Great Lakes Bass Fishing Forum

This is a $250 (per event) open team trail that myself and a buddy are seriously considering running this year if the interest is there. Our sole interest in running this is to provide what is lacking on this side of the state for all of you and ourselves, a trail where 20-25% of our money does not go to the directors and payouts will justify our time and expenses. We will not keep a penny from these events 95% will be paid back 5% will cover plaques, permits, and any other expenses involved. If anything is left over food will be supplied at the weigh-ins. This is not something I would normally see myself getting into but with the lack of any good options to fish in 2013 and with Jeff Cox having everything in order with Payback Bass it seems like we need this series on the West side. Your thoughts and insight would be greatly appreciated.

Tim Cook

I would also like to ask is sat or sun better and who would be intetested in fishing some or all of these tournaments?

I'd be interested in one or two... honestly not interested in treking way up to Burt/Mullet due to financial constraints.  Could never get up there to pre-fish.  I can do a Saturday or two, already busy several Sunday's this summer.

What is Payback Bass  is it a private series??

I prefer Saturdays but like Waterfoul says Burt/Leelanau would be to far to travel.  As long as they are closer to GR/Muskegon, I am in for all 3. Need to keep it like Lake Drive did as far as locations and the boats will show up. Just no Cold water chain please.

Quote from: dartag on January 24, 2013, 12:37:14 PM
What is Payback Bass  is it a private series??

Payback Bass is Jeff Cox's high dollar open team trail that he has started this year. There is an east division already set and we are working on the west now.

Quote from: Crankinsmallies on January 24, 2013, 12:40:53 PM
I prefer Saturdays but like Waterfoul says Burt/Leelanau would be to far to travel.  As long as they are closer to GR/Muskegon, I am in for all 3. Need to keep it like Lake Drive did as far as locations and the boats will show up. Just no Cold water chain please.

Ya it is starting to look that way. Northern michigan as much as I hate to say it is looking like wont be practical even though thats where I want to go especially for the opening weekend which falls smack dab in the middle of the full moon.

At this point im leaning towards Hardy, White, Portage.

Hardy, White, Cadillac will draw more boats. Whats the fasination with Portage? Also will these be open or closed tournaments?

Quote from: Crankinsmallies on January 24, 2013, 01:00:10 PM
Hardy, White, Cadillac will draw more boats. Whats the fasination with Portage? Also will these be open or closed tournaments?

All the other circuits are having there classics on cadillac late sept and portage is a great fishery thinking about mixing it up a bit. I like the idea of a lake that puts everyone on more of an even playing field since its not one the common locations. All tournaments would be open.

October will be a coin toss for Portage or Leelanau, especially if you have West, North West or North wind and want to run. Will Portage hold 50 to 75 boats if you lock it in?

Quote from: PineLk 49 on January 24, 2013, 03:00:08 PM
October will be a coin toss for Portage or Leelanau, especially if you have West, North West or North wind and want to run. Will Portage hold 50 to 75 boats if you lock it in?

I don't think portage can hold that many boats it does fish kinda small. Since this is the first year we are assuming 25-50 boats. We might cap it at 25 or 50 teams depending on how many teams would be interested. Just trying to gauge that interest level at this point and what would work best for the majority. As of now we are pretty locked in with Hardy on May 26th and White on July 28th. The Oct 6th tournament we are still discussing.

I would love to see something like this for the Northern Michigan zone. Say an imaginary line from T.C. east to just south of Alpena. Not sure the interest is enough up here to make something like that worth while. I am in Petoskey area and deal with a 3 hour ride to fish almost any of the bigger opens. I can see why guys down there don't want to come to burt/mullet. The same reason I don't want to drive south 3-4 hours. It is expensive and if you work a Monday thru Friday job you probably only get the weekend before to prefish. Saturdays for tournament day would help as far as I'm concerned. I hate getting home late Sunday and trying to get ready for another busy work week. I would be interested in fishing a couple or possibly all depending on the locations and being able to find a partner who is willing to share expenses and such.  Just my 2 cents

OK heres the deal we are going with May 26th @ Leelanau, July 28th @ White, Oct 6th @ Portage (All Sundays). Not the most popular locations but with this being the first year we are capping the field at 25 boats which should quickly fill. If everything goes smooth we will look at expanding in 2014. If you want in be sure to act fast when registration opens.

can we reconsider...lol..i know it's tough..but basicly like the east side is st. clair/ detroit river/ erie.....the west side is grand river/ muskegon/ white/ maybe hardy and cadilac......i would like to see a 1 week off limits on these tournaments/on another note i wouldn't be able to make a opening day tournament,there's to many in everybodies back yard that weekend...if thats the schedule i would only be able to make white..><(())*>-------i like the concept though!!

Yeah, I could only do the second 2... can't make it opening weekend, prior commitment.

No membership, right?  Pay at the ramp?

Quote from: gr@ssmonkey on January 24, 2013, 10:54:54 PM
can we reconsider...lol..i know it's tough..but basicly like the east side is st. clair/ detroit river/ erie.....the west side is grand river/ muskegon/ white/ maybe hardy and cadilac......i would like to see a 1 week off limits on these tournaments/on another note i wouldn't be able to make a opening day tournament,there's to many in everybodies back yard that weekend...if thats the schedule i would only be able to make white..><(())*>-------i like the concept though!!

Since we are keeping it at 25 boats because this is our first year we decided to mix it up a bit thinking it will not be a problem filling up. After discussing it over if this year runs smooth we will be looking to expand the field next year and probably take a more conventional approach when it comes to the locations. No point in having any off limits since you cant police it, nothing wrong with prefishing and that was our reasoning for holding the tournaments on sundays so guys that have to work mon-fri will atleast have sat to do so. Its impossible to work around everyones backyard tournaments we are going with a northern tournament opening weekend in hopes to hit the peak spawn with a full moon and leelanau will give everyone an even playing field since most guys dont fish there.

Quote from: Waterfoul on January 24, 2013, 11:10:23 PM
Yeah, I could only do the second 2... can't make it opening weekend, prior commitment.

No membership, right?  Pay at the ramp?

As far as I know Payback bass has no membership fee and with the interest Jeff, myself, and Mike have gotten on this it will fill up quick so we dont expect any openings at the time of each tournament.

So we can just pay for the ones we are able to fish then?

Quote from: Waterfoul on January 24, 2013, 11:51:06 PM
So we can just pay for the ones we are able to fish then?

Yes just the ones you can fish, these are opens when each individual tournament gets to 25 teams they are full.

With capping it at 25 boats the entry fee should be more than $250.  $2500 for first, thats not much of a payout. And we have to go up to Leelanau and Portage.  I think your numbers of people showing up just went down.  You may want to reconsider the lakes like Grassmonkey suggested and change the number of boats to 50.  Just a suggestion.

Oh I don't know... ~$2500 for first in a 25 boat tournament is pretty good money.  I mean come on... it's only 25 boats.  We've all fished tournaments that size for the chance at $500-1000 (or even less).  I wouldn't be against upping it to 50 boats though.

Higher entry cost might push some away, like me for instance... I basically live on an "average" fixed income and that has always been one of the reasons I don't fish some of the larger money tournaments.  That's one of the reasons I liked Lake Drive.  It was a good payout, reasonable entry fee circuit.  I know there are many others that feel the same way... retired teachers make up a decent percentage of the tournament anglers out there... all living on fixed retirement incomes.  I don't think Tim and Jeff are trying to be the next FLW or BASS.  At $250 per event I think I can find a partner to go in for half.  More than that, I'm not sure.

That's my $.02.

What 25 boat tournament around the state pays more than $2500? I don't think winning a BFL pays much more than that. Most guys that fish tournaments that average that many boats aren't in it for the money, because you are never going to get close to covering expenses. Just your boat payment alone is going to be way more that what you make in a year, and that's if you are one of the sticks that seems to dominate an area. Also most tournaments if not all are front loaded. If you don't win you barely cover your gas expenses. Without sponsors you're not going to make money fishing. Many of the Elite series pros are week to week anglers that if they don't make a top 50 cut are sleeping in their trucks.

Hats off to T. Cook for trying to get this off the ground, us "westies" have needed a circuit like this for a while now. It would be great if you could draw 50 boats at  $250, at 95% that would would be a total payout of $11,875 and $625 towards plaques and your expenses.You deserve to have your expenses covered because you will have earned it! Good Luck.

Quote from: Crankinsmallies on January 25, 2013, 07:21:59 AM
With capping it at 25 boats the entry fee should be more than $250.  $2500 for first, that's not much of a payout. And we have to go up to Leelanau and Portage.  I think your numbers of people showing up just went down.  You may want to reconsider the lakes like Grassmonkey suggested and change the number of boats to 50.  Just a suggestion.

Trust me I want what you want and we hope to get there next year. At this point as we are just getting started in our first year we simply don't have the resources needed nor are we comfortable running large tournaments yet. We were given advice to start out small and get a feel for everything this year before moving up to 50-75 boat tournaments and we took that advice. You do not have to go to leelanau or Portage this is not a tour with a classic these are opens you can fish whichever tournaments work for you. I'm sure the numbers went down only reason those two lakes were chosen is because its capped at 25, the launches there couldn't hold 50 anyways. I do have a question for you guys, what does everyone have going on opening weekend? I checked out the more popular circuits and only tournament I see is WMPPT on Monday. I really think Leelanau would be worth the drive for you guys, it would be an even playing field during what I suspect to be the peak spawn on an amazing smallie lake.

On a side note I believe 1st place is paying 48% which is $3000 and big bass is going to be $500. Jeff will be posting the official payouts on Payback Bass facebook page soon. If you guys want too keep up to date on any information like the Payback Bass page there.

I think the Never Enough Outdoors Al and Bob's series has an event on opening weekend.

RIO's Shootout is on Muskegon the 26th.

Gotcha, would june 9th work for you guys interested in the first open on leelanau?

At 25 boats I would keep it on opening weekend. 

The Tear Drop Bass Tournament Trail has a tournament May 26. They are a smaller group and shoot for around 25 as well. They are a 100% pay back trail with six tournaments. They sell ads in a flier to get money for a Classic at the end of the six events. The tournament director gets an automatic entry into the Classic and that is his only "payback." I don't begrudge tournament directors a cut. There is a lot of work and they take on a lot of liability. I know they incorporated to help protect the tournament organizers, and they also have a insurance policy. They also have, as a rule, that you must present your personal liability boat insurance prior to the first tournament. Their schedule for the season is on teardropbass.com .
I am not fishing tournaments any more, at least for a while, but I applaud T. Cook's efforts at getting this going. The Tournament Directors do a ton of work and take a lot of grief from everyone without hearing much in terms of thank you. Good luck Tim, and I hope this works out. If I were fishing I'd be signing up. Sounds like a good time and a great pay out.

West side schedule is up on the Payback Bass facebook page. Stay tuned for payout charts, entry forms, and sponsor contingency programs. Here is the Payback Bass FB link:

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/PaybackBass

You might want to check with all the other clubs, its going to be very tough this point in the game to find any open weekends on the west side with out a conflicting dates.  Everyone peees and moans about not enough boats but double stacking a tournament would only draw both tournaments numbers down.  And thats my $.02.

What else is there to fish with this kind of payout? Pretty sure I and a 24 other boats will be fishing this instead of a tournament that will payout less.

Payback Bass Nemesis West Division flier is now available. Registration is open, message me your email address and I will send it to you.