Dom]

OK Now the Anglers have spoken Now yall ( all the orgs) see what the anglers want , I just hate thats its only a once a year deal I would love to fish a circuit like this maybe 6 tournaments a year with the big TOC all on the Delta with the low Entry fee and the raffles ect....

my son and I really wanted to fish this and we went pre-fishing Saturday but coming back in my water pump went out and at 6pm on saturday I seen no way to get it fixed before 3-4am Sunday morning BUMMER! Jeremy just called me and told me all about it and what a great time it was but we will be at next years Congrats To Jeremy, Grant , Randy and the others !!!

[Jeff Jewell]

Most launch facilities, with the exception of Ladds & Brannon Island, our launch sites here are two lane ramps.

and I know everyone want's to support Gene and Russo's but I have to ask:
Why not have a large tournament like this run out of Brannon? 8 lane launch ramp and 5 acres of parking on asphalt........

[froteur]

Most launch facilities, with the exception of Ladds & Brannon Island, our launch sites here are two lane ramps.

and I know everyone want's to support Gene and Russo's but I have to ask:
Why not have a large tournament like this run out of Brannon? 8 lane launch ramp and 5 acres of parking on asphalt........

one of the short answers is that they weren't expecting 237 boats. over 100 boats showed up the day of