Elite Series?????

Has anyone else got the latest issue of Bassmaster magazine showing all the guys signed up for the Elite Series this year. Is it just me or are about half these guys just filling spots vacated by guys with names like Yelas, Davis, Nixon, Cochran, King, Shuffield, Walker, Auten, Hibdon, Martin and Fritts. These guys are Elite Anglers. I guess B.A.S.S. wasn't satisfied running off some of there biggest name pros, they had to run the Federation out as well. Is anyone else seeing this trend. What's your thoughts?

I am done with BASS enough said Darrell

I also noticed that in the new Bassmaster they stopped giving away the freebie stuff. Do you think their sponsors said heck with them?

I fish very few tournaments and when I do they are very small one's at that. I have been getting more serious the past year about fishing a trail, circuit or series but with so many out there, it is confusing as hell. Just my opinion, but with Bass, FLW, Federations, This division, That division, This series, That series, Club divisions ....too confusing to me. I consider myself a fairly intelligent person but all this is way over my head. What I will say is that if Bass Fishing as a whole does not get their stuff together so that the BEST fishermen are fishing against the BEST fishermen then eventually people are going to stop watching and coming to the big events. If KVD was in a tourney with a bunch of no names and it is a foregone conclusion that he will win, then why show up and see the expected final results. Next you will be hearing that, "Yes, he won that so and so tourney, but KVD, Fritts, Martins, Yelas, ....... did not fish it so it does not mean as much" I Love to fish, watch fishing shows, talk about fishing and evidentally type about fishing but will stop following the shows and big events if it gets so muddied that some of the best are fishing against a bunch of amatuers like myself that were there just to fill the field. The more trails you have the more BIG DOGS you get on each trail. I want all the BIG DOGS put on the same lake at the same time and see who the BIG DOG really is.

Tight Lines

I noticed all the no-name guys listed in the elite series also.I read a lot of their tourney stats and a lot of them have never made a classic or even finished in the top 10 in the money before,not very elite in my opinion.With all the negative talk about b.a.s.s. on here and other sites,i wonder how many of us will still watch the classic coverage this weekend.

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Feb-21-06 AT 08:59PM (EST)[/font][p]Dont you mean who is gonna watch the announcers talk for 8 hours lol? BASS in my opinion has become to serious with the entertainment perspective of the sport. I think they are more about the people being fun to watch rather than the fishing. I watch alot of old bass and flw tournaments that I have taped in the past and ALL they show is FISHING. Not coverage, not discussions, just fishing. Thats what I always loved about watching FlW and BASS tournaments. Its just not like that anymore, except for FLW they have kept it pretty much they way they started. Just my thoughts, Drew.

They should look at how the PGA tour operates. There is a few smaller circuts below the PGA but you have to earn a card to play on tour and keep it or you are right back in the Nationwide tour. Paying your way into the Elite series is a joke to me. Most guys don't have that kind of money to fish a series that big. I love the Elite series and how it is set up but don't some of you agree you should have to earn your way into the series instead of buying a ticket? It could all go back to sponsors as well. The PGA has ALOT of involvment in sponsors with DEEP pockets but then again ESPN has a VERY DEEP pocket and they own BASS. I also agree that there are way too many circuts and divisions.

When B.A.S.S.(or should I say ESPN) increased the number of events each year, this in turn caused many pros to be forced to make decisions that they aren't used to making. How can they be two places at one time. Too many events and too many different organizations going on at one time! I hate that the Classic is going to be in Florida and possibly during the spawn! I too kept looking for more familiar faces in this so called "elite series" and wondered where they all went. I am glad to see that I wasn't the only one that was purplexed at looking for the seasoned anglers on this circuit and finding more "young-guns" and wondering just who he heck they were.