FLW Walleye Tour

I see on the FLW site that the League and Tour schedules and format changes are out. Maybe someone wants to post a link to the info.

Here is the latest.

FLW Walleye Tour

FLW Walleye League Tour

What do you guys think of the new format? Too early to tell? Anything you see that concerns you? I’m not happy the Ranger snobs get first crack at the entry fees, but it shouldn’t affect my ablity to outfish them.

Seriously, I’m very interested to hear your opinions. I’m assuming you are both fishing the whole circuit this summer?

I like the addition of a 4th league event in each of the 3 remaining states especially since my sister is getting married May 7th which is the first MN event.

I am kinda bummed the tour championship is limited to the top 50 Pros and Cos but it does make sense. This will eliminate local guides getting into 1 tourney as boaters and qualifying for the Championship….it will definitely get the top 50 Pros where they should be and the 50 luckiest co-anglers that had good pros during the year.
I really enjoyed doing 1 or 2 Tour events and qualifying for the championship, with the new rules I probably won’t do any Tour events since there is really no chance to make the top 50…who knows though.

Personally I think the Ranger preference really stinks. In what other sport do they so strongly push for one brand of “equipment” in order to have a chance to compete in that sport. Imagine if Nascar said “You gotta drive a Ford” to be sure of getting in the race. I have nothing against Ranger boats, but if they are the best, they should be able to sell themselves, with the help of testimonials. The way I see it, instead of improving the quality of fishing competition, they have reduce it to a Ranger Company outing. I though it was a poor format with the RCL, as many excellant fishermen own or are sponsered by another make of boat. If they truly want to attract the very best pros and make it a top shelf competitor to the PWT, I believe the chosing of equipment should be left to the Pros.
This said, I am sure the incentive purses would still bring more Rangers than anything, but at least would be a square competition.
I understand the “top 50” deal for the championship, but sure hope that the friends I made during this past Championship all make the cut! Jarrad, Scott, you better kick some next year!

John I think they did this because genmar sold crestliner,lund and lowe to brunswick. Acording to what I have herd Brunswick did not want to play part in the tourny game. Some one correct me if I am wrong but I think thats where some of the money comes from. So another words if lund or crestliner dont want to kick in for sponsership but still want to have boats in the event thats not rite either. You will still see alot of your top lund and crestliner guys in it along with some other new great names to from other manufactors. They will not fill one full event with just ranger,champion,stratos and skeeter boats thats just my opinion.

I realize that, and I was really just poking fun at you and Buckshot since you are the two biggest Ranger snobs I know.

I’m sure Ranger is paying dearly to get the extra day or two of registration. Rightfully so, you sponsor the tourney, you get dibs on entry.

I can’t find anywhere that says they won’t allow all takers this year. Am I correct?? Will we finally see a true field of the best walleye fisherman? If there is a list of “banned” boats, can someone point me in that direction.

Starting the season and ending it on the river. Gotta like that!!!

Lenny Jamison

Good points Stick Boy. Wow, I must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed yesterday with that Ranger post! I realize that if it where not for the business sponsorships, these tournaments would go nowhere.
I also like the reduced fee for the co-anglers, and the allowing of other boats to participate to some degree. I missed the 24 hour window stipulation on the Ranger entries. That is more than fare. I think FLW is heading in the right direction. I would like to see the purses pull even with the BASS purses, and I think with the ever increasing popularity of walleye fishing, due in no small part to this website, it will come to fruition. I also think adding the Linder team for coverage is a great move. Those guys know how to cover and produce fishing, and will really bring FLW to the forefront in awareness and popularity, which could bring sponsorships from many “non-fishing” related products, providing funds for exponential growth!
I personally like the Moline championship again next season! It was a particularly poor bite last time, hopefully next year will show a little more of what this area has to offer, and I get to fish with some really great sticks in advance

Anyone know why South Dakota is not one of the Divisions this year? I would have realy liked to go back to Big Stone this year.

I think Mark dorn said that they didnt have a good turn out. The lake oahe tournament there were like 23 boaters. Suprisingly min. had a worse turn out than mich. or wisc. followed by south dakota.

I really like the new format. There are more benefits for those of us who fish the entire circuit. I think all the changes are very positive in my mind. Don’t forget the bottom line of this circuit is to sell products…Boats and motors mainly. It is easy to lose sight of that, but it is the major manufacturers (Ranger/Evinrude/Yamaha) that put up the money and sales of their products drive this circuit. I am proud to be a Ranger owner and and excited to be onboard with Evinrude for 2005.

I think FLW has done a good job to put together a new circuit keeping taking into account everyones suggestions.

Ranger Snobs – that’s a good one!

In all seriousness – I commend the FLW on making the changes they have made. By opening up the entries to all boat companies hopefully the walleye tour will continue to grow like the bass side of FLW. There is some real money in the Bass side and you still see non-Ranger pro’s doing well – for example, Kevin VanDam out of a Nitro/Mercury combo. Everyone has a choice of which boat/motor they want to run and on the Bass side of FLW, Ranger owners also get priority when submitting applications to fish…

Having the Linders on board to do the television production is a huge improvement – all of their past productions have been first class and I would expect nothing less for these events. Finally the biggest win for the FLW Walleye Tour events is having the events televised on FOX – now we are getting into main stream and hopefully can get more positive exposure to the walleye side that means better sponsorship and paybacks to anglers. NASCAR is all over FOX and they have benefitted.

A real championship that rewards the consistent anglers that fish the entire tour is welcomed – finally! Now if they could scheulde the events over a longer period of time (currently 4 events in 11 weeks starting in early April) and not overlap with pre-fishing time for the PWT West this would allow more anglers to fish both circuits instead of having to choose.

I view the changes to the FLW Walleye Tour as a solid foundation to move competitive walleye fishing forward and look for bigger and better in the future.

That’s my $.02.

Safe travels to everyone this holiday weekend.

ted

Ted, Scott,

One question. How many Rangers do you think were in each RCL Tour event last year?

The reason I ask is that once all the Rangers that were out there last year sign up for this years events, I seriously doubt there is going to be more than just a couple spots for either Stratos, or any other make of boat to get in. It definetly sounds great, don’t get me wrong, but in all likelyhood, that 150 mark would come close to the average number of Rangers they anticipate for this year’s events. I hope I’m wrong, but I do not think you will see too many, if any Lunds, Crestliners, Tritons, Trackers, Yar-Crafts, ect…. and that might well be by design!

Jack, I would guess about 90 Rangers per event on average last year. One thing to consider is people signing up for all the events are going to get priority as are those signing up with a co-angler. If you are not a Ranger owner and are looking to fish just one event, that is where it could be tough getting in. I think if you are fishing all the events, regardless of your boat you will get in this year. Those are just my predictions for 2005, but with the positive changes it is going to be tough to get in future years.

I am already looking forward to getting back on Tour!

Where is the Walleye League Tourney out of on May 7? Hopefully Pool 4!

Tony

Its out of Bay city park pool 4

If you can’t get in as a Pro you could consider fishing a tournament as a Co-Angler and still have fun fishong. Thanks, Bill