2025 classic

[F14A-B]

1 minute ago, FishTank said:

 

Thinking way back..... Was Randy the angler that got his boat stuck during a tournament in area he wasn't supposed to be in or something? I think they lifted the boat out with a crane? 

I’m not sure on that one, he talked about cutting timber down for some reason and claimed the tournament director was ok with it 😂 I don’t even remember that whole story either.. ole Randy has some stories for sure 

[Pumpkin Lizard]

52 minutes ago, The Baron said:

Randy B. did a YouTube video on the Classic having very low attendance.  It did, likely for several contributing reasons but of course he blamed it on claims that watching people fish with FFS is boring.  Like watching other people fish was ever not boring? 🤷🏼‍♂️

It sounds like it was an issue of bad logistics, inconvenience and the fact that with Basstrakk there is no suspense whatsoever so what’s the point of attending.  Real time score keeping even if it’s unofficial makes part of the weigh in obsolete. I do appreciate them trying to keep things accessible.

6 minutes ago, F14A-B said:

I’m not sure on that one, he talked about cutting timber down for some reason and claimed the tournament director was ok with it 😂 I don’t even remember that whole story either.. ole Randy has some stories for sure 

Byron Velvick had a spot that you needed an aluminum boat to get into on some tournament in Florida. This was back in the days of Pro/Pro. 
 

So Byron asked Randy some advice on getting into a spot because Randy is good at getting boats into sketchy places. 
 

On the last day Randy was paired with Roland Martin and Roland showed up to the third day with a real nice aluminum boat. 
 

There is a good Mercer pod on this.

[Dan N]

Yes, with BassTrakk and all the live coverage and updates, who needs to go to the weigh  in?? The results are pretty much already known.

i thought it was more exciting watching the MLF tournament. 
on another thread guys were complaining about a bass hitting the bottom of the boat for a moment. How about riding around in livewells and getting dumped in and out of multiple bags for an entire day.

[Chris Cavanaugh]

Get a Marshall on every boat for official weights and do 5 best fish, catch and release. He can bring a camera while he is at it.

[Glenn]

Well just wait for the bassmaster press release proclaiming "record crowds!" comes out. LOL!!

 

Every year man, every year.

[Fishingmickey]

36 minutes ago, Dan N said:

Yes, with BassTrakk and all the live coverage and updates, who needs to go to the weigh  in?? The results are pretty much already known.

i thought it was more exciting watching the MLF tournament. 
on another thread guys were complaining about a bass hitting the bottom of the boat for a moment. How about riding around in livewells and getting dumped in and out of multiple bags for an entire day.

Don't forget about them riding to Fort Worth on the highway for whatever length of time that is a hour or two? Then how long after the weigh in before they get put back into a lake or is it Ray Roberts?

FM

[TnRiver46]

Well it sure ain’t hurting the fishery, place is full of monsters

 

23 minutes ago, Glenn said:

Well just wait for the bassmaster press release proclaiming "record crowds!" comes out. LOL!!

 

Every year man, every year.

i actually didn’t hear any of that last year , kind of shocked haha. We knoxvillians must have set the bar too high 

[Pumpkin Lizard]

17 minutes ago, Fishingmickey said:

Don't forget about them riding to Fort Worth on the highway for whatever length of time that is a hour or two? Then how long after the weigh in before they get put back into a lake or is it Ray Roberts?

FM

I enjoy the Elites more than MLF, but man weigh ins seem kind of archaic when you see how efficiently MLF does it. 
 

I guess there is an issue getting 103 Marshals for two days, 

[scaleface]

7 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

My favorite line is "I've been dreaming of this since I was a kid" 🤣

I got a chuckle out of that too.

 

 I wouldnt attend the weigh in either. Too much pagentry. then Thirty dollars for parking.

 

  I did like Matt Robertson for the first time. I laughed out loud when Dave Mercer presented him with a little fur coat.

[Tackleholic]

1 hour ago, Chris Cavanaugh said:

Get a Marshall on every boat for official weights and do 5 best fish, catch and release. He can bring a camera while he is at it.

I would like to see a "no cull" rule;  would prevent a lot of mortality.

2 hours ago, Dan N said:

Yes, with BassTrakk and all the live coverage and updates, who needs to go to the weigh  in?? The results are pretty much already known.

i thought it was more exciting watching the MLF tournament. 
on another thread guys were complaining about a bass hitting the bottom of the boat for a moment. How about riding around in livewells and getting dumped in and out of multiple bags for an entire day.

Were any of you watching when LIVE focused on John Cox culling his fish?  He is a very good fisherman, but I lost all respect for him right then and there.  The way he handled those fish was disgusting;  a perfect example of why 40-50% of Tournament fish die.

[F14A-B]

33 minutes ago, Tackleholic said:

I would like to see a "no cull" rule;  would prevent a lot of mortality.

Were any of you watching when LIVE focused on John Cox culling his fish?  He is a very good fisherman, but I lost all respect for him right then and there.  The way he handled those fish was disgusting;  a perfect example of why 40-50% of Tournament fish die.

I saw that and yes.. totally ridiculous. He hadn’t weighed a fish, marked a fish, then pulled them ALL OUT, and even put knee pressure on one for maybe 3-4 minutes while he tried to figure out which fish to cull. I was a little shocked at that. 

[king fisher]

3 hours ago, Chris Cavanaugh said:

Get a Marshall on every boat for official weights and do 5 best fish, catch and release. He can bring a camera while he is at it.

How about immediate catch an release, let the angler use a net, all anglers have to use the same length and type of net.  Marshal in every boat weighs the bass.  Camera only shows live the fish being hooked and the fight.  Once the bass is netted the live feed is blocked.  Have a weigh in with pictures of each bass on a large screen instead of  a live bass.  That way there is still the suspense and party atmosphere of a weigh in, minus the actual live bass.  They could even go through with all of the suspense of a hot seat, if they want to take the suspense to that level.  I would recommend a 10 bass bag because I like to be different. 

[Fishingmickey]

One of the things that was done once during the KATS ( Kayak Anglers Tournament Series) days (now defunct).  This was before TourneyX. Pictures had to be submitted using a SD card and then for the awards they brought up the top five anglers and then did a reveal of their catch one picture at a time. Starting from the smallest to largest fish.  It was pretty cool and added some excitement to the awards ceremony.

FM

[JHoss]

I guess I'm old fashioned because I'm a fan of in person weigh-ins with fish. I'd rather see some reform done to Basstrakk to make weigh in more suspenseful. Maybe shut that off at noon and let announcers and viewers speculate if so-and-so has enough weight to hold on to the win. 

[KP Duty]

I went to the classic expo last year, but had no interest in the weigh-in show that has a mortality rate of 30% or worse IMO.

[12poundbass]

[TnRiver46]

All the more reason to keep coming to Knoxville for the classic, the arena is on the water 

[F14A-B]

1 minute ago, TnRiver46 said:

All the more reason to keep coming to Knoxville for the classic, the arena is on the water 

Oh we coming, we camping out at your place, ole buddy ole pal! 🇺🇸😂

[volzfan59]

12 hours ago, JHoss said:

I guess I'm old fashioned because I'm a fan of in person weigh-ins with fish. I'd rather see some reform done to Basstrakk to make weigh in more suspenseful. Maybe shut that off at noon and let announcers and viewers speculate if so-and-so has enough weight to hold on to the win. 

I’m with you, live weigh in for me too

[Pumpkin Lizard]

5 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

All the more reason to keep coming to Knoxville for the classic, the arena is on the water 

 That's the way it should be!

[Hogs_n_Logs]

On 3/24/2025 at 7:20 PM, F14A-B said:

I saw that and yes.. totally ridiculous. He hadn’t weighed a fish, marked a fish, then pulled them ALL OUT, and even put knee pressure on one for maybe 3-4 minutes while he tried to figure out which fish to cull. I was a little shocked at that. 

 

I didnt see Cox footage at all but Livesay did this exact thing, it was in the middle of his big flurry on day 2 I believe. Not sure if you guys are mixing up names/footage or they both did it but yea, pretty bad.

 

On 3/25/2025 at 10:21 AM, JHoss said:

I guess I'm old fashioned because I'm a fan of in person weigh-ins with fish. I'd rather see some reform done to Basstrakk to make weigh in more suspenseful. Maybe shut that off at noon and let announcers and viewers speculate if so-and-so has enough weight to hold on to the win. 

 

I think a good compromise is on-boat marshall weighing on the first 2 days, weights are reported 1-2 times in intervals, then the final weight announcement of the day on stage. On the final day, traditional live weigh-ins with guys that made the final cut. This way, when the field is gigantic you dont have hundreds of fish being hauled around all day, and some suspense is retained from not doing completely live weights. On the final day, there are less competitors so less fish being impacted, and you get the entertainment value when determining the winner. 

[F14A-B]

31 minutes ago, Hogs_n_Logs said:

 

I didnt see Cox footage at all but Livesay did this exact thing, it was in the middle of his big flurry on day 2 I believe. Not sure if you guys are mixing up names/footage or they both did it but yea, pretty bad.

 

 

I think a good compromise is on-boat marshall weighing on the first 2 days, weights are reported 1-2 times in intervals, then the final weight announcement of the day on stage. On the final day, traditional live weigh-ins with guys that made the final cut. This way, when the field is gigantic you dont have hundreds of fish being hauled around all day, and some suspense is retained from not doing completely live weights. On the final day, there are less competitors so less fish being impacted, and you get the entertainment value when determining the winner. 

You know what, I think you’re right. I’m pretty sure now that it was Lee.. 

 

Thanks for the correction on the actual fisherman. Apologies to Cox. 

[Pumpkin Lizard]

BASS After Dark should be good tonight. Topic is whether or not the classic is as big as it used to be.