How many follow professional Bass Fishing?

I see that Austin Felix is in 4th place at the moment too. He currently has the Phoenix Boats big bass of the day.

Looks like Felix is now 6th. Several of the local guys are off to a much better start this week.

Looks like some of the local guys are hanging right in there today. Currently 3 locals in the top 20. Felix ( 4th ) Downey ( 10th ) and Schlapper ( 16th )
Feider is most likely up there as well. The tracker is showing that he has not checked in yet with his weights. He does not have a marshal with him today so it likely we may not get any updates from him. Lots of different fishing techniques being used. The forward facing sonar is coming into play for a fair # of fishermen. Watching this rookie Joey Cifuentes dropshot fishing around all this timber is good TV. He’s lost a few really big ones already. Painful to watch. Also fun watching Carl Jocumsen fishing a Big swimjig. The bites he’s getting are really explosive.

Second tourney in a row where young guys come out on top in the Elite Series. It will be interesting to see if the trend continues at the Classic or if a veteran steps up. I’ve only got one true vet on my Fantasy roster, but my Drain The Lake Squad is mostly more established pro’s.

It is neat to see the younger, newer guys compete. Rivet is off to a hell of start. I believe both of these first 2 events involved bodies of water that had some sort of change. The big O has had high water and a lot of the anglers talked about the lack of vegetation in the spots they’d usually target. Seminole went through a recent lowering which may have thrown some off. The 2 Drew’s were talking on live and I didn’t catch all of it, but they did mention changes that maybe they weren’t expecting. Maybe that benefitted the less experienced guys? I did much better with my fantasy team on Seminole choosing lower percentage anglers vs Okee where pretty much all 5 of my picks were popular picks that crashed and burned.

Sounded like the combination of low water levels, a recent cold snap had the fish behind where most guys thought they’d be. Most guys were sight fishing beds and catching all males. Problem was they stuck to it hoping for the big females to move onto the beds. For most anglers that never happened. I would’ve done pretty well if I hadn’t picked Palaniuk and New who finished 90th and 103rd.

Two Elite tournaments are complete, and I haven’t had a single angler make the final day cut yet. Fortunately, I dropped Palaniuk at the last minute from my Fantasy Squad for Gross, who didn’t have a great finish but was much better for points than BP. I’ve got BP on both of my squads for The Classic.

Haven’t picked for the Classic yet. Will probably have Christie and Cherry on my rosters as long as they aren’t in the same pool.

mahtofire14 wrote:

Haven’t picked for the Classic yet. Will probably have Christie and Cherry on my rosters as long as they aren’t in the same pool.

I don’t think Cherry qualified. He didn’t fish well last year.

Bass Pundit wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mahtofire14 wrote:</div>
Haven’t picked for the Classic yet. Will probably have Christie and Cherry on my rosters as long as they aren’t in the same pool.

I don’t think Cherry qualified. He didn’t fish well last year.

You’re probably right.

I do not see Cherry on this years Classic lineup. He finished 81st in the AOY. Hard to believe he had that bad of a year last year. Then again Seth is currently in 85th in this years AOY. He’s off to a rather bad start to his season. Of the local anglers Schlapper is in 7th and Downey is in 23rd. The others have some work to do the rest of the season.

Bass Pundit wrote:

I don’t think Cherry qualified. He didn’t fish well last year.

Didn’t he win the classic just a few years ago? Don’t they get a lifetime exemption for winning?

Cherry won back to back Classics in 2020 and 2021. Winners get an automatic entry into next year’s classic, but not every classic forever.

blank wrote:

Cherry won back to back Classics in 2020 and 2021. Winners get an automatic entry into next year’s classic, but not every classic forever.

^^^^ I think this is correct. I tried to search what is needed to qualify for the classic. No luck. I believe its the Top 45 from AOY, but sometimes they go deeper because some double qualify by fishing the opens and qualifying that way. Prior years champion and I think the top few from each open division as well.

blank wrote:

Cherry won back to back Classics in 2020 and 2021. Winners get an automatic entry into next year’s classic, but not every classic forever.

Gotcha, for some reason I thought it was a lifetime exemption like the Masters lol

There is some sort of legends exemption for anglers to fish the Elite series without having to qualify through the open series and to stay on the Elites despite poor AOY rankings, but I’m not sure on the stipulations on that.

Cherry only wins classics. Literally. I think he might have one blue trophy (if that) but two Classic wins.

Here is a link from 2017 on how and who qualifies for the classic.

Classic qualifying 101

As far as Cherry goes he has no elite wins but has 2 other wins besides classic wins.

Well, Moynagh just made the Day 3 at Clark’s Hill and then jumped up a few more places on the final day and finished 41st. I got the feeling from his Youtube videos coming into this year that if he doesn’t qualify for the Bass Pro Tour this year, he may be done. He calculated that he we would probably need an average place of finish of 34 or better to grab one of the Top 9 spots. He is running a bit behind that pace, but not terribly so. He is 22nd in points and 31 points out of the #9 spot.

Anybody watching RedCrest my lord is this a snooze fest so far lol.

Charles wrote:

Anybody watching RedCrest my lord is this a snooze fest so far lol.

I’m paying attention. Have it casting on the TV all-day, watching what is going on only occasionally. My fantasy team didn’t do very well. Still holding out hope in the predictor game.

Charles wrote:

Anybody watching RedCrest my lord is this a snooze fest so far lol.

I don’t even know what the redcrest is. I guess I’ll need to look that one up.

fishthumper wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Charles wrote:</div>
Anybody watching RedCrest my lord is this a snooze fest so far lol.

I don’t even know what the redcrest is. I guess I’ll need to look that one up.

It’s what the Forrest Wood Cup turned into after Major League Fishing took over.

Bass Pundit wrote:

It’s what the Forrest Wood Cup turned into after Major League Fishing took over.

Is it a weigh and release tourney where all fish caught count, or one where they have a actual 5 fish weigh in?

This year it was best five fish, but no weigh-in. Immediate weigh and release when times up, tournament ends. Bryan Thrift won on his home water by over four pounds. BPT has another tournament starting this Saturday in Tennessee.

Bass Pundit wrote:

This year it was best five fish, but no weigh-in. Immediate weigh and release when times up, tournament ends. Bryan Thrift won on his home water by over four pounds. BPT has another tournament starting this Saturday in Tennessee.

Where can you watch live coverage ?

To watch any of the BPT/MLF tourneys go to the Major League Fishing website. It will be front and center when there’s one going on.

Personally I didn’t watch any of it, but I am glad they switched to best 5 fish again. They still weigh and release on the boat, which is fine, but it’s great that it’s best 5.

While I like the idea of the CWR style of tournaments, I still prefer watching a live old school weigh-in like BASS does.

I don’t know how many of you follow Classic Bass (Champions Tour) but their 2023 season roster was just released, and there’s some really interesting names there. Obviously you have a lot of returning guys, but there’s a couple new faces that caught my eye.

Chad Smith- Local Pro that fished the Opens for the last couple of years
Sam Sobi- Local hammer, YouTube guy
Brian Linder- College guy @ Mankato, won a college derby on Saginaw Bay
Jake Panichi/Walker Krampitz- I fished against both guys in high school, always found themselves at the top of the leaderboard

I think it’ll be an interesting season this year. They kick off on Big Stone, which should be a shootout. It’ll be interesting to see how the college guys do this year.

Sure, but there’s only one guy that’s gonna win it…..just like the last two seasons. :jester: