Bassmaster Kayak Series News

[Susky River Rat]

@Koz so, I am just a dumb welder. To me this translates to BASS series is a belly up organization that can’t fund itself so the state funds it in hopes to turn a profit on tourism? 

[Koz]

1 minute ago, Susky River Rat said:

@Koz so, I am just a dumb welder. To me this translates to BASS series is a belly up organization that can’t fund itself so the state funds it in hopes to turn a profit on tourism? 

 

No, this is how all bigger tournaments work. For example, when Fishers of Men wanted to hold a boat tournament here on Lake Oconee they wanted our Chamber to give them $20k.

 

We ran the numbers and found out they would not bring near that value to our county (lodging, food and beverage, publicity, etc). We passed on that so they chose another venue.

 

If I remember correctly, BASS looks for something like $100k - $200k to bring an Elite tournament to a lake. I have no idea if that has increased for 2025 since there are no more entry fees for Elites. But they have other requirements regarding hotel beds, weigh in venues, etc.

 

I’m not sure what MLF requires from Chambers and Visitor Bureaus.

[Pumpkin Lizard]

4 hours ago, Susky River Rat said:

@Koz so, I am just a dumb welder. To me this translates to BASS series is a belly up organization that can’t fund itself so the state funds it in hopes to turn a profit on tourism? 

 

It's not really any different than a golf club paying the PGA a sanctioning fee, or a promoter paying IndyCar, NASCAR or F1 a fee to host an event.

[padon]

17 hours ago, gimruis said:

@Susky River Rat would disagree with you on that one!

yeah he runs a jet and they can go most places the kayak does but alot of those boat tournaments use ramps in sections with a little deeper water.

[Koz]

I just saw that there will be no Hobie Bass Open Series in 2025. This is huge news as Hobie was the first to put together national events.

 

I never fished one of those events, but I heard that attendance had dropped significantly. In their press release, Hobie did state this was not a factor.

 

I think this drives a few more people to the Bassmaster events simply because of economics. Because of costs, many people who fished in both series had to pick and choose events.

[WRB]

Bass fishing tournaments do not draw spectators to the events. The participants come to weigh ins then go home.

B.A.S.S. can’t make any money and local communities do not support the events.

Recreational vacations fill the hotels and rentals. Local bass tournaments fill in all the prime dates well in advance.

B.A.S.S. doesn’t have anything to offer and they know that and don’t come to California anymore do to lack of support.

Tom

 

 

[Koz]

10 hours ago, WRB said:

Bass fishing tournaments do not draw spectators to the events. The participants come to weigh ins then go home.

B.A.S.S. can’t make any money and local communities do not support the events.

Recreational vacations fill the hotels and rentals. Local bass tournaments fill in all the prime dates well in advance.

B.A.S.S. doesn’t have anything to offer and they know that and don’t come to California anymore do to lack of support.

Tom

 

 

I disagree that bass tournaments don’t draw spectators. Elite and BPT weigh ins draw thousands. Heck, I fished on BFL where we had about 300 people at the weigh in.

 

I’m sure most of them are from the region, but so are most of the people that go see a Yankee or Dodger game.

 

What makes it hard for Chambers and CVBs nowadays is the proliferation of AirBnB type rentals, especially the illegal ones. It’s harder to calculate economic impact.

 

But there’s no doubt that California’s regulations make it difficult as tours have discussed this before.

[WRB]

^^^^we are discussing California^^^^
Tom

[Cuivre]

On 12/11/2024 at 10:14 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

TN, OK, and TX from Kansas wouldn't be bad 🤔

Have you fished the All American Kayak Series?  I've hit several of their tournaments in the past and it is a well run series.  Lake 
Wilson is on the schedule this year- I fished it several years ago and liked it.

[Koz]

29 minutes ago, Cuivre said:

Have you fished the All American Kayak Series?  I've hit several of their tournaments in the past and it is a well run series.  Lake 
Wilson is on the schedule this year- I fished it several years ago and liked it.

I heard the shut down the series for 2025, but they will still hold their Classic event.

 

I heard this on the Kayak Bass Nation podcast.

[Bluebasser86]

1 hour ago, Cuivre said:

Have you fished the All American Kayak Series?  I've hit several of their tournaments in the past and it is a well run series.  Lake 
Wilson is on the schedule this year- I fished it several years ago and liked it.

I’ve fished a couple of them. I’ve fished Wilson several times unfortunately. They could fill that lake in and I wouldn’t miss it 😅

[Smirak]

If anyone is going to fish Dale Hollow, let me know! I have no interest in fishing the tournament at all. My daughter and son-in-law (and granddaughter!!) live about 30 mins south of DH. I would love to meet up and fish some. I could learn a lot from you guys!!

[Cuivre]

On 12/14/2024 at 4:51 PM, Koz said:

I heard the shut down the series for 2025, but they will still hold their Classic event.

 

I heard this on the Kayak Bass Nation podcast.

[Koz]

6 hours ago, Cuivre said:

I did see that they made an about face on their original decision. I’m guessing they got a lot of feedback and changed their minds.

[Cuivre]

5 hours ago, Koz said:

I did see that they made an about face on their original decision. I’m guessing they got a lot of feedback and changed their minds.

That and they may not yet have heard about HOBIE not having their series.  Joshua B. runs a couple great tournament series.  Years ago I tried unsuccessfully to have MoYak cover the entire state of MO, but he said they had too low of turnout for lakes north of I-70.  About that time KAMO started up and they do cover the entire state's 4 corners.