Bassin' USA - Bass Fishing Forum Archives

This is a question that was brought to me the other day in a wiegh in line.

With all the press that BASS and FLW have been getting lately with conflicting schedules I was wondering what you folks thought about BASS and FLW? Is the sport in trouble when the Two most envolved competitors have conflicts in schedules, or is this good for the sport?

mofish, i'm not a big tx angler but i do my clubs tx and a few wbfl(redman). anyway when they cross each other on the calender, i think its ok as long as it's not the classic or the flw champinship. reason is the pro's have to make a choice once in a while. by haveing the tx on the same weekend you'll beable to let some new faces break into the sport. your not going to have the same big names at one tx every time. or the same 300 boats there. by that the sport will grow. if you look at the standings from this years tx bass and flw you will see alot of the same names in the top 50 or 100. i wonder how many new pro's were not able to fish these tx cause the vets didn't have to choose, and there were no spots open to them.
just my way of thinking about letting the sport grow!!

Guys- We've heard this being discussed a lot of months now. Especially after the Jeff Coble Incident. Although that wasn't really FLW, it was the same organization. They and their Big Boss caught hell over that.

B.A.S.S. hasn't always been angels either.
A lot of criticism came as a result of Scott's firing, some of the bonehead decisions B.A.S.S. made regarding "shootouts"
and of course the comparisons of the TV
shows.

Both can schedule their T's as they wish. Probably they would fill up anyway. B.A.S.S. has been around much longer so FLW might lose any ratings battle.

The sport has opened up considerably. B.A.S.S. has far more tournaments because of the Eastern, Central & Western tournaments, although the Western is not very popular (low # of entries) and appears to be headed for cancellation.

Ray mentioned that an overlapping schedule has expanded the number of new people performing in the "major leagues". These aggressive Young Guns are good for the sport
and should provide a pool of talented anglers for FLW and B.A.S.S. to continue their wars each year.

It would be interesting if you Pros could develop this conversation further giving some opinions of your own. Looking forward to it. JoeMo

The scheduling problems are just one of my worrys. I used to watch FLW tourneys on ESPN and would'nt miss one. I also watched the Bass Masters,both had good coverage and were informative. Since the deal with PAX, the FLW tournaments are painful to watch. I just quit watching! Do they think spending 3/4 of the show on hype and 2 minutes of in-the-boat coverage is good? I personaly want to see how they PRO is fishing, lure type and
presention. I respect the PRO'S a great deal, but FLW has in my estimation taken a very wrong turn.
Bassin Butch

Butch- Yes, I believe you are right about FLW taking a wrong turn. I can recall a short year or two ago when B.A.S.S.'s TV show was laughable compared to FLW's.

I think the difference is ESPN. They seem to approach a confrontation with a competitor kind of like the NY Yankees do. They do it with class and if that doesn't do the job, they use money. Notice Jerry McK is now the B.A.S.S. guy who no longer does FLW. Do you think he might have a thicker wallet nowadays?

Thanks for posting. JoeMo

talk about where a show is headed anybody remember when FLW aired the ranger ml1 on fox two years ago! and when they said the wrong weigths when they weighed in. talk about killing a sport! i guess they don't learn from mistakes!!

Ray- Yes, I remember the M-1 Fiasco. Probably the dumbest fishing show since Fishburn folded his show (and his in-the-water high chair). I watched one of his shows while up at the St. Lawrence River Club Team Events in the mid-90's and was embarrassed.

I do remember the weights wouldn't have added up in the M-1. I thought Ranger would go belly-up after that, but fortunately they didn't.

Ray, thanks for posting. JoeMo

I have fished the B.A.S.S side of the realm for years, amateur and professional. Love their system, and their staff. FLW to me has always been a turn off mainly because of the owner. Anyone that knows him, knows how he is. B.A.S.S, believe it or not, is a family, FLW has always been too commercial, and their rules for competition frankly have sucked!!! Im a B.A.S.S man 110%

Mike- I'm always associating FLW with the Jeff Coble situation where he was soundly criticized by FLW's Owner for wearing a major college logo at the final weigh-in of the Redman equivalent of the B.A.S.S. Classic. Didn't use his photo on the cover of the magazine. First time the Winner wasn't featured that way. Unreal.........
I thought Jeff handled it magnificently.

I guess we have to give FLW one thing- they helped create a situation which put a lot more money in the tournament anglers' hands than when there was only B.A.S.S. Agreed?

Thanks for excellent posts, Mike.
JoeMo

Yes the FLW has brought alot to bass fishing tournaments. Wasnt trying to knock them, because this trail has been good for alot of fisherman. Personally, I would rather not associate myself with them, but I urge others that havent fished their trail to try. Seems nowadays, its all about the money (dont get me wrong, money is good) and not about the anglers. Just seems to me that their upper regime, goes about daily operations the wrong way. Just my opinion, but the FLW has helped public awareness to bass fishing itself.