Swindle and Palaniuk coming back to BASS

[moguy1973]

People that don't like the BPT or MLF don't like change.  Is the format for everyone, nope.  It's just different than any other fishing tournament that has ever existed before.  With new technologies popping up every day I'm sure it's only going to get better with coverage, the way they weigh in, etc.  Does the MLF format need tweaking?  Probably.  Catching a ton of small bass isn't going to gain them many good ratings as that's not fun to watch.   I always enjoyed watching the MLF cup shows when they first started and someone would be catching a crap ton of small fish only to lose to someone that started getting bigger fish to bite.  With the introduction of the "Heavy Hitters" tournament I think that will change things around.  It may make them go after the big fish bite instead of focusing on the dinks.  One idea I have they need to implement, since they like to do the mystery location thing in the cups, is to make the format a mystery or a random thing where one day they are fishing for the biggest 5, still with the catch-weigh-release format of course, and the next day all fish are weighed.  That way it would keep them on their toes and they couldn't just focus on finding a lot of small fish during practice.

 

The one thing I don't like about what G-man said is about keeping the fish.  If he wants to keep 5 fish he should be able to whether he's weighing them or eating them.  I think as ambassadors to the fishing world they should do every thing they can to optimize the conservation of fish, especially big fish, if they want future generations to be able to have quality fishing opportunities.  Taking big fish off beds or locations they are adept to so they can be weighed in elsewhere on the lake is a pretty big detriment to the fish population if you ask me.  Unless they are going to return all the tournament fish back to where they caught them I think the MLF CWR format is way better than the standard tournament format.

[EWREX]

5 minutes ago, moguy1973 said:

People that don't like the BPT or MLF don't like change.  Is the format for everyone, nope.  It's just different than any other fishing tournament that has ever existed before.  With new technologies popping up every day I'm sure it's only going to get better with coverage, the way they weigh in, etc.  Does the MLF format need tweaking?  Probably.  Catching a ton of small bass isn't going to gain them many good ratings as that's not fun to watch.   I always enjoyed watching the MLF cup shows when they first started and someone would be catching a crap ton of small fish only to lose to someone that started getting bigger fish to bite.  With the introduction of the "Heavy Hitters" tournament I think that will change things around.  It may make them go after the big fish bite instead of focusing on the dinks.  One idea I have they need to implement, since they like to do the mystery location thing in the cups, is to make the format a mystery or a random thing where one day they are fishing for the biggest 5, still with the catch-weigh-release format of course, and the next day all fish are weighed.  That way it would keep them on their toes and they couldn't just focus on finding a lot of small fish during practice.

 

The one thing I don't like about what G-man said is about keeping the fish.  If he wants to keep 5 fish he should be able to whether he's weighing them or eating them.  I think as ambassadors to the fishing world they should do every thing they can to optimize the conservation of fish, especially big fish, if they want future generations to be able to have quality fishing opportunities.  Taking big fish off beds or locations they are adept to so they can be weighed in elsewhere on the lake is a pretty big detriment to the fish population if you ask me.  Unless they are going to return all the tournament fish back to where they caught them I think the MLF CWR format is way better than the standard tournament format.

sure it's hard to change when you've learned fished your ENTIRE life based off of the BASS format.

[OCdockskipper]

49 minutes ago, moguy1973 said:

People that don't like the BPT or MLF don't like change...

 

...I think as ambassadors to the fishing world they should do every thing they can to optimize the conservation of fish, especially big fish, if they want future generations to be able to have quality fishing opportunities...

A couple of responses to the above portions of your comments:

 

To make the blanket statement that people who don't like BPT/MLF don't like change is extremely dismissive.  It ignores true reasons why people may not like those formats or those organizations.  The claim that BPT or MLF is "the future of fishing" is nothing more than a marketing slogan that some people have apparently bought into.  BPT is no more the future of fishing than the XFL was the future of professional football.  I have reasons why I dislike BPT (the way Duckett chose to build his roster is foremost), but that has nothing to do with disliking change.  I like the MLF concept and believe the mystery lake aspect has alot more to do with its success than anything else.  The BPT is actually trying to be a hybrid of best 5 tournaments and MLF, but like ice cream & ketchup, it just doesn't mix well.  Bass Fest is a better catch/weigh/release tournament than any BPT event.

 

While your abstract concept of conservation is good, it misses the entire concept of managing fisheries.  I grew up when catch & release was introduced and have never kept a LM or SM bass for food.  However but I fully know that releasing everything I catch is not always the best thing for every fishery.  Culling is a tool that can be used to improve fisheries and to discount it as being outside of the conservation tent is short sighted.  Further, with the aggressiveness of groups like PETA, you need to know the true enemy to fishing in the future.  If every fishery were to be catch & immediate release, PETA would attack fishing as nothing more than a way to torture fish.  The use of culling and legal limits for fish to provide food at least keeps PETA at bay from trying to eliminate fishing as a recreational activity.

[TnRiver46]

If keeping 5 is so detrimental, why are a majority of fisheries in America way better than they used to be? It takes 15-20 lbs to win about anywhere. That was not the case 20+ years ago 

[moguy1973]

1 hour ago, OCdockskipper said:

 

 

While your abstract concept of conservation is good, it misses the entire concept of managing fisheries.  I grew up when catch & release was introduced and have never kept a LM or SM bass for food.  However but I fully know that releasing everything I catch is not always the best thing for every fishery.  Culling is a tool that can be used to improve fisheries and to discount it as being outside of the conservation tent is short sighted.  Further, with the aggressiveness of groups like PETA, you need to know the true enemy to fishing in the future.  If every fishery were to be catch & immediate release, PETA would attack fishing as nothing more than a way to torture fish.  The use of culling and legal limits for fish to provide food at least keeps PETA at bay from trying to eliminate fishing as a recreational activity.

Don't take my remark as I'm not against keeping fish as I'm not.  I had a grand time bringing home a mess of walleye and pike on my trip to Canada this past summer.  I just think that there really is no point to catching a large fish and hauling it around in a hot livewell for hours only to release it in a different part of the lake.  I know that mortality rates of caught fish are rather low and the pros do everything they can to try to keep them alive, but why even risk the fish's health or redistribute their numbers to the weigh in spot if it's not necessary.  BASS has even proven it with BASSfest that it can be done very effectively even in the best 5 format.

[OCdockskipper]

5 hours ago, moguy1973 said:

...there really is no point to catching a large fish and hauling it around in a hot livewell for hours only to release it in a different part of the lake...

I hear what you are saying.  Just know that statement could easily be the lead for a PETA program against tournament fishing, to be shortly followed by "There really is no point to catching a large fish only to release it" as they change their aim towards fishing in general.

 

I agree about hot live wells, however that is not the case with Elite tournaments.  Since it is their livelihood and it costs them money if they allow fish to die, these guys typically are the best when it comes to fish care of the ones they keep.  Hot watered live wells may be the norm on other tours, it isn't on the Elite series.  Now, I will be the first to agree there is room for improvement, between boat flipping bass on to carpet and some of the hook removals done to bass that are immediately released, but livewell issues are low on the mortality scale. 

 

Also, the Elite series has a release boat that distributes the fish around the lake as opposed to dumping them all at the weigh-in site.  Not the same as releasing the exact fish to the exact spot it was caught, but with Basstrak, they can get an idea where people where fishing during the day and release to those areas.

 

I think the catch/weigh/release format is actually better suited to local and lower level tournaments.  You have people with less experience often fishing in those tournaments and the facilities to keep the fish alive & later release them are limited, so it seems like a natural fit.  I'm sure an app other than scoretracker could be used, that way the participants don't have to shell money out to MLF just to use the CWR format.

[rowyourboat]

On 11/27/2019 at 4:29 PM, BassNJake said:

Gerald Swindle and Brandon Palaniuk are going back to BASS.

They qualify for a legends exemption and will fish the BASS tour in 2020.

 

This will open 2 spots on the BPT, no word on if they will invite 2 more.

 

https://m.bassmaster.com/news/swindle-palaniuk-returning-elite-series

 

Not sure how they got out of the 3 year contract with BPT, but with Boyd being involved $$$ is king.

Makes Luke's comments about it not being all roses at the BPT hold up even more

 

Who is Luke and what did he say. 

[BassNJake]

On 12/6/2019 at 9:35 PM, rowyourboat said:

Who is Luke and what did he say. 

Luke Dunkin is a former FLW pro.

He is the National Sales and Marketing manager for TH-Marine(huge sponsor in the fishing world) and he also has a podcast called Low Budget Live.

After a podcast where Luke gave his opinion that everything was not roses over at MLF.

The president of MLF went to Lukes employers at TH-Marine to have a "discussion" over what was said.

On his next podcast he said that MLF proved his point by going behind his back to "discuss" this with his employer 

 

 

 

[jbsoonerfan]

1 hour ago, BassNJake said:

Luke Dunkin is a former FLW pro.

He is the National Sales and Marketing manager for TH-Marine(huge sponsor in the fishing world) and he also has a podcast called Low Budget Live.

After a podcast where Luke gave his opinion that everything was not roses over at MLF.

The president of MLF went to Lukes employers at TH-Marine to have a "discussion" over what was said.

On his next podcast he said that MLF proved his point by going behind his back to "discuss" this with his employer

 

You forgot the part about the president calling him and leaving him a voice mail to call him back and he never did. Who knows, maybe a return call could have settled things. I realize that is just a small part of the story, but one that can't be left out.

[BassNJake]

13 minutes ago, jbsoonerfan said:

You forgot the part about the president calling him and leaving him a voice mail to call him back and he never did. Who knows, maybe a return call could have settled things. I realize that is just a small part of the story, but one that can't be left out.

It was a 37 minute show, I left out a lot of things.

The president never called him, he sent him an email asking for Luke to call him back.

The email was responded to and Luke explained that he was in the hospital watching his mother fight cancer and he was not going to call him. He invited him to appear on the Low Budget Live podcast to discuss any issues he had with the last podcast.

 

The president responded by declining the invite and saying he was sorry to hear about Luke's grandma.

 

So that's the small part of the story that was left out.

 

So you think after the guy refuses to discuss things for everyone to hear and then says he's sorry about the guys grandma and not the guys mother things could have been settled with a phone call?

 

Especially after reading your posts I find it hard to believe you are on the side of the guy trying to limit someone else's free speech. I'd guess if you were Luke Dunkin you'd want to beat ol' Jim Wilburn half to death for trying to get you fired by going behind your back.

 

One person is trying to get the issue discussed publicly and the other tried to use his position of President of a company to try and put pressure on the other persons employers because he did not like what was being said.

 

[jbsoonerfan]

2 minutes ago, BassNJake said:

It was a 37 minute show, I left out a lot of things.

The president never called him, he sent him an email asking for Luke to call him back.

The email was responded to and Luke explained that he was in the hospital watching his mother fight cancer and he was not going to call him. He invited him to appear on the Low Budget Live podcast to discuss any issues he had with the last podcast.

 

The president responded by declining the invite and saying he was sorry to hear about Luke's grandma.

 

So that's the small part of the story that was left out.

 

So you think after the guy refuses to discuss things for everyone to hear and then says he's sorry about the guys grandma and not the guys mother things could have been settled with a phone call?

 

Especially after reading your posts I find it hard to believe you are on the side of the guy trying to limit someone else's free speech. I'd guess if you were Luke Dunkin you'd want to beat ol' Jim Wilburn half to death for trying to get you fired by going behind your back.

 

One person is trying to get the issue discussed publicly and the other tried to use his position of President of a company to try and put pressure on the other persons employers because he did not like what was being said.

 

Sorry, I just knew he didn't call him back. I see it differently that's all, just my opinion. I won't say what I really think after watching the video.

[Justin Roberts]

Brings great attention to the sport!

[rowyourboat]

9 hours ago, BassNJake said:

Luke Dunkin is a former FLW pro.

He is the National Sales and Marketing manager for TH-Marine(huge sponsor in the fishing world) and he also has a podcast called Low Budget Live.

After a podcast where Luke gave his opinion that everything was not roses over at MLF.

The president of MLF went to Lukes employers at TH-Marine to have a "discussion" over what was said.

On his next podcast he said that MLF proved his point by going behind his back to "discuss" this with his employer 

 

 

 

Wow. I watched several of the vids. Very eye opening.  Thanks for the Info. 

[newriverfisherman1953]

You know, all this makes me very glad that fishing is a hobby and sport for me and not a profession. It would seem to take the fun out of it in a hurry.