2023 Bassmaster Opens Elite Qualifiers

[Finessegenics]

https://www.bassmaster.com/opens/news/2023-bassmaster-opens-will-feature-new-elite-qualification-format/
 

Hey everyone, haven’t been active on here much as of late. Busy working and fishing. So I was scrolling through Instagram just now. I saw a post from BASS that says beginning in 2023, to qualify for the elite series, an opens angler must fish all 9 opens event. This is opposed to the current format where an angler can qualify for the elite series by finishing high enough in the points in one division (northern, central or southern) by fishing the 3 events of their division. 
 

The comments on the post were overwhelmingly negative. A lot of folks were saying how they basically killed the working man’s dream of making it to the elite series, as it takes an insane amount of money/time off to fish all 9 opens events. That sentiment seems reasonable to me. 
 

What are your thoughts? The way I see this it is essentially creating a farm league for the elite series. What’s weird to me is these ‘elite qualifiers’ anglers will still be fishing against those who signed up for just one division. Why not create a whole separate division/ league?

[scaleface]

Then why have divisions if they dont count for anything ? 

[Deleted account]

meh, tournament owners make the rules, and anglers choose to fish or not. Some will like it, some won't. 

[Tennessee Boy]

I enjoy watching the pro tournaments.  I find the business side of it to be disgusting.  I’ve known several good people with poor business skills that borrowed an insane amount of money to chase the pro angler pipe dream.

[kingmotorboat]

Just my two cents I feel all this could’ve been prevented if you had what would be called a wild card qualifier. Three tournaments with a win and in scenario for the elites. Not points based. Win you go in then winning angler doesn’t participate in the rest of them. Maybe I’m wrong but I think that would’ve been an amazing idea

[BassNJake]

On 7/14/2022 at 7:49 AM, scaleface said:

Then why have divisions if they dont count for anything ? 

Classic berth is still given to the winner of each event as long as they fish all 3 tourneys in that division

The cost of bass boats, electronics, trolling motors and almost 6 grand in entry fees killed the working mans dream along time ago.

 

 

 

[Finessegenics]

1 hour ago, BassNJake said:

The cost of bass boats, electronics, trolling motors and almost 6 grand in entry fees killed the working mans dream along time ago

that’s what I was thinking too. Why the sudden outrage now?

[Wildbillb]

If you can't do 9 opens how will you do 9 elites? 

[volzfan59]

16 hours ago, Wildbillb said:

If you can't do 9 opens how will you do 9 elites? 

I couldn't agree more. If the new qualifying format killed someone's dream of fishing the Elites, they weren't ready to fish the Elites. Personally I think that it's a great idea.

[SWVABass]

They are kind of doing this in a round about way now. Not sure I totally understand this move on their part. 
 

while I’m still a fan of the original concept of bass as a conservation organization, their tournament set up has me moving further away from them. I’m fishing bfl’s now as it is much easier to sign up, fish and a much more clear picture as to where then end game is. 

[Deleted account]

On 7/14/2022 at 9:48 AM, Tennessee Boy said:

I enjoy watching the pro tournaments.  I find the business side of it to be disgusting.  I’ve known several good people with poor business skills that borrowed an insane amount of money to chase the pro angler pipe dream.

The business end of any industry is "disgusting", and personal financially ignorant or irresponsible behavior abounds, nothing to do with fishing. Professional bass fishing is a misnomer, most folks don't or can't make a living at it.  Maybe the Saudis will start a fishing tour...

[Glenn]

Seems there are some misconceptions about being a pro angler.  It's not about fishing and winning tournaments.

 

Read on for more details:

https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/pro-fishing-cost.html

 

[roadwarrior]

Your best shot at becoming a millionaire is starting with 2 million dollars!

 

 

                                       

[scaleface]

I cant find this on the interwebs , so I'll ask here . How many Elites get cut in 2023? How many anglers do they want ? 100? Are they still going to have legendary exemption ?

[volzfan59]

If I'm not mistaken, nine or ten get cut. That said, I'm going strictly off of what I've been told, so I could be wrong.

I can't help you with the last two.

 

While I hate to imagine a B.A.S.S. Elite tournament without Rick Clunn or David Fritts. it's time for the organization to start restricting the legend's exemption. In my mind, you get one exemption for A.O.Y. and one for winning the Classic. That's two possible exemptions for an angler if needed. 

 

 

[Volfan46]

I personally agree with the new qualifying format. If you cannot commit the time or financial resources into fishing all 9 tournaments, then you aren't ready to commit to the Elite Series. For a normal working man with little to no sponsorships to all of a sudden have to come up with the dues for the Elite Series is almost impossible. It's not like once you qualify for the Elite's you automatically have sponsors knocking down your door. Today it's easier to get sponsored with YouTube views and subscriptions than it is winning tournaments.

[marmooskapaul]

On 9/15/2022 at 3:39 PM, Volfan46 said:

I personally agree with the new qualifying format. If you cannot commit the time or financial resources into fishing all 9 tournaments, then you aren't ready to commit to the Elite Series. For a normal working man with little to no sponsorships to all of a sudden have to come up with the dues for the Elite Series is almost impossible. It's not like once you qualify for the Elite's you automatically have sponsors knocking down your door. Today it's easier to get sponsored with YouTube views and subscriptions than it is winning tournaments.

Unfortunately it will take about as much money to fish 9 Opens as it would to fish the Elites.

Fishing for less than half the winnings. Who the heck is going to sponsor an Open angler with any substantial money??

The cynic in me thinks it has a lot to do with eliminating anglers from crossing over from MLF and winning on the BASS stage.  

[volzfan59]

9 hours ago, marmooskapaul said:

Unfortunately it will take about as much money to fish 9 Opens as it would to fish the Elites.

Kyle Welcher said that fishing the new Opens is about $13k cheaper than the Elites. 

[TnRiver46]

9 hours ago, marmooskapaul said:

Who the heck is going to sponsor an Open angler with any substantial money??

 

Strike king, abu Garcia, Lowrance, garmin, etc. 

 

Prize money/entry money Doesn’t matter as long as people sign up and buy tackle 

[hunterPRO1]

On 10/8/2022 at 9:47 AM, volzfan59 said:

Kyle Welcher said that fishing the new Opens is about $13k cheaper than the Elites. 

that's entry fees, 

the cost of gas, time not working, etc. went from the cost of driving a few hundred miles 3 times a year and using up a few vacation days, to suddenly having to drive all over the entire eastern U.S. and take up 9 full weeks.

no one is getting enough sponsors to cover that for a second tier series.

 

Anyone looking to get into tournament bass fishing is now going to go with mlf plain and simple, bass just shot themselves in the foot if you ask me.

 

There's a HUGE difference between affording a boat and your entry fees for a weekend of tournament fishing 3 times per year, and being able to dedicate 9 entire weeks a year (truthfully more for practice) to drive across the entire country for just a second-class tournament trail that no one really cares about outside of the competitors themselves.

[Logan S]

7 hours ago, hunterPRO1 said:

Anyone looking to get into tournament bass fishing is now going to go with mlf plain and simple, bass just shot themselves in the foot if you ask me.

Last I heard there were almost 200 entrants for the full 9-tournament Open schedule next year....More than double the amount (almost triple) that fished the full schedule in 2022.  MLF Invitational lost something like 80 anglers for the 2023 season too...So it seems like BASS actually knocked it out of the park with this format change.  

 

Nobody, and I mean that literally as in, not a single person, that is "looking to get into tournament bass fishing" should even be thinking about BASS Opens (or MLF equivalent) in any way.  You get started in tournament fishing locally - whether in clubs, team trails, charity tournaments, BFLs, or any number of similar events.  There's no exclusivity between the organizations, they will all gladly take your entries...So no one needs to 'choose a path' and be stuck with it.  When the person is ready for Open-level tournaments it will be there waiting for them, and judging by the history of the Opens it will probably be in a different format by then anyway . 

 

The whole "people could make 3 events work but not 9" thing is funny too...That 9-tournament, high-expense, high-travel, tour was always on the horizon for those anglers if they actually made it....I don't know why people think that companies would be knocking down doors to throw $100k at guys based on a 3-event season.

[TnRiver46]

7 hours ago, hunterPRO1 said:

that's entry fees, 

the cost of gas, time not working, etc. went from the cost of driving a few hundred miles 3 times a year and using up a few vacation days, to suddenly having to drive all over the entire eastern U.S. and take up 9 full weeks.

no one is getting enough sponsors to cover that for a second tier series.

 

Anyone looking to get into tournament bass fishing is now going to go with mlf plain and simple, bass just shot themselves in the foot if you ask me.

 

There's a HUGE difference between affording a boat and your entry fees for a weekend of tournament fishing 3 times per year, and being able to dedicate 9 entire weeks a year (truthfully more for practice) to drive across the entire country for just a second-class tournament trail that no one really cares about outside of the competitors themselves.

BASS Opens are full with a waiting list 

[volzfan59]

On 12/30/2022 at 12:39 AM, hunterPRO1 said:

that's entry fees, 

the cost of gas, time not working, etc. went from the cost of driving a few hundred miles 3 times a year and using up a few vacation days, to suddenly having to drive all over the entire eastern U.S. and take up 9 full weeks.

no one is getting enough sponsors to cover that for a second tier series.

 

Anyone looking to get into tournament bass fishing is now going to go with mlf plain and simple, bass just shot themselves in the foot if you ask me.

 

There's a HUGE difference between affording a boat and your entry fees for a weekend of tournament fishing 3 times per year, and being able to dedicate 9 entire weeks a year (truthfully more for practice) to drive across the entire country for just a second-class tournament trail that no one really cares about outside of the competitors themselves.

Interestingly enough, you're wrong. B.A.S.S. Opens are full, with over 200 angler's fishing all nine events. That number includes the mlf/bpt angler's jumping ship in hopes of returning to the B.A.S.S. Elite tour. They have a waiting list of angler's wanting to fish the Opens. That's not shooting one's self in the foot by a long shot.

Like I said in my initial post concerning this, "If you can't fish the nine Opens in hopes of qualifying for the Elites, you certainly were not ready to fish the Elites."

By the way, saving $13k, is saving $13k. Those savings could go towards travel or anything thing else  

[Mike L]

Entries closed a while ago
I blew it this year, too far down the waiting list 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[volzfan59]

33 minutes ago, Mike L said:

Entries closed a while ago
I blew it this year, too far down the waiting list 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

Good luck in 2024!