hoosierbass07

Ducket seems like a straight shooter and I think he has been trying to take the high road in all his answers, he says he has respect for BASS and FLW. I give him credit for that.

I'm a fan of MLF, not really a fan of Bassmaster, no fan of FLW even though I tried to watch but the coverage has been horrible. At least Bassmaster and FLW can say they have existed outside of cable TV. They are real sporting leagues. MLF, at least before this year, has been all about being a cable TV show, and being a cable TV show is not really something to be proud of considering the amount of crap on nearly every TV channel. MLF is going from a cable TV show to a real sporting league. We will see if they pull it off. After saying all that, MLF is 100% more fun than Bassmaster or any other fishing competition and connects with me more. Heck, I just got on the MLF website and ordered an MLF T-shirt. Their logos are so cool!!!

Wow. Wow wow wow.

It was an interesting episode with a lot of what I call C ranked pros and a few B ranked pros. Sort of fascinating to watch and see which one could catch a bass at least one pound or more. I'm starting to fell sorry for some of the young pros starting out in MLF, go all day not catch anything. MLF can be so cruel. Love it!

Not a bad second episode to the season! Really enjoy watching Randy Howell.

I don't disagree with any of that. But I'm viewing this as a TV fishing fan. MLF is fun and on every Saturday during the heart of winter. But yeah, bass fishing is not even in the same universe as baseball, football, basketball, college sports, hockey, etc... Might be more popular than professional target archery though. lol. Since so many of the Bass Master guys left, surely that says something about Bass Master.

It all comes down to this. ESPN coverage of BASS Master is horrible. They air the tournaments months later. You build up expectations for the tournaments then find you have to remember its going to be broadcast a month and half later, Sunday morning. Then you have remember is it ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPN Classic, or maybe their college sports network. With spring getting closer and closer you forget ESPN is going to finally air the tournaments, then totally forget about them. That means you missed the tournaments you originally had interest in seeing. FLW is as bad - what cable network(if any) are they on this year? That's the question you ask every year. MLF is easy - every Saturday afternoon for two hours on the same network. I'm just surprised all the big names went with MLF. I know MLF is the number one show on the Outdoor Network, but is it really that high in the ratings to justify a 100% tournament series? Must be. Even Jacob Wheeler is going and didn't he just make it to Elites not too long ago? That's got to say something about Bass Master.

So I just spent the last few hours looking up this new MLF series. Man, where was I when this news broke last year? lol. I've been watching some youtube videos of the Pro's announcing they are going with MLF. So weird and cool, like watching West Point officers picking the North or the South in 1860. lol. I think Scott Martin is ticked. Watched his video about him staying in FLW and then saying he wasn't asked to join the new MLF series. Yeah, he's ticked. lol. Got to love it! Got to love it! Bring it on MLF!

What new deal are you talking about? Wow, I just looked it up. So they are really really taking the fight to the Bass Master/FLW tours? Go MLF!

Well throw my goals in the trash. I watched KVD on Pro Team Journal Friday night. Watched him throw a jerk bait thru the whole episode. I never caught a bass on a jerk bait and hardly ever use them. But what did I do Saturday? Had to go to the store to buy me a KVD jerk bait in clear water minnow. Ugh.

Wow, still a little shocked Shimano pulled out of fishing cable TV shows. Wonder if they know the world economy is going to be going down hill soon or something. I agree that fishing shows don't really influence me on what reels to buy. When I got into fishing seven or eight years ago I didn't know anything. Went to Gander Mountain and picked a spinning reel that looked good and solid to my eyes, also new the name Shimano from bike parts. So I bought a Sahara and since then I became a big Shimano spinning reel fan. Also a Lews baitcaster fan but not because of the fishing TV shows, more because a friend at work kept telling me to try Lews baitcasters so I bought a $100 one and it actually worked pretty good. Bought a $280 Lews Baitcaster and again it worked nicely. Can't say the fishing TV shows influenced me at all in reels or line I buy. And yeah, lots and lots of people are dropping cable TV. The amount of people I work with that don't have cable is shocking to me.

lol. That's how I've seen that show from day one. I tried watching one episode and gave up. And I like watching Ott DeFoe on MLF. Hunt for Monster Bass looks like one of those videos that plays on monitors in Bass Pro Shops or some other outdoor store. It's really a badly produced series. I'm a big fan of MLF too but I got a little ticked off last year. They kept talking about a World Championship but I didn't see it on the Outdoor Channel. I was flipping thru the channels one night and found MLF World Championship on the CBS Sports Network, which is a crappy network. I was upset I missed some episodes so didn't even watch. Still, MLF is my favorite show on TV, by far.

So, the new fishing shows are back on cable TV for 2019. I always look forward to watching them in January and February since it's probably freezing outside and spring is a few months away. Interesting thing I noticed, some fishing shows have lost their Shimano sponsorship's. Hook and Look lost Shimano this season which was a surprise. It seemed Hook and Look always enjoyed showing off their Shimano baitcasters. Now I see Facts of Fishing lost Shimano. That's another show that seemed to enjoy showing off their Shimano reels and rods. Hmm, what's going on with Shimano? They pulling out from all the fishing shows or what?

Well, a few years ago I bought a small two person john boat for $50.00 at a yard sale. Thing does not leak, very light to transport and can take a small trolling motor. So keep your eyes open for those kind of deals. But you are pretty right about it being two different sports. A guy in a big bass boat can zoom across a lake, turn on the trolling motor, and make cast after cast while trolling down the bank. In a way it seems like a really lazy/cheating way to fish. Zooming from place to place then trolling down a bank until you land bass? Is that really skill? I do like watching bass competitions on TV (MLF and sometimes BassMasters) but still I recognize it's a whole different ballgame. It's a free country though, so fish how ever you like as long as its legal. And yes, I don think some pro fisherman are skillful, like KVD, etc...

1. Don't waste my time using jigs. 2. Don't waste my time using crank baits. 3. Don't waist my time using top water. 4. Don't wast my time using my baitcasters. 5. Don't wast my time using ten inch plastic worms. 6. Do stick to what works: Yum-Dingers/Stick baits. 7. Do stick to what works: Berkley PowerBaits in seven inch. 8. Do stick to what works: lizards. 9. Don't use any line above eight pounds. Eight and six pound is plenty for large bass. 10. Do make lots and lots of casts to increase the odds of catching a big one.

Is ditching the co-anglers going to make the flw any less insignificant? Doubt it.

Yikes. I didn't know their World Championship was on CBS. Had to find out about it by flipping thru the channels and came upon CBS Sports Network and something called MLF Shotgun rounds, one hour long broadcasts.

I like the competition but I've noticed MLF is at its best in the qualifying and sudden death rounds and least interesting in the Championship round. They need to tweak it a little to really make it 100% perfect.

As much as I enjoy MLF, and I greatly enjoy it, the Championship rounds have to be tweaked some. MLF is different in the first rounds and sudden death and that difference makes it enjoyable. But when it comes to the Championship, its one person takes it all at the end of the day and that is the most boring part of MLF. Championship day should go like this - first period all competitors compete. Second period bottom three or four are eliminated and all the rest compete but weights are set to zero. Last period the top three or four compete and weights are set to zero. That would stop someone from running away from the field, like KVD has in the past.

Is the show still on the Outdoor channel? I didn't see one episode last year on that channel. I accidentally found the show this summer on the CBS Sports channel which has bad video quality. lol. Anyway, will vote! MLF, Hook & Look and Lunkerville are my top three.

Wow, the sudden death episode was sooo good! The first 2.5 hours of fishing for them was fast and furious, at least it was edited that way. Way to go Ish! Wow. How did Ish do it? I guess he was in the right place at the right time. One of the Lane brothers crying again because they got crushed. lol. It seems they are either hot or cold, on top of the world or in the dumpsters. I don't know if Duckett makes good fishing rods but from what I've seen of him in MLF, he doesn't know anything about bass fishing. Time to get Duckett out of MLF and bring in some new guys!

The last three episodes have been really good. Lots of action and nice sized bass. Only problem is its late spring/summer time now so don't have much time to watch them.

36+ miles? LOL. Your dreaming. Those walkie-talkies you can buy in stores only get out three or four miles over regular terrain. On open areas like flat water, then they might get out a little further. But the max range on those walkie-talkies they list on the packaging can only be reached on water or very very flat land with no obstructions like trees, houses, hills, buildings, etc...

When I started bass fishing about five or six years ago all I did was Texas rig. Then in the second or third year I discovered split-shot rig and I loved it! I caught a lot of bass from my kayak/bank fishing. The last few years I have not used the split-shot and my catch numbers went down. I should probably use split-shot this year. I usually fish on very clear deep strip pits.

I might have saw your booth. I stopped for a few seconds at a table that had flies that looked like fly fishing flies along with some larger flies. But, the crowd was so heavy, I really could not enjoy the show much.