The Great Experiment Has Begun

[GReb]

Or a cash bonus and no free ride into final round. Give each round winner $5k or something 

[Chris Cavanaugh]

That works as well or a combo of both, you won qualifying here's 5k and you can have an extra practice day having a better idea of the weather for the final round.

[Pumpkin Lizard]

48 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

Looked like Lane’s family was right on the bank next to where he was fishing as time ran out. That must have been a cool feeling. 
 

This is exactly what I thought about too. Wheeler was saying he was going back and forth on if he wanted to keep building on his lead or try to fall to second. But man it’s got to be tough to be comfortable enough in a lead to take your foot off the gas and try to drop. Still, can’t imagine being disconnected from the lake for a whole day as the competition stays plugged in. 

 

I think he fished the third period on Friday without a hook.

3 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

These dudes are seriously going to start reconsidering winning the knockout stage and getting the bye.

 

I saw pics of Wheeler with his family at Disney World yesterday.   How you can do that in the middle of a $150k derby is wild.    It's great he spent time with his family though.  

 

You see this in the MLB playoffs, those teams with the wildcard round byes really struggle to get back on pace after the byes. 

 

Nice to see the sport still has a place for oldschool knowledge and experience even with Davis not winning.    He was a small weather front away from winning a BPT trophy.  

 

We also saw this in the CFP playoffs. I think every team with a bye lost.

[Tennessee Boy]

After Stage 2 here are the updated numbers according to my calculations in the great experiment.  In Stage 1 the FFS periods produced 11.26 lbs more on average than the non FFS periods.  In Stage 2 that advantage disappeared and FFS periods on average produced about 1 ounce more than non FFS periods.  For the season the average FFS advantage per period dropped to 6.67 lbs or 84% more than non FFS periods.  It will be interesting to see how the numbers change going forward.

 

Stage 2 Numbers

Total Weight: 3849.8 lbs
Average Weight per Angler Period With FFS: 8.01 lbs
Average Weight per Angler Period Without FFS: 7.96 lbs
Average FFS Weight Advantage Per Period:0.06 lbs
Percentage Increase in Catch Rate with FFS: 1%

 

Total Weight with FFS: 873.63 lbs
Total Weight without FFS: 2976.13 lbs

 

Total number of fish caught: 1589
Average Fish Size: 2.42 lbs
Average Fish Size with FFS: 2.32 lbs
Average Fish Size without FFS: 2.46 lbs
Percentage Increase in Fish Size with FFS: -5.6%

 

Number for the Season 

Total Weight: 9468.0 lbs
Average Weight per Angler Period With FFS: 14.64 lbs
Average Weight per Angler Period Without FFS: 7.96 lbs
Average FFS Weight Advantage Per Period: 6.67 lbs
Percentage Increase in Catch Rate with FFS: 84%

 

Total Weight with FFS: 3893.25 lbs
Total Weight without FFS: 5574.75 lbs

 

Total number of fish caught: 3978
Average Fish Size: 2.38 lbs
Average Fish Size with FFS: 2.35 lbs
Average Fish Size without FFS: 2.40 lbs
Percentage Increase in Fish Size with FFS: -2.2%
 

[Swamp Girl]

@Tennessee Boy's stats surprise me. I though FFS was a big bass fingering machine. 2.35 pounds is about a 15" bass. I catch a few that size, but most are bigger. The average weights per angler are also lower than I would have expected. It must be a LOT harder to catch bass during a tournament when the lake is being pounded.

[TnRiver46]

6 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

@Tennessee Boy's stats surprise me. I though FFS was a big bass fingering machine. 2.35 pounds is about a 15" bass. I catch a few that size, but most are bigger. The average weights per angler are also lower than I would have expected. It must be a LOT harder to catch bass during a tournament when the lake is being pounded.

That’s the point I keep trying to make, in the format of these BPT tourneys every fish counts. They can rack up a large cumulative weight with large numbers of 2 lb fish. In a “best 5” format , 2 lb fish won’t do any good in FLA so people wouldn’t bother targeting them 

 

in their previous stage at Conroe, many of the fish weighed would not even be legal to weigh in at a best 5 tournament 

[Tennessee Boy]

Bobby Lane's Biggest 5 fish on the final day.

5-10

5-8

5-8

4-9

4-8

Total: 25-11

[TnRiver46]

In a tournament where the best 5 isn’t what they tally up to see who wins 

[Tennessee Boy]

16 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

In a tournament where the best 5 isn’t what they tally up to see who wins 

Your earlier statement that they run up the numbers with dinks using finesse techniques was a problem in the first MLF season when the minimum was 1 pound.  Edwin Evers won the first Redcrest with 63 fish and 59 of them weighted less than 2 pounds. Most were caught on a finesse worm.  Since they raised the size limit you don't see this as much.  

 

I would prefer to see the minimum be 2 pounds and I prefer a five fish limit but that's just me.  We debated all this on this forum after the first season and many people preferred the 1 pound limit saying they liked to watch them catch fish.

 

Bobby Lane had a good day by any standard.

[Chris Cavanaugh]

6 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

@Tennessee Boy's stats surprise me. I though FFS was a big bass fingering machine. 2.35 pounds is about a 15" bass. I catch a few that size, but most are bigger. The average weights per angler are also lower than I would have expected. It must be a LOT harder to catch bass during a tournament when the lake is being pounded.

In every fish counts fishing for schools is a big factor, it wasn't in this tournament mostly. I prefer best five.

[TnRiver46]

41 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

Your earlier statement that they run up the numbers with dinks using finesse techniques 

I didn’t say dinks or finesse ???

[Susky River Rat]

84% increase in catch rate is huge. 

[Pumpkin Lizard]

4 hours ago, Chris Cavanaugh said:

In every fish counts fishing for schools is a big factor, it wasn't in this tournament mostly. I prefer best five.

I do too, but I also like not having weigh ins.

[Dan N]

A 2# bass is not a dink in my parts, A 5 # bass in Wisconsin  is not very common.